{"id":34768,"date":"2026-07-21T10:15:00","date_gmt":"2026-07-21T14:15:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ecoticias.com\/en\/?p=34768"},"modified":"2026-07-21T10:15:00","modified_gmt":"2026-07-21T14:15:00","slug":"artisanal-fishers-in-chile-are-using-marine-refuges-to-protect-black-sea-urchins-and-help-revive-underwater-forests-an-unexpected-move-where-saving-one-species-helps-lift-an-entire-ecosystem","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ecoticias.com\/en\/artisanal-fishers-in-chile-are-using-marine-refuges-to-protect-black-sea-urchins-and-help-revive-underwater-forests-an-unexpected-move-where-saving-one-species-helps-lift-an-entire-ecosystem\/34768\/","title":{"rendered":"Artisanal fishers in Chile are using marine refuges to protect black sea urchins and help revive underwater forests, an unexpected move where saving one species helps lift an entire ecosystem"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

What happens when fishermen stop fishing in one of their most valuable coastal spots? Along Chile\u2019s central coast, the answer has been fewer black sea urchins<\/a>, thicker kelp and the return of fish, shellfish and other marine life. Monitoring through 2025 found black urchin counts down 96% in Ventanas since 2019 and 66% in Zapallar since 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The fishermen did not poison, trap or harvest their way out of the problem. Working with Fundaci\u00f3n Capital Azul<\/a>, they closed small sections of their own fishing grounds and let native predators recover. They gave the ocean room to rebuild its food web.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why the urchins surged<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Black sea urchins belong on Chile\u2019s rocky seafloor. They are native grazers, not an invasive enemy, and help shape coastal ecosystems when their numbers remain balanced. Trouble begins when too many predators disappear and urchins can feed with few biological limits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Researchers at the Centro de Investigaci\u00f3n Marina Quintay at Universidad Andr\u00e9s Bello<\/a> have documented expanding \u201cbarren grounds,\u201d where urchins strip away algae and leave pale, exposed rock. Kelp may look like ordinary seaweed, but large brown algae form underwater forests that provide food and shelter for fish, mollusks and small crustaceans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A 2014 experiment found that heavy grazing by this black urchin could prevent new Chilean kelp from becoming established. Experts involved in the refuge work also point to historic overfishing of predators and changing ocean conditions<\/a> as likely drivers. The urchin, as science and monitoring director Francisco Contreras-Drey put it, was left \u201cwithout biological brakes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Scientific
Underwater monitoring shows how urchin numbers are tracked inside the fishermen-led refuge at Ventanas.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A refuge instead of a cull<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Ventanas and Zapallar are managed under a Chilean system<\/a> that grants artisanal fishing groups exclusive rights to bottom-dwelling resources under sustainability plans. The Ventanas refuge covers about 29 acres around Punta Los Lunes, while Zapallar protects about 31 acres around Isla Seca. Fishing is voluntarily excluded inside both zones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That choice turned the fishermen into designers of their own restoration<\/a>. Sea stars and other predators could return, urchin grazing eased and kelp began recolonizing bare rock. Unlike a mass cull, the strategy addresses the damaged food web behind the urchin boom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ventanas changed fast<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The Ventanas refuge was established in 2016 and formalized the following year. Since 2019, monitoring counts have dropped from 2,172 black urchins to 77, a decline of 96%. Beginning in 2020, common sea stars tripled and sun stars doubled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The underwater forest followed. Counts of huiro palo, a large brown kelp, rose from 55 to 180, while orange anemones increased eightfold, and the refuge recorded a crab species not found in the comparison area. Rockfish diversified, and the marine otter known locally as the chungungo began appearing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The pace surprised the monitoring team because protected-area recovery<\/a> can take a decade or more. The data are observational, so they cannot prove every change came from the closure alone; however, they show a strong ecological sequence in the same protected place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Zapallar saw the pattern repeat<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Zapallar\u2019s refuge was officially inaugurated in 2021. By 2025, black urchin abundance had fallen by about two-thirds, while huiro palo increased sixfold \u2013  from 20 to 120 plants \u2013 in the sampling plots. Common sea stars were nearly three times as abundant inside the refuge as in nearby fishing areas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The number of mobile macroinvertebrate species, including snails, limpets and small crustaceans, rose from 11 to 15. Several rockfish doubled in abundance, and monitors recorded 10 blanquillo fish there for the first time. Bare pavement was starting to resemble a crowded neighborhood again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The gamble paid fishermen back<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Closing Isla Seca was not an easy sell. Sergio Veas, president of the local fishing union, recalled that the site once produced about 10,000 locos, a valuable Chilean sea snail. \u201cAt first it was a crazy idea,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then fishermen began seeing what ecologists call a spillover effect<\/a>. Piure, a filter-feeding animal eaten by locos, returned inside the refuge, and large locos began moving into neighboring areas where harvesting remained legal. Veas says boats can now work near the boundary, cutting travel time and fuel use.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The refuge also helped create recreational diving, educational boat trips and more business for local food outlets. Those gains have not yet been presented as a formal economic impact study. Still, they suggest conservation and fishing income do not always pull in opposite directions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One hour can undo years<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Recovery remains fragile. \u201cIf someone comes in and removes the predators that control the black urchin, they can ruin years of work in one hour,\u201d warned executive director Rodrigo S\u00e1nchez. Poaching and uncontrolled recreational diving remain serious concerns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Zapallar now uses two cameras with night vision and infrared detection. Internet-connected underwater microphones can pick up suspicious boat engines as well as whale songs. Local residents also report unfamiliar boats.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A model Chile can expand<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Chile\u2019s 2024 Benthic Law<\/a> formally recognized voluntary protection zones within artisanal management areas. That gives community-led refuges a clearer legal place for monitoring and conservation. The national fisheries authority describes these areas as a way to combine exclusive use rights with long-term resource protection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The approach is already moving south. At Guadei in the Los R\u00edos Region, an Indigenous fishing association is developing a refuge of about 37 acres with support from The Nature Conservancy, while other groups are adapting the model around Chilo\u00e9. A training program is passing the methods to fishing unions and local governments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Will every closed patch of coast recover this quickly? Probably not, because pollution, warming, illegal extraction and nearby predator populations will shape the outcome. Ventanas and Zapallar show, however, that giving ecosystems time can let nature do part of the work. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The main report has been published by Mongabay Latam<\/em>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Fishers\u2019 no-take refuges in Chile slash black urchins and let kelp forests, fish and shellfish rebound along the central coast.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":34769,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-34768","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-environment","resize-featured-image"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ecoticias.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34768","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ecoticias.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ecoticias.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ecoticias.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ecoticias.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34768"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.ecoticias.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34768\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34771,"href":"https:\/\/www.ecoticias.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34768\/revisions\/34771"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ecoticias.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34769"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ecoticias.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34768"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ecoticias.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34768"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ecoticias.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34768"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}