Photos: Joakim Olderbeg
In January 2025, a team of scientists from Universidad San Francisco de Quito (USFQ), the Galápagos Science Center (GSC) and the Galapagos National Park Directorate (GNPD) carried out a two-week expedition to Paramount: a shallow-water seamount rising from a depth of over 1500 m to only 180 m below the surface, located 100 nautical miles northeast of the Galápagos Marine Reserve. The objective of the expedition was to characterize the fish community around the seamount and explore its connections with Galápagos. The work was supported by the organizations Mission Blue, Galápagos Conservation Trust, MigraMar and Bezos Earth Fund.
Dr. Alex Hearn, Galápagos Hope Spot co-Champion and lead scientist on the expedition, explained that “due to their relative inaccessibility, oceanic seamounts are relatively understudied, but often play similar roles to oceanic islands in the marine ecosystem. They tend to aggregate marine wildlife, and may enhance productivity by elevating the seabed to the zone where the level of light permits photosynthesis, and through local upwelling processes as nutrient-rich deep waters are diverted to the surface.”
Paramount is the only shallow seamount on Ecuador’s side of the Cocos-Galápagos Swimway: a stretch of 120,000 km2 of ocean connecting the Galápagos Marine Reserve with Costa Rica’s Cocos Island National Park. Both these areas are UNESCO World Natural Heritage Sites, and previous studies have shown that they share similar biodiversity and that several endangered marine species, such as scalloped hammerhead sharks and green sea turtles, migrate between them. As they move, these animals tend to loosely follow an underwater chain of seamounts, known as the Cocos Ridge, as they move. In 2020, the entire area was declared a Mission Blue Hope Spot.
Since then, Costa Rica has expanded protection around Cocos Island, and Ecuador has created the Hermandad Reserve, which extends protection from Galápagos all the way to the Ecuador’s maritime border with Costa Rica. However, Paramount was left unprotected, with Hermandad’s boundary running 17 nautical miles to the south of the seamount.
“It is important for us to understand whether our conservation efforts within Galápagos and Hermandad may be affected by endangered wildlife spending time at other locations where they are not protected,” explained Harry Reyes, senior marine biologist at GNPD. “To this end, we were able to place satellite tags on ten scalloped hammerhead sharks and four pelagic thresher sharks, allowing us to track their movements.”
Besides tracking sharks, the scientists used baited stereo-video cameras to survey and record the presence of marine wildlife in the waters above the seamount. “The camera rigs are deployed on a mother line, with each rig separated by 200 m. On each rig, we set up two cameras facing a bait canister, so we can capture footage of any animals approaching the bait. The cameras are calibrated so that we can measure the size of the animals as well as identify the species. We allow the rigs to drift for two hours before recovering them, downloading the recordings, and then redeploying,” said MigraMar biologist Maria Antonia Izurieta. “It is tough work, with long hours on small boats, but when we review the footage and see large schools of hammerhead sharks beneath the waves, it can be incredibly rewarding.”
To supplement the camera surveys, the scientists also took water samples, which will be analyzed for traces of DNA from organisms in the area. Nicole Bonilla, a team member and biology student at USFQ, was amazed by the megafauna at the seamount. “It took us almost 20 hours of sailing through an apparently empty ocean, but when we arrived at Paramount, we found hundreds of bottlenose dolphins all around us. We could hear their calls from inside our cabins! All the while we were on site, we were accompanied by dolphins, devil rays, boobies and storm petrels.”
“The expedition would not have been the success that it was, had we not partnered with the crew of the Galápagos artisanal fishing vessel Yualka,” said Dr. Hearn. “The Galápagos Marine Reserve has a history of conflict between fishing and conservation,” added local fisher and Hope Spot co-Champion Manuel Yépez. “Expeditions such as these, where scientists and fishers work together, share their knowledge and learn from one another, are key to building a more sustainable island community.”
The team was accompanied by Swedish filmmaker, explorer and ocean advocate Joakim Odelberg, whose Fragile Hope Initiative and global movement are dedicated to raising awareness and inspiring stewardship for the ocean. A documentary capturing the expedition and its findings is planned for late 2025.
