Galapagos, unique fauna on Fernandina Island

23 September, 2022

(Use the CC button in the player’s bottom right corner to turn subtitles on and off )

After a week filming on board the research ship Argo in the Galapagos Islands I finally had my first opportunity to go ashore. I accompanied marine biologist,  Doctor Susana Cardenas and Park ranger Alberto Proaño on a trip to Fernandina Island. They were there to tag and to take samples from 2 endemic bird species, the Galapagos flightless cormorant and the Galapagos penguin. Knowing that I would do a follow up visit to document their work I had the luxury of spending time exploring and filming some of the other unique animals found on the island. The beach and larva rocks were covered with Galapagos marine iguanas, the beach was host to turtles, sea lions and Galapagos fur seals and the air was filled with the cries of blue footed boobies.

This place truly made me feel that committed conservation on the scale of the 200 000 square kilometre Galapagos marine reserve is key to the restoration of our severely threatened oceans.

Text: Simon Stanford
Photo: Simon Stanford
Editor: Helena Fredriksson

Related articles

After five hectic days, the expedition has returned to the main island of Santa Cruz to exchange some scientists and crew. At the same time, the expedition is visited by journalists from CNN and Ecuador’s Minister of the Environment, who will accompany them down in the expedition’s submarine…
Deep Sea Team at Galapagos: Johan Candert, Göran Ehlmé, Simon Stanford
Photo: Johan Candert, Göran Ehlmé
After an eventful first week in the Galapagos (link to the first article), we are now heading west. We will investigate the waters around Fernandina island in the western part of the archipelago. Here the water is significantly colder and the fauna is different. The cold, nutrient-rich ocean current comes all the way from the South Pole. It creates a completely unique underwater environment. Corals and sharks but unusually, also penguins and kelp…
Text: Johan Candert
Photo: Johan Candert, Göran Ehlmé, Simon Stanford
Legendary oceanographer, Sylvia Earle first visited the Galapagos Islands in 1966 and described it as, “the sharkiest fishiest place I’ve ever been.” In July 2022 we return to this special place on a research boat chartered by Dr. Earle’s Mission Blue foundation. The expedition is tasked with checking key environmental health indicators on the 25th anniversary of the Galapagos being declared a marine protected area…
Reportage: Simon Stanford
photo: Johan Candert, Göran Ehlmé, Simon Stanford
Editor: Helena Fredriksson
Scroll to Top