The Chiloé Archipelago is home to an amazing array of wildlife, including sea lions, shorebirds (Chilean plover, Baird’s sandpiper, whimbrel, Hudsonian godwit, and more), dolphins, and migrating humpback and southern right whales.
A bay on of the islands in the archipelago, Quinchao, provides critical habitat for a breeding colony of black-necked swans, the symbol of the Curaco de Vélez community there. Huenao Bay also provides habitat for the small Chilean (black) and Peale’s dolphins, which feed and raise young in the bay’s coastal kelp beds. Both species are endemic to the cold coastal waters of southern South America.
But populations of the dolphins, swans, and endemic birds such as the flightless Fuegian steamer duck are on the decline. For the swans, the main culprits are habitat loss and plastic waste from aquaculture; predation by dogs; and tourists, who disturb birds on foot, in boats, and in land vehicles, and by flying drones. For dolphins, the primary threats are loss of space, acoustic and physical disturbance from the expansion of salmon and mollusk farms, and increasing boat traffic.
Mitigating these threats requires both community education and direct conservation actions. To ensure the long-term protection of critical habitats in the bay, Curaco de Vélez community members have pledged to permanently protect the critical habitat by:
- Teaching local children and adults how to protect wildlife by reducing waste, controlling dogs, cleaning up beaches, and pressuring aquaculture companies to act responsibly
- Installing fences to protect swan breeding areas from dogs, human activity, and vehicles
- Putting up signage to demarcate sensitive and restricted areas and show boat speed limits
- Monitoring swan breeding areas to deter or respond quickly to harmful acts
- Working with aquaculture companies to get them to agree to reduce their impacts on the bay
