A bay, a community, and a promise for the future
Seacology helps protect a vital breeding refuge through local knowledge, education, and action
In Huenao Bay, the future can fit inside a nest. Among the reeds, a black-necked swan guards its eggs only a short distance from a shoreline where children play, families work, and Chilean and Peale’s dolphins feed and find refuge for their young. This closeness explains why this corner of Quinchao Island, in Chile’s Chiloé Archipelago, is so extraordinary and, at the same time, so vulnerable.
The black-necked swan is an emblematic bird for the community of Curaco de Vélez. Its unmistakable silhouette forms part of the local landscape, identity, and collective memory. However, in southern Chile it faces growing threats that affect its habitat and breeding areas. The endemic Chilean dolphin—classified as Vulnerable in the Los Lagos Region—and Peale’s dolphin also depend on the conservation of these cold coastal waters of southern South America.
The bay is also home to the flightless steamer duck, a near-threatened species. Plastic waste associated with aquaculture, uncontrolled dogs, disturbances caused by visitors and vehicles, increasing boat traffic, and the expansion of salmon and shellfish farming are placing growing pressure on this delicate refuge.
A swan guards its nest and hatchlings. The black-necked swan is threatened by habitat loss in the region.
Seacology Program Manager Mary Randolph visits the project earlier this year.
With support from Seacology, the Committee on Environment, Tourism, and Culture of Curaco de Vélez is working to secure the permanent conservation of 222 acres—approximately 90 hectares—of critical breeding and nursery habitat for these species. The project combines direct protection measures with environmental education, beach stewardship, and dialogue with aquaculture companies.
The breeding season has already begun, and the fieldwork has entered a decisive phase. The Committee has started monitoring the area with camera traps and has installed signs reminding residents and visitors of the importance of protecting and respecting the breeding area and avoiding behavior that could disturb the birds, their nests, or their young.
This commitment also has an important educational dimension. At Huenao Rural School, children learned about the birds with which they share their island through stories, images, and hands-on activities. Along the coast, community members and families visited and documented nesting areas and participated in coastal stewardship activities. Each gesture conveyed the same message: these animals are not distant symbols, but neighbors whose survival also depends on the choices we make every day.
Seacology is funding outreach to local schools, featuring fun mascots to educate local kids about their coastal species.
Our partners survey Huenao Bay's shoreline near Curaco de Vélez.
Huenao’s most enduring protection will be much more than a camera, a fence, or a sign. It will be a community that recognizes the bay as part of its own story. Watching children discover the value of a swan, and adults walking the shoreline with gloves and purpose makes it possible to imagine that future: a bay where wildlife can breed in peace and where local people continue to be its strongest guardians.
Claudio Delgado is Seacology’s field representative for Chile.