On a remote archipelago in the South Pacific — the same chain of islands where Alexander Selkirk was stranded for four years, inspiring Robinson Crusoe — a 130-year-old fishing tradition and a presidential decree have combined to create one of the most significant ocean protection events in history.
On **March 9, 2026**, President **Gabriel Boric** of Chile signed a decree granting full protection to **360,000 km²** of ocean surrounding the **Juan Fernández Archipelago** and the existing **Nazca-Desventuradas Marine Park**.
The result is extraordinary. Combined with existing marine protections already in place around the archipelagos, the total fully protected area in the region now reaches **946,571 km²** — making it the **third largest fully protected marine area in the world**, behind only the Ross Sea Marine Protected Area in Antarctica and the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument in Hawaii.
And for Chile as a whole, the move pushes the country past **50% protection of its exclusive economic zone** — placing it alongside global conservation leaders including French Polynesia and Panama.
**A Legacy That Began With Lobster Fishermen**
Perhaps the most remarkable aspect of this story is who proposed it.
The islands' residents — the fishing communities of the Juan Fernández Archipelago who have managed their famous lobster fishery sustainably since **1890** — submitted the conservation proposal to the government. For over 130 years, these fishermen have operated on a self-imposed code that has kept both the fishery and the surrounding marine ecosystem healthy. Their proposal called for expanding and strengthening the conservation protections around the archipelagos that their families have depended upon for generations.
The government listened.
**What's Being Protected**
The Juan Fernández and Desventuradas archipelagos form part of an immense underwater mountain chain in the South Pacific that supports **remarkable levels of endemism** — species found nowhere else on Earth.
Among the wildlife protected by the decree:
🦭 **Juan Fernández fur seals** — once hunted nearly to extinction for the fur trade, now recovering under existing protections, their primary habitat now fully secured 🐋 **Whales and dolphins** — multiple species use these remote Pacific waters 🐢 **Sea turtles** — critical nesting and foraging habitat 🐦 **Seabirds** — dozens of species, including endemic and migratory 🦞 **Lobster** — the foundation of the island economy, sustainably managed for over a century 🐙 **Octopus and diverse fish species** — the intact food web that makes the ecosystem function
The waters around the archipelagos are part of a vast underwater volcanic mountain range whose peaks create upwellings of nutrient-rich water, generating exceptional marine biodiversity. The level of species endemism here — unique species found nowhere else — places these islands among the most biologically distinct marine environments in the world.
**The Kunming-Montreal Context**
Chile's decision also positions the country as a frontrunner in implementing the **Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework** — the international agreement signed in 2022 that set a target of protecting 30% of the world's lands and oceans by 2030.
Most nations are still far from 30%. Chile has now passed 50% of its ocean. The comparison illustrates just how ambitious the Chilean commitment is.
**Why Full Protection Matters**
Not all marine protected areas are equal. Many allow industrial fishing, deep-sea mining, or other extractive activities within their boundaries. "Full protection" means exactly what it says: no industrial extraction, period. Fully protected marine areas show the strongest ecological benefits, including recovery of fish populations that then spill over into surrounding waters, increasing catches for local fishermen.
For the Juan Fernández fishing communities, the logic is direct: protect the ecosystem fully, and the fishery that has sustained their way of life for 130 years will continue to do the same for generations to come.
Off the coast of Chile, where the lobster fishermen first learned to manage abundance carefully, and where the ocean floor rises in submarine mountains draped in life found nowhere else — the sea is safe. 🌊
*Sources: Oceanographic Magazine (March 9, 2026) · Blue Marine Foundation · President Gabriel Boric decree · Protected Planet*
