How a Remote Chilean Island Pushed the Country to Protect 50% of Its Ocean

Roughly 400 miles off the coast of central Chile lies the Juan Fernández archipelago, a rugged chain of volcanic islands often described by biologists as the "Galápagos of the South." Fewer than 1,000 people live in the region, primarily on Robinson Crusoe Island, where the local economy is almost entirely sustained by a delicate balance with the surrounding Pacific Ocean.

For more than a century, the islanders have managed a highly sustainable artisanal fishery for the endemic Juan Fernández rock lobster. Long before modern environmental regulations existed, the community self-imposed strict catch limits, seasonal closures, and gear restrictions to ensure the lobster population would never collapse.[3]

The fishery operates on a unique, traditional tenure system known as "marcas." Fishers deploy single wooden traps at specific, inherited geographic coordinates, preventing the kind of unchecked expansion that has decimated coastal ecosystems elsewhere. This meticulous stewardship earned the fishery the highest sustainability certification from the Marine Stewardship Council.[3]

However, the pristine waters surrounding the archipelago have increasingly drawn the attention of semi-industrial fleets, particularly those hunting swordfish. Recognizing the threat to their livelihoods and the broader ecosystem, the local community organization—the Organización Comunitaria Funcional Mar de Juan Fernández—formally petitioned the Chilean government in September 2025 to drastically expand the region's marine protected areas.[2]

That grassroots push culminated in a historic executive decision. On March 10, 2026, his final day in office, outgoing left-wing President Gabriel Boric signed a decree granting full protection to roughly 337,000 square kilometers (130,000 square miles) of ocean around the Juan Fernández and Nazca-Desventuradas marine parks.[2]

The sheer scale of the designation is staggering. Once fully implemented, the expanded network will cover nearly 946,000 square kilometers, making it the third-largest fully protected marine area in the world, trailing only the Ross Sea in Antarctica and the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument in Hawaii.

Crucially, the decree pushes Chile past a monumental threshold: more than 50 percent of the country's Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) would be legally safeguarded against all extractive activities, including industrial fishing and deep-sea mining. Only the Pacific island nation of Palau has achieved a similar proportion of domestic ocean protection.[2]

The biological value of these waters is difficult to overstate. The archipelagos sit atop vast underwater mountain chains, or seamounts, which act as vital refuges for migratory whales, dolphins, and endangered sea turtles. The isolation of these seamounts has driven extraordinary evolutionary divergence; an estimated 87 percent of the fish species around Juan Fernández are endemic, meaning they exist nowhere else on Earth.[2]

But the path from executive decree to permanent protection has hit a political speed bump. On March 11, the day after the marine parks were expanded, incoming conservative President José Antonio Kast assumed office with a mandate focused on economic deregulation, reducing bureaucracy, and prioritizing industrial growth.[1][2]

Within 24 hours of his inauguration, Kast's administration suspended 43 environmental decrees signed during the final weeks of the Boric presidency—including the Juan Fernández expansion. The new government stated that the halt was a necessary "internal audit" to review last-minute regulations that could impact national employment and capital investment.[1][2]

The sweeping rollback immediately sparked public backlash. On March 22, thousands of Chileans marched across 15 cities to mark World Water Day, protesting what organizers described as an "environmental chainsaw approach" that prioritized big capital over ecological stability.[1]

Marine policy experts and local fishers have expressed deep concern over the delay. Max Bello, an ocean policy expert at the Blue Marine Foundation, noted that commercial fishing interests—specifically the semi-industrial swordfish sector—have long opposed the expansion. Any weakening of the decree's "no-take" provisions would leave the archipelago's fragile seamounts vulnerable to exploitation.[2]

Despite the tension, the Kast administration's Environment Ministry has sought to reassure the public, stating that the suspension is merely a routine administrative review common during political transitions. The ministry insists that advancing the marine protections remains a priority for the government.[2]

For the residents of Robinson Crusoe Island, the current political limbo is just another chapter in a century-long effort to protect their home. By proving that sustainable artisanal fishing can coexist with world-class conservation, the Juan Fernández community has already provided a blueprint for how nations can meet the ambitious global target of protecting 30 percent of the planet's oceans by 2030.[4]