Marine Reserves Announced for Rapa Nui and Other Chilean Islands.
| Autor | Witte-Lebhar, Benjamin |
Chile has positioned itself at the vanguard of global ocean conservation by creating a quick succession of marine protected areas (MPAs), including a reserve of more than 700,000-sq-km around the remote Pacific island of Rapa Nui, also known as Easter Island. But while the protection push has earned plenty of applause, its pace and scope are raising doubts about enforcement and feasibility.
The Rapa Nui reserve is the largest of several MPAs the administration of President Michelle Bachelet announced in early September during a major conference on marine conservation--the 4th International Marine Protected Areas Congress (IMPAC4)--in La Serena, in the north-central region of Coquimbo.
It is also the only initiative of its kind to be decided in a local referendum. The vote was open specifically to native islanders and took place Sept. 3, following several years of consultations. More than two thirds of the nearly 650 participants voted in favor of the ambitious conservation project, which outlaws industrial fishing, underwater mining, and other extractive industries but allows people to continue fishing the waters around Easter Island using traditional techniques and equipment.
"This consultation was intended to respect the will of the Rapa Nui people with regards to creating a marine protected area that respects the ancestral use of the sea and its fishing habits," said Marcelo Mena, Chile's environmental minister. "It is also part of the government's commitment to consolidate a collaborative and respectful way of working in the communities of our country."
Rapa Nui, world famous for its mysterious moai statues, lies about 3,500 km west of mainland Chile, which annexed the 163-sq-km island in the late 1800s. The "special territory," as it was designated in 2007, has fewer than 6,000 permanent residents, roughly 60% of whom are native Rapa Nui, and depends heavily on tourism.
Despite or perhaps because of its extreme isolation--the closest inhabited land is Pitcairn Island, more than 2,000 km away--the waters around Easter Island attract industrial fishing boats from as far away as Japan, China, and Spain, locals and environmental groups complain. The hope now is that the area's new status as an official Chilean government-backed marine reserve will persuade outside fishers to steer clear.
"The principal problem for Rapa Nui is illegal fishing," Chilean environmentalist Maximiliano Bellos of the Pew Charitable Trusts, a US-based organization...
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