Islanders have fished the spiny, orange Juan Fern\u00e1ndez rock lobster for generations. Decades before \u201csustainability\u201d reached buzzword status, the fishers put limits in place to protect the prized lobsters from overfishing. Elsewhere, growing fishing fleets have depleted fish populations. Meanwhile, fishing in Juan Fern\u00e1ndez has barely changed. Some believe there are just as many lobsters living among the archipelago\u2019s rocky seamounts as ever before. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Today, the Juan Fern\u00e1ndez rock lobster singlehandedly supports most of the islands\u2019 economy. And as industrial fishing spreads globally, even to remote waters, local fishers know their livelihoods could soon be at risk. It\u2019s time to protect their local waters before it\u2019s too late. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Past, present, future <\/strong> <\/h3>\n\n\n\n![\"Fishers](\"data:image\/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB3aWR0aD0iMSIgaGVpZ2h0PSIxIiB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciPjwvc3ZnPg==\")
Fishers in Juan Fern\u00e1ndez use traditional wood traps to catch lobster. \u00a9 Oceana\/Eduardo Sorensen<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\nFisher Daniel Gonzalez and a crew hoist a huge, handmade wooden box from the waters. It\u2019s a trap, brimming with dozens of crawling lobsters. Each of the archipelago\u2019s approximately 150 fishing families has their own fishing ground, called a marca. These dedicated sites dot the nearshore waters surrounding the archipelago\u2019s three islands \u2014 Robinson Crusoe, Santa Clara, and Alejandro Selkirk \u2014 and the chain of underwater seamounts that make up the archipelago. Marcas are secret, never shared with outsiders. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
As an added layer of security, fishing rights cannot be bought or sold. The only way to obtain lobster fishing rights is to inherit them. For islanders like Gonzalez, who grew up running along the islands\u2019 docks and swimming its coves, becoming a fisher felt like \u201cdestiny.\u201d Today, Gonzalez enjoys the freedom and independence of running his own fishing business. In fact, just about every aspect of the islands\u2019 economy is owned by local families. But that was not always the case. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
A century ago, companies in mainland Chile held a tight grip on the lobster industry and life on the islands. These companies controlled what supplies went in and out. They owned everything from the local general store to the fishing boats. Tired of their labor being exploited, fishers in Juan Fern\u00e1ndez began building their own boats under the cover of night. They gradually gained their independence in the 1960s and 70s, and the Juan Fern\u00e1ndez Fisherman\u2019s Cooperative was born. Today, the islands\u2019 economy is entirely in the people\u2019s hands. Fishers export the vast majority of their lobster to China, where one tail can fetch $20. <\/p>\n\n\n
\nThousands of spiny, orange Juan Fern\u00e1ndez rock lobster live around the lobster’s namesake archipelago. \u00a9 Oceana\/Eduardo Sorensen<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\nThe Fernandezian community has pioneered many ways of protecting the lobster population. Starting 90 years ago, the islanders stopped catching egg-carrying female lobsters to ensure the population stayed healthy. Gonzalez explains that fishers only catch lobster above a minimum size, by which point the lobster should be grown enough to have already reproduced at least five times, producing around 3 million eggs. They also close the fishing season from May 15 to Sept. 30 each year. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe are always aware that where we are doing the fishing taxes the ecosystem,\u201d says Gonzalez. After relying on lobster for the last 100 years, the community is counting on the next 100 years, too. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
While the Juan Fern\u00e1ndez rock lobster fishery has remained strong due to these limits, the archipelago witnessed a different fishery crash in the 1990s. Bottom trawlers intensively fished the orange roughy, a slow-growing, deep-sea fish species, driving it to nearly disappear. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
To keep the rock lobster from meeting the roughy\u2019s fate, the people of Juan Fern\u00e1ndez sought to legally protect their surrounding waters. Small protected no-take areas already existed in waters around Robinson Crusoe island. Now, the islanders wanted to establish larger protected areas for local fishing grounds close to shore. The Fernandezian community partnered with Oceana to campaign for a new protected area that would allow both fishers and lobsters to thrive. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The campaign was successful. In 2016, Chile\u2019s government announced the \u201cMar de Juan Fern\u00e1ndez\u201d Multiple-Use Marine Coastal Protected Area<\/a>, which expanded in 2018 to cover 24,000 square kilometers (over 9,200 square miles) of protected ocean, plus a large-scale marine park. Admittedly a mouthful, the name\u2019s technicalities hint at what makes this protected area special. It is multi-purpose, allowing both sustainable fishing and the continued safeguarding of the marine life living in this biodiverse habitat. In Juan Fern\u00e1ndez, it\u2019s clear that the two go hand-in-hand. <\/p>\n\n\n\nThe islanders wanted to establish larger protected areas for local fishing grounds close to shore. \u00a9 Oceana\/Eduardo Sorensen.