SANTIAGO – The Admiralty Sound (Seno Almirantazgo) will become the first Multiple Use Marine Coastal Protected Area (AMP-MU) in the Chilean province of Tierra del Fuego.
Bárbara Saavedra, director of the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), celebrated the news following a decision by the Council of Ministers of Sustainability of Chile.
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“It will allow the conservation of the first marine protected area in Tierra del Fuego, and develop a model of effective management of coastal preservation,” Saavedra said.
“We are starting to pay off the debt with the Chilean coast and Patagonia, where we are far below, despite the large oceanic protected areas,” she added.
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AMP-MU Admiralty Sound will preserve the habitat of species such as leopard seals, sea elephants and black-browed albatrosses, natural oyster banks and sites of tourist and archaeological interest.
During the closing of the International Congress of Marine Protected Areas (IMPAC4), President Michelle Bachelet announced that Chile will become the country with the largest marine protected area in the world.
“We will create a Marine Protected Areas Network in Magallanes, where Carlos III, Cabo de Hornos already exists and we will add the Admiralty Sound,” Bachelet said at the IMPAC4.
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With influence from the waters of the Strait of Magellan, the Admiralty Sound is a long fjord that penetrates about 80 kilometers towards the southeast of Tierra del Fuego and bathes the coasts of the WCS Parks Alberto de Agostini and Karukinka of Chile.
