Credit: Rodrigo Hucke-Gaete
This southern area is home to 10% of the world's blue whale population.
Chile's Ministry of the Environment announced the creation of the new Tic Toc-Golfo Corcovado marine park, a 1,019.16 km2 maritime area bordering important terrestrial protected areas on the mainland, such as Corcovado National Park.
This marine park, located in the south of the country, will be key to the protection of blue whales, as it is a breeding and feeding area for these animals that migrate from Antarctica to the tropics through the Pacific Ocean.
The region has an unparalleled biological richness due to its pristine condition and the high presence of krill, a type of crustacean that is the basis of the cetaceans' diet and vital for their survival. Humpback and sei whales, Chilean dolphins, chungungos, sea lions and colonies of marine birds such as penguins, cormorants and shearwaters can also be observed in this area.
Credit: Eduardo Sorensen
The new Tic Toc-Golfo Corcovado marine park has a maritime area of 1,019.16 km2 and borders with relevant protected terrestrial environments on the mainland, such as Corcovado National Park to the east, Melimoyu National Park and the adjacent AMCPMU Pitipalena Añihué immediately to the south, on the border with the Aysén region.
This area, declared a marine park, will have a high protection category to ensure greater conservation success, so fishing, aquaculture and intensive tourism will not be allowed. Marine protected areas, while focused on biodiversity conservation, also contribute to climate change mitigation and adaptation, as nature-based solutions, since they fix carbon and increase the resilience of the sea to climate change.
The creation of the Tic Toc-Golfo Corcovado marine park is part of the Pacific Corridor, an initiative that seeks to connect diverse species - such as the blue whale - in a corridor from Alaska to Patagonia and create an interhemispheric network for marine conservation. The project is part of a declaration by the Coalition "Americas for the Protection of the Ocean" proposed by President Gabriel Boric to confront the three major crises affecting the world today: climate change, loss of biodiversity and deterioration of the oceans.
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