Announcement: Chile Creates Enormous Ocean Preserve

ENRIC SALA, MARINE ECOLOGIST & NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC EXPLORER-IN-RESIDENCE:
The Desventuradas Islands are one of the most extraordinary places in the ocean: population of giant lobsters, abundant populations of fish, small population of the threatened Juan Fernandez fur seal.

This is a place so unique that if it went away, there will be nothing left on the planet like it.

HERALDO MUÑOZ, FOREIGN AFFAIRS MINISTER OF CHILE:
What we are doing is trying to protect our ocean through concrete measure, not by words. And the first thing we have decided is to present to the world and to our nation new marine protected areas.

The one around the Desventuradas Islands is a major endeavor—300,000 square kilometers.

ENRIC SALA, MARINE ECOLOGIST & NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC EXPLORER-IN-RESIDENCE:
Most of the ocean is unprotected, which is a like bank account where everybody withdraws but nobody makes a deposit. Marine protected areas are areas that we set aside like a savings account, with a principal that produces interest.

Actually, there is no future for fishing without marine protected areas. In addition to protecting the marine life within its boundaries, this new marine parks is also helping to replenish the populations of commercial fishes that are caught by the Chilean fishing industry.

HERALDO MUÑOZ, FOREIGN AFFAIRS MINISTER OF CHILE:
I think that Chile has a leadership role and has been pleased to take it up. We have such a long coast so that our future depends on the conservation of the ocean.

We are assuming a responsibility. We [have] a responsibility with the present generations and the one that will come right after.