Malpelo Fauna and Flora Sanctuary

FRIDAY, MAY 13, 2011 | 5THE GLOBAL EDITION OF THE NEW YORK TIMES. . . .

S wimming with hundreds — or thou-sands — of sharks may sound like anightmare to some people. But it is

heaven for Germán Soler, who looks for-ward to swimming with sharks several timesa year.

A Colombian marine biologist and direc-tor of the Malpelo Foundation, Soler is re-sponsible for supporting and supplementingthe work of the Colombian government inoverseeing the Malpelo Fauna and FloraSanctuary off the country’s southwesterncoast. The sanctuary has been a UnescoMarine World Heritage site since 2006.

Soler joined the foundation in 2003,when it was first preparing its proposal to belisted as a World Heritage site. He recalls thefirst time he went to the sanctuary, thatyear: ‘‘It was something unbelievable. Visibil-ity is up to 30 meters [almost 100 feet] andI remember seeing over 200 sharks just be-low my feet. And I was, like, this cannot behappening. It was heaven.’’

Three years later, Soler entered the

waters of Malpelo and found himself in thecompany of more than 1,000 silky sharks.He had long wanted to see a large aggrega-tion of Carcharhinus falciformis, and sud-denly his wish had come true.

‘‘They were swimmingaround me, just minding theirown business,’’ he says, ‘‘andthey were very close to me, butnot being aggressive. It wassomething. I have it recorded inmy brain for the rest of my life.’’

The sanctuary is also hometo what the locals call theMalpelo Monster, a four-metershort-nosed, ragged-tooth shark(Odontaspis ferox) related to thegreat white. It favors deepwater reefs, so itis rarely seen by humans. ‘‘Divers can see itonly in a few places in the world, andMalpelo is one of them. It is an incredible an-imal found in our sanctuary,’’ exults Soler.

Soler has loved the sea since childhood,when his parents — based in Colombia’s

mountainous capital, Bogota — would takehim to the seaside for vacations. He earneda Master of Marine Science from the Univer-sity of New South Wales in Australia, then

worked with pink river dolphins inBrazil and humpbacked whalesin Bahía Málaga, Colombia, andspecialized in satellite andacoustic telemetry techniques.He continued whale researchnear the island of Gorgona, offthe Pacific coast of Colombia,and began hearing about theMalpelo Sanctuary.

‘‘Everybody was raving about itas a great place to go,’’ he recalls.

Soler contacted SandraBessudo, who was then the director of theMalpelo Foundation, and he had the oppor-tunity to visit Malpelo for the first time. Hecredits Bessudo (who is slated to lead anew Ministry of the Environment and Sus-tainable Growth in Colombia) with being adriving force for the establishment of the

sanctuary. If not for her, he says, ‘‘Malpelowould not be what it is today.’’

When Soler joined the Malpelo Founda-tion in 2003, his first project was to preparedocumentation for the site’s proposal to belisted as a World Heritage site.

One of Unesco’s requests was that thesite be enlarged, which required govern-mental assent. That took about a year,working with the Colombian National ParksDepartment and with the Colombian Navy.Eventually the site area expanded from 651square kilometers to 9,584 square kilo-meters (251 to 3,700 square miles).

The success of this interinstitutional co-operation is one of the Malpelo Foundation’sproudest achievements, says Soler. Bringingthe government, the military and internation-al nongovernmental organizations togetherfor a common cause, he explains, resulted inthe expansion of knowledge of the sanctu-ary both in the water and on terra firma.

The land part of his job is essential: heand his staff write financial proposals for

conservation and scientific work to beconducted in Malpelo. They marshal the fundsfor surveillance and patrolling of the site.

‘‘You have to mix both the desk and thefield,’’ he insists. ‘‘If you want to get re-sources and have real conservation impact,you cannot do it only from the field. You haveto work from your desk, getting donors toknow what Malpelo is and where the diffi-culties and threats are. You have to be withpeople all the time. You cannot disconnectfrom the world.’’

Nevertheless, field work is what Soler en-joys most. He goes to the sanctuary aboutsix times a year for two weeks each trip.

At present, he and his colleagues arestudying the movements of hammerheadand other sharks in the region.

‘‘I started studying biology because I lovednature. I knew I wasn't going to become rich,’’says Soler with a laugh. ‘‘You need to be verypassionate about what you are doing and beconvinced that your work is for the better-ment of the environment and humanity.’’[

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Three days are an insignificant timespan in the life of oceans, but thethree-day period April 18-21 mayhave made a big difference in a bigarea of the ocean — Colombia’sMalpelo Fauna and Flora Sanctuary.

This World Heritage marine site— located 270 nautical miles (500kilometers) off the coast ofColombia and covering 9,584square kilometers, or 3,700 squaremiles — will be receiving allproceeds from an online auction bythe Swiss watchmaker Jaeger-LeCoultre that was held duringthose three days. The winning bidwas £16,208 ($26,773).

The auction was the latest ofthree created by Jaeger-LeCoultrespecifically to benefit WorldHeritage marine sites, both ineconomic terms and in attractingpublic attention.

The watch chosen, MemovoxTribute to Deep Sea, was acommemorative edition in homage

to a legend of diver’s watches andan icon among collectors: theMemovox Deep Sea ‘‘LeCoultreSpécial Amérique 1959.’’

The proceeds will be used for thepurchase of inflatable boats to aidin surveillance of the sanctuary’smarine surface.

The sanctuary works with theColombian Navy and the ColombianNational Parks for surveillance ofthe site, the largest no-fishing zonein the eastern tropical Pacific, butmore boats are needed to patrol thesite. Illegal fishing is a major threatto species found in Malpelo,especially sharks.

The auction is part of Jaeger-LeCoultre’s long-term commitmentto World Heritage sites. It is apartner with the Unesco WorldHeritage Centre and theInternational Herald Tribune todefend and protect outstandingmarine sites that require immediateintervention.

T he Malpelo Fauna and Flora Sanctuarytakes its name from the island ofMalpelo, a volcanic formation 270

nautical miles (500 kilometers) west of theColombian Pacific coast. The sanctuary is thelargest no-fishing zone in the eastern tropicalPacific — the marine surface covers 9,584square kilometers, or 3,700 square miles —but the island itself is small, about 120

hectares, just less than half a square mile.Yet four species call it home and are foundonly there: a land crab, a gecko and two otherkinds of lizards. The island also serves as thelargest nesting colony in the world for thenazca booby, Sula granti. Malpelo is home toabout one-third to one-fourth of the global re-productive population of this species.

One booby by-product is abundantguano, which flows to the sea and nourishesplanktonic algae, on which feed vast popula-tions of tuna and jackfish as well as hump-back whales in the waters of the sanctuary.

The fish in turn draw sharks, and the ag-gregations here of silky sharks and ham-merheads are ‘‘incredible,’’ notes GermánSoler, director of the Malpelo Foundationand a marine biologist and diver. Their pres-ence in turn attracts the most deadly pred-ator of the ocean and the biggest threat tothis World Heritage site — man.

Illegal fishing, mainly for tuna, is certainlya threat to the sanctuary. Silky sharks areoften caught in nets with the tuna becausethey tend to swim together.

The greatest danger to the marine life ofthe area, however, is shark finning. The

The aim of the World HeritageConvention, adopted by Unescomembers in 1972, is ‘‘toencourage the identification,protection and preservation ofcultural and natural heritagearound the world considered to beof outstanding universal value tohumanity.’’

‘‘Tides of Time’’ is a partnershipamong Jaeger-LeCoultre, Unesco’sWorld Heritage Centre and theInternational Herald Tribune. Theseries presents some of the peoplewho are helping preserve marinesites on the World Heritage List.

To see videos about WorldHeritage marine sites, visit the‘‘Tides of Time’’ archive atwhc.unesco.org/tidesoftime

PEOPLE | Germán Soler, scientist and diver

Swimming with sharks is ‘heaven,’ but there is also desk work to be done

MALPELO FLORA AND FAUNA SANCTUARY | Protecting an exceptional habitat

The stakes: Valuable species and the threat of manWatch auction proceeds go to help fight poaching

The Malpelo Fauna and Flora Sanctuary,270 nautical miles off the Colombian coast,is the largest no-fishing zone in the easterntropical Pacific and one of the world’s topdiving sites. It is one of 43 exceptionallyvaluable marine sites around the worldrecognized by the World Heritage Committee

Large predators — like thehammerhead sharks picturedhere — and other deepwater

fish as well as whales arefound in the waters of the

Malpelo Sanctuary.

About World Heritage

Shark Specialist Group of the InternationalUnion for the Conservation of Nature citesestimates of 26 million to 73 million sharkskilled each year for the fin trade.

The Malpelo Foundation works with theColombian Navy and the Colombian Nation-al Parks for surveillance, but more boats areneeded to patrol the vast area.

A lesser challenge comes from the tour-ists who come to dive in Malpelo’s clear wa-ters and experience the thrill of seeingsharks and exploring deepwater caves andcoral reefs. Currently about 20 cruise shipsare licensed to visit the sanctuary each year,bringing 600 divers. Aside from direct dam-age to the coral reefs, divers bring with themthe problems of garbage disposal in theocean and the accidental introduction of ex-traneous animal or plant species from thediving ships to the island.

Achieving a balance between conservation

and accessibility is delicate at best. MechtildRössler, chief of the policy and statutorysection of the World Heritage Centre, pointsout that marine sites have multiple func-tions that may include being sources of rev-enue, tourist destinations and places of re-creation. In her view, the public must beeducated to enjoy the beauty of a site with-out disturbing its natural balance.

Malpelo has financial support fromUnesco, Conservation International and anendowment funded by the Global Conserva-tion Fund and the Fondo Para la Acción Am-biental (Fund for Environmental Action), andfrom other private donors and foundations.It participates in Migramar, a network ofmarine research and conservation institu-tions in Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador,Panama and the United States that studiesshark, turtle and other pelagic populationsof the eastern tropical Pacific.[

Malpelo Island is home to the largest nestingcolony in the world of the nazca booby.

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Germán Soler, director ofthe Malpelo Foundation.

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