MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Chile considering whale sanctuary along its coastline

“Wait until June,” say Enviro Minister Ana Lya Uriarte (left) and CCC head Bárbara Galletti. <br>Photo by Benjamin Witte

Chile appears ever closer to declaring its entire Pacific coastline &ndash; one of the longest in the world &ndash; a whale “sanctuary.” According to government officials, President Michelle Bachelet is likely to endorse the proposal as early as June, when Chile hosts this year's annual meeting of the International Whaling Commission.

Last year the Centre for Cetacean Conservation (CCC) – with support from the National Confederation of Chilean Artisan Fishermen (CONAPACH) and Ecoceanos, a Santiago-based environmental NGO – came up with a plan to prohibit all varieties of whale hunting in Chilean waters. A law already in place outlaws whaling through 2025. CONAPACH's so-called Whale Sanctuary for Chile proposal would extend that law indefinitely. In recent months the proposal has received almost universal backing, with the Chamber of Deputies, the Senate and even the Navy throwing their weight behind it. Some 120 environmental groups around the planet also support the proposed sanctuary. This week the heads of Ecoceanos, the CCC and CONAPACH took the next step in their quest to save the whales, hand delivering their proposal directly to President Bachelet. Also present during the encounter were Socialist Party (PS) Sen. Juan Pablo Letelier and Environment Minister Ana Lya Uriarte. Given the bipartisan enthusiasm the proposal received in Congress, observers expect that with President Bachelet's support, the whale sanctuary could become law in a relatively short period of time. "We had an excellent meeting with the president. We discussed how the majority of Chileans are anxious to protect the whales…We're all clear on the fact that the world is better with whales than without them. Not all of us have an opportunity to actually see them. But we know that having them around is better for the planet," said Uriarte. "Either way there will be new developments before June," the environment minister added. CCC President Bárbara Galletti, CONAPACH head Zoila Bustamante and Sen. Letelier were all enthusiastic about the meeting. Galletti praised the president's "willingness" to collaborate on the matter and like Uriarte, said she expected a major breakthrough before June. Letelier, meanwhile, insisted the proposal is compatible with other pending marine conservation legislation. "This is about creating a country where there is respect, deep respect. Respect for our heritage, for our waters, and for life itself. And that's what should be unilaterally declared, that our country offers a sanctuary to the whales," he said. In declaring such a sanctuary, Chile would follow a precedent already set by Costa Rica and Mexico. Environmentalists hope other nations will eventually follow suit, allowing for the creation of a protected zone covering all of Latin America's Pacific coastal waters. "The strategy is to continue including larger ocean areas as whale sanctuaries. This could mean that between now and the next 10 years, whale hunting would become an outdated practice… We're convinced that it's an activity that's on the way out. In the southern hemisphere, only Japan (hunts whales)," Ecoceanos Director Juan Carlos Cárdenas told the Santiago Times' sister newspaper, the Patagonia Times. According to Cárdenas, nearly 50% of the world's whale species pass through Chilean waters on a regular basis. Every year, furthermore, Chile hosts a sizeable population of blue whales, which come to feed and reproduce off the northern coast of Chiloé Island. Nearly hunted to extinction during the last century, blue whales – the world's largest creatures – are still very much endangered. "Especially in the south there are populations that are recovering very, very slowly. In the case of the blue whales north of Chiloé, we have the largest concentration of blue whales in the world right now," said Cárdenas. The Santiago Times