MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Fishermen attack striking rangers at Galapagos nature preserve.

Scores of fishermen on Wednesday stormed Galapagos National Park and attacked striking park rangers who were preventing the newly appointed park chief from assuming his post, one of the rangers told to the press.

He said about 50 fishermen and a group of political leaders forced the park's main gate open with machetes and saws and attacked the striking rangers with sticks and rocks. According to the park ranger, police were overwhelmed and authorities had to send in the navy to quell the violence.

"The situation is out of control. They're barely a meter away and I don't know what's going to happen because this is a mob scene," he said. The park ranger called on Environment Minister Fabian Valdivieso to prevent "the situation from escalating, because the mood is too heated," and he blasted the fishermen's leader, Rogelio Guaycha, who in statements to local radio called on area residents to storm the park. Six people were seriously injured Tuesday during the fishermen's first attempt to break into park facilities.

The conflict began on Sept. 10, when the environment minister appointed Fausto Cepeda to take charge of the national park, replacing biologist Edwin Naula. The striking rangers oppose the new appointment - the eighth change in 21 months - arguing that it causes instability for workers and stalls the progress of conservation projects.

A spokesperson for the strikers questioned the fact that the fishermen's attack came on the same day a delegation of park rangers went to Quito to meet with Valdivieso, who repeatedly refused to travel to the archipelago to address the rangers' demand. Valdivieso said he would not engage in dialogue under duress. The strike has prevented Cepeda, who has links to the fishing industry, from assuming his post at park facilities on the island of Santa Cruz. In a symbolic act, Cepeda took office last week on San Cristobal island, but park rangers refuse to recognize his authority. Ecuador's tourism industry has gotten involved and called on Congress to investigate whether Cepeda's hiring was politically motivated.

The Galapagos archipelago, located in the Pacific Ocean, 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) from the coast of Ecuador, was declared a UNESCO World Natural Heritage Site in 1978, as it is home to more than 50 species of animals and birds found nowhere else on the planet.

The isles and their unique ecosystem are governed by a citizens' participatory management system, with advisers drawn from numerous quarters, including the commercial fishing and tourism industries, the scientific community and environmental organizations.

However, over the past two years commercial lobster and sea cucumber fishermen have successfully pressured lawmakers to increase their quotas. Both lobsters and sea cucumbers have lucrative markets abroad, mostly in Asia, where sea cucumbers are considered aphrodisiacs