GCT: Galapagos Conservation Trust

I hope you caught the recent Monty Halls programme when he took his family to the Galapagos Islands for three months, and carried out a range of research and other projects while there.
Here's some information from the Galapagos Conservation Trust.

GCT president, Monty Halls returned to "his favourite place on Earth" with his family to investigate the wonders and challenges that both define and threaten Galapagos. If you haven't seen the show yet, you can catch up on Channel 4 - we think it is definitely worth a watch! Throughout the three-part series, Monty visited some of the projects that GCT support in Galapagos.

In the very first episode, Monty's wife, Tam, joined our partner Juan Pablo Munoz to highlight the issue of plastic pollution in Galapagos. We're working with a number of partners to solve the issue ranging from researching the impacts with Galapagos National Park (GNP) to supporting the single-use plastic ban. The family also joined an annual coastal clean-up of Santa Cruz island. Getting the whole community involved in the fight against plastic pollution is incredibly important. We're working with community groups such as Grupo Eco Cultural Organizado (GECO) to spread the message. Find out more about GECO and a plastic pollution free Galapagos here.

In the programme, Monty's daughters, Isla and Molly, had a close encounter with a Galapagos giant tortoise. Despite being iconic, we're still learning about the lives of Galapagos giant tortoises, such as what happens to them when they are hatchlings. We are trying to find out what happens to them during these 'Lost Years' through our Galapagos Tortoise Movement Ecology Programme.

Another key issue highlighted in the show is the threat to endangered sharks. Monty joined a Galapagos National Park research trip to Wolf and Darwin islands that tagged and photographed whale sharks. The Galapagos Whale Shark Project aims to learn more about these elusive gentle giants in order to effectively conserve them. For example, 90% of the whale sharks in Galapagos are thought to be pregnant, but more research is needed to find out why and where they go to give birth.