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\nTea for your thoughts<\/strong> <\/h3>\n\n\n\nThere was one problem with the new protected area. Without an official management plan on the books, it would merely become a \u201cpaper park\u201d \u2014 protected in theory, but lacking the teeth needed to protect it in practice. Thus began an extensive collaboration between the local community, the Chilean government, scientists, and Oceana to establish a governance model. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In 2021, Dr. Liesbeth van der Meer, Oceana\u2019s leader in Chile, called someone she thought could help: Dr. Ignacio Petit. A marine researcher, Petit had worked in Juan Fern\u00e1ndez while completing his undergraduate thesis. After learning about the management plan, Petit eagerly joined the effort with Oceana. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The management plan proved to be a complex group project. A research organization called the Center for Ecology and Sustainable Management of Oceanic Islands (ESMOI) drafted the preliminary version of the plan, in collaboration with the Juan Fern\u00e1ndez community and Chile\u2019s government. Then Petit, along with his Oceana colleagues, spent months working with individual community members to incorporate their ideas. \u201cWhat kinds of fishing should be allowed?\u201d he\u2019d ask, \u201cand where?\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Much of the existing management would remain the same, continuing the fishers\u2019 traditional sustainable practices. But the community decided they wanted some parts of the nearshore waters to require higher standards, with only certain fishing gear permitted. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
With a 200-page draft in hand, the final phase began: ensuring everyone was on board. Over the next six months, a local team of women, led and coordinated by local resident Scheila Recabarren, visited people the way neighbors often do in Juan Fern\u00e1ndez: over a cup of tea. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Neighbors hosted tea times with surrounding households \u2014 a chance to catch up with one another and to discuss the new plan. Oceana\u2019s team attended many of these teas to chat with a dozen community members at a time. When they weren\u2019t enjoying refreshments, the team knocked on nearly every door on the islands \u2014 ultimately reaching 89% of the archipelago\u2019s residents. They also held workshops, meetings, and activities like trivia, recalls Recabarren. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s always difficult to reach consensus with hundreds of people, Petit points out. There were a few naysayers, but the process otherwise went smoothly. \u201cPeople really wanted these protections,\u201d Petit says. The new management plan boasts the highest community involvement of any in Chile\u2019s history. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been scientifically proven that when communities are part of management plans, protected areas are better managed,\u201d van der Meer emphasizes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s been scientifically proven that when communities are part of management plans, protected areas are better managed.”<\/p>-Dr. Liesbeth Van der Meer, Senior Vice President at Oceana<\/cite><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\nStill, a new challenge threatened to snag progress. The Juan Fern\u00e1ndez community needed to elect representatives to oversee the plan as part of a Local Management Council. Unlucky timing meant this election fell too close to a political election and therefore was prohibited by Chilean law. They improvised a solution: \u201cWe worked with a legal consultant to create a community organization. Anyone could join the organization and help choose a board of leaders,\u201d Sof\u00eda Ramirez, Oceana\u2019s Director of Operations in Chile, explains. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The members approved a diverse group of representatives from the community, as well as tourism and fishing stakeholders from each of the three islands \u2014 including Daniel Gonzalez. Part of the Local Governance Council, these individuals voice concerns on behalf of the people and work directly with government officials to ensure everyone is represented. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In September 2024, they met around a table to officially sign off<\/a> on the long-awaited plan. <\/p>\n\n\n\nThe Local Management Council and government officials gather to sign off on the Juan Fern\u00e1ndez management plan in September 2024. \u00a9 Oceana\/Pablo Acu\u00f1a<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\nSigned and sealed<\/strong> <\/h3>\n\n\n\n
![\"Fishers](\"https:\/\/oceana.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/18\/2025\/03\/SAO-\u00a9OCEANA-Juan-Fernandez-R.Crusoe-Eduardo-Sorensen-SUB-2013-047-1-1-1024x678.jpg\")
Fisher Daniel Gonzalez and a crew hoist a huge, handmade wooden box from the waters. It\u2019s a trap, brimming with dozens of crawling lobsters. Each of the archipelago\u2019s approximately 150 fishing families has their own fishing ground, called a marca. These dedicated sites dot the nearshore waters surrounding the archipelago\u2019s three islands \u2014 Robinson Crusoe, Santa Clara, and Alejandro Selkirk \u2014 and the chain of underwater seamounts that make up the archipelago. Marcas