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Oceana/ Matthias Gorny
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In a monumental victory for the oceans last week, Chilean President Sebastián Piñera announced the creation of a no-take marine reserve of 150,000 square kilometers around Chile’s Sala y Gómez island.
Sala y Gómez is an uninhabited and scarcely explored island that may be one of the last relatively pristine places remaining in the ocean. The new park expands Chile’s total marine protected area more than 100 times, from 0.03% to 4.41%. Currently less than 2% of the global ocean is protected, although the Parties of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity – including Chile – agreed to protect 10% of their exclusive economic zones by 2012.
The decision came after a preliminary expedition earlier this year to Sala y Gómez by Oceana, National Geographic and the Waitt Foundation. The groups found abundant populations of vulnerable species such as sharks and lobsters, much larger than in the depleted ecosystem in nearby Easter Island, which is not protected from fishing. The waters around Sala y Gómez also host the largest population of Galapagos sharks in the world.
After the expedition, Oceana and National Geographic presented a proposal to the Chilean Congress advocating the protection of the entire exclusive economic zone, a total of 411,717 square kilometers around the island. The Fisheries Committee of Chile’s Senate supported the recommendation unanimously, and fortunately, President Piñera agreed.
Stay tuned -- Oceana and National Geographic are planning a scientific expedition to Sala y Gómez in 2011 to develop an exhaustive baseline of the ocean ecosystem and survey the seamounts that are not included in the current park.
Written by Emily Fisher, online editor at Oceana.
Watch video on Oceana's mission and more in Ocean Currents where we dive deep into water issues.
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