Endangered Species Gets Its Waters Protected

Chile has established a new 100,000-hectare marine protected area for the endangered blue whale.

“Imagine a child running in the Alameda trying to find something to eat, surrounded by passing cars. It’s the same thing. We have to do more to protect this area, which is so important for them and for many other species,” says the Blue Whale Center’s president, Rodrigo Hucke-Gaete.

Today, the blue whale population consists of only a few hundred individuals. The newly-protected area, located in Chile’s Northern Patagonia, is one of the most important feeding and breeding areas of the Eastern South Pacific for a myriad of species – particularly the blue whale. By 2025, the hope is that 1 million hectares of water will be under protection for the species and its fellow marine life.