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title: "Chile announces new Marine Protected Areas at the second Our Ocean Conference in Valparaiso this week"
---

# Chile announces new Marine Protected Areas at the second Our Ocean Conference in Valparaiso this week

Chilean President Michelle Bachelet has this week announced the creation of the Nazca-Desventuradas Marine Park, which will cover a surface area of more than 297 000 km² around the [Islas Desventuradas](http://www.worldwildlife.org/ecoregions/nt0403) (2.4-km² San Ambrosio and 2.5-km² San Félix Islands) *c*. 900 km west of the Chilean mainland.  President Bachelet announced the Nazca-Desventuradas Marine Park at the [Our Ocean Conference 2015](http://www.nuestrooceano2015.gob.cl/en/) in Valparaiso, Chile earlier this week.  The [first Our Ocean Conference](http://www.state.gov/e/oes/ocns/opa/2014conf/agenda/) was held in Washington, D.C., USA in June of last year.

 The two islands form part of the underwater Nazca Ridge, which runs south-west from Peru towards Easter Island.  With the formation of the Nazca-Desventuradas Marine Park, Chile will now protect 12 percent of its marine surface area.  The islands are uninhabited save for a Chilean naval detachment and the intermittent presence of lobster fishers; feral cats *Felis catus* (to San Félix) and rodents have been introduced.  Access to the Islas Desventuradas is restricted due to the presence of the naval base on San Félix – which has a runway for aeroplanes.

 ![](https://www.acap.aq/images/stories/acap/Islands/Desventuradas_Marine_Park.jpg) 

 The Nazca-Desventuradas Marine Park

 The Desventuradas support breeding populations of two gadfly petrels (Kermadec *Pterodroma neglecta *and [Vulnerable](http://www.birdlife.org/datazone/speciesfactsheet.php?id=3891) Masatierra *P. defilippiana*) and White-bellied Storm Petrel *Fregetta grallaria*, amongst other seabirds.  ACAP-listed Black-browed *Thalassarche melanophris* and Salvin’s *T. salvini*Albatrosses and Southern Giant Petrels *Macronectes giganteus* have been regularly recorded in their surrounding waters.

 ![](https://www.acap.aq/images/stories/acap/Birds/Petrels/S/Southern_Giant/Southern_Giant_Petrel_flying_by_Warwick_Barnes.jpg)

 Southern Giant Petrels have been reported from around the Islas Desventuradas, photograph by Warwick Barnes

 The new marine park is to be a fully protected no-take zone where fishing and other extractive activities will not be allowed, although an artisanal trap fishery for Juan Fernández Rock Lobster *Jasus frontalis*, which has been [certified as sustainable](https://www.msc.org/newsroom/news/artisanal-chilean-lobster-fishery-of-the-juan-fernandez-island-community-gains-msc-certification) by the [Marine Stewardship Council](https://www.msc.org/), will continue in specific areas around the islands.

 The Chilean Government has also committed to the creation of a Marine Park around Easter Island (Rapa Nui) encompassing more than 600 000 km², pending the approval of the island’s indigenous community. Easter Island supports breeding populations of three gadfly petrels and a shearwater.  In addition, Chile intends to protect part of the waters around Juan Fernandez (Robinson Crusoe) Island with a network of five no-take zones as a marine park.

 ![](https://www.acap.aq/images/stories/acap/Islands/Easter_Island_proposed_Marine_Park.jpg)

 Proposed Easter Island Marine Park

 News item researched from [here](http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2015/10/151005-desventuradas-islands-marine-protected-area-conservation-science/) and from several other on-line sources.

 The Our Ocean Conference will return to the USA in 2016.

 **Reference:**

 Flores, M.A., Schlatter, R.P. & Hucke-Gaete, R. 2014.  Seabirds of Easter Island, Salas y Gómez Island and Desventuradas Islands, southeastern Pacific Ocean.  [*Latin American Journal of Aquatic Research* 42: 752-759](http://www.lajar.cl/pdf/imar/v42n4/Articulo_42_4_6.pdf).

 *John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 09 October 2015*