Chile Creates Marine Reserve Around Salas y Gómez Island - Oceana

Victory | October 7, 2010

Chile Creates Marine Reserve Around Salas y Gómez Island

Chile’s President Sebastián Piñera announced the creation of Salas y Gómez Marine Park, a no-take marine reserve of 150,000 square kilometers around Salas y Gómez island. The decision came after a preliminary expedition to Salas y Gómez by Oceana, National Geographic and the Waitt Foundation, in which they found abundant populations of vulnerable species such as sharks and lobsters and unexpectedly high biodiversity in deeper waters.

The new park expands Chile’s total marine protected area more than 100 times, from 0.03% to 4.41%.