What is Vivencial Fishing?

Fishing Methods:

Vivencial Fishing includes all the regular “sport” methods, such as trolling, switch & bait, popping, jigging, fly-fishing as well as more traditional methods such as hand line fishing, at speed on the surface (for wahoo) or bottom fishing with “empate” (hand line wrapped around a small buoy). Spear fishing is not permitted

Boats:

In the early years of tourist fishing, you could find a variety of vessels, both licensed and unlicensed, including pangas. But several factors have led to more uniformity in the product offered.

Stricter license enforcement, together with increased vigilance by the Navy and Galapagos National Park, means that the "pirates" are pretty much extinct. All boats, including commercial fishing boats, now carry AIS transponders and are tracked by the Park and Navy.

With the increased popularity of sightseeing tourism, encouraged by the Galapagos National Park, almost all the boats have upsized to 10 to 12m so they can take 12 passengers on water-based sightseeing trips, including the very popular 360 Tour. Only a portion of these have retained the equipment, and desire, to offer Vivencial Fishing.

Due to interminable problems with the quality of diesel in the islands, almost all now operate four stroke outboards.

Naturalist Guides:

Every Vivencial Fishing excursion must be accompanied by a Naturalist Guide, licensed by the Galápagos National Park.

Hours of Operation:

The hours of operation are limited to 6:00AM to 6:00PM

In essence, Vivencial Fishing brings you the same challenge and excitement you normally associate with Sport Fishing but subject to special regulations developed by the Park for the Galápagos Marine Reserve.

In Latin America people generally categorize fishing as:

• Pesca Chica - Coastal fishing for Tuna, Wahoo, Grouper etc.
• Pesca de Altura - Offshore fishing for Marlin, Tuna, Mahi Mahi etc.

But, in practice, the remote location of some Pesca Chica fishing spots means that the activities overlap considerably.

Good for the Fish

Vivencial Fishing is “Catch and Release”. The boat may retain only 50 lbs of fish and may not sell any catch. Furthermore, the Regulations require that all PAV crew are licensed local commercial fishermen. On a day of Vivencial Fishing, the crew will extract only a fraction of the fish they would have had they been fishing commercially.

Good for the Fishermen

Vivencial Fishing provides local fishermen with an ecologically sustainable alternative to commercial fishing and a stake in genuine “Eco-Tourism”.

Marco: Captain of "Toby"...

Shares the excitement of Vivencial Fishing

Good for the Community:

Barely 5% of income generated by tourism in Galápagos remains in the community. Galápagos tourism is dominated by the Luxury Cruise operators. Insofar as these corporations are overwhelmingly owned and managed by corporations outside the community, and even outside Ecuador, they represent the antithesis of “Eco-Tourism”.

For decades now, there has been extraordinary pressure to open the market to well financed and politically connected Sport Fishing operators. But if that that door is opened, community based Vivencial Fishing will rapidly give way to offshore based luxury Sport Fishing and the tourist-fishing market will rapidly go the way of Cruises with maximised external profit and minimal local benefit. Vivencial Fishing acts as a bulwark against invasion and subsequent domination of the market by outsiders.