The three-year project Galapagos Coral Conservation: Impact Mitigation, Mapping and Monitoring is the most comprehensive study using innovative mapping and rapid assessment techniques undertaken to date in the remote northern Galapagos Islands.
The project brought input from a large number of international and local marine and coral scientists, including the Charles Darwin Research Station, Conservation International, Galapagos National Park Service and WildAid, to address the particular conservation challenge faced by Wolf and Darwin Islands.
Professor Dawson’s recent research was essentially a follow-on project, based upon the recommendations that arose out of research by Professor Ken Collins at the University of Southampton’s School of Ocean and Earth Science. Professor Collins was the Principal Investigator/Project leader of an earlier Darwin Initiative project that helped to develop the Galapagos Marine Park.
The Galapagos Islands lie in the Pacific Ocean about 1,000 km from the South American coast and straddling the Equator. Galapagos is a province of Ecuador, and have been recognised internationally as a Man and Biosphere Reserve, and as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.
The Darwin Initiative was established in 1992, to assist countries rich in biodiversity but poor in resources to meet their obligations under the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). Projects supported from Darwin Initiative funding link UK institutions with public and voluntary sector institutions in partner countries.
Video
View a selection of video clips filmed around Wolf and Darwin Islands during the project.
- A school of hammerhead sharks filmed by a remote controlled submarine
- A sea pen defending itself from a simulated attack by the remote controlled submarine
- A group of divers swimming with a whale shark.
