How It Works - UK (2020-05)

Life on a

volcanic island

INTERVIEW

Monty Halls tells us about his time on the wild Galápagos archipelago

W

e caught up with broadcaster, marine

biologist and former Royal Marine,

Mont y Halls, to talk about his

experiences w ith his family on the Galápagos

Islands, for his new Channel 4 documentar y

series and his book. My Family and the Galapagos

follows Mont y, his w ife Tam and their t wo

children Isla and Molly as they explore the

islands, discover the resident wildlife and

uncover the negative impacts human

populations – both on the islands and globally –

are hav ing on its ecosystem.

How has the Galápagos changed since the

first series of My Family and the Galapagos?

The change has been quite rapid over the last

few years; it was notable during that t wo-year

period, just the volume of people. It was really as

simple as that. When I v isited the last time it was

about 220 to 230,000 people. This time there were

275,000 people visiting the islands. With that

comes a lot of money and a lot of infrastructure,

and there is a sort of confidence in the island.

Certainly, in terms of the main town there, you

could tell there was a bit of money there, and a

bit of aff luence, which wasn’t there a couple of

years ago. This is the positive side for the local

population and creates a v iable income to

support the population there. However, on the

negative side is the impact of that volume of

people. Both Tam and I commented on it. You

can see it in the queues at the cash points and all

the restaurants were full. The island is certainly

open for business.

What effect will this population growth

have on the islands’ ecosystem?

Without a doubt the effect is negative, and the

ongoing challenge the islands face is how to deal

with this influ x and whether the influ x should be

curtailed. They set limits ever y year for the

islands and ever y year those limits are

surpassed and surpassed again, so it’s a trick y

one.A lso,whoarewetosay,inthewestern

world,“noyou’vegottostopnow,”because

touristswanttocomeandlookatiguanasanda

WorldHeritageSite.Whereasactually,thelocal

peoplearesay ing,“thisisourincome,thisisour

liv ing. Who are you to tell us we can’t do it.” But

what is undeniable and a stark truth is that there

are too many people v isiting the Galápagos at

the moment, and it will have an impact on the

ecosystem there. It’s definitely a problem that

needs to be managed.

What are the wider challenges that the

islands are facing?

The islands have always been a microcosm of

the wider world. For example, climate change is

undeniably hav ing an impact. The frequenc y

and severit y of El Niño events, where you get this

very dramatic increase in water temperature,

means the food animals like penguins and

iguanas eat such as small fish are driven

offshore, which leads to penguin deaths in

droves, or the algae doesn’t grow because the

temperature differential is too great, so the

iguanas die. Ocean acidification undeniably has

an impact, and other elements such as invasive

species. The more we travel around the world

and the more infrastructure that grows around

the world, you end up with species

being transferred from place to place. That

can have a ver y negative impact. For example,

there’s a plant called the hill raspberr y, which is

hav ing a devastating impact on the fauna and

flora out there.

In the first episode, you address the problem

of plastic on the islands. How apparent was

this issue during your time there?

Without a doubt plastic is absolutely ever y where

in the world. It just goes to show there is nowhere

that is unaffected. The Galápagos is a part of

Pacific g yre, so there is a mass movement of

water and currents that bring plastic debris from

the Pacific from Asia. The time you really notice it

on the islands are w ithin mangrove areas. Their

roots catch loads as they sieve the water and

you’ll see them full of plastic. But again,

measures are being taken such as straws bans

on the islands, along w ith plastic bags.

Were there any moments that took your

breath away or surprised you?

I’ve been very lucky to have worked in the

There are too many people visiting the

Galápagos, and it will have an impact

046 How It Works http://www.howitworksdaily.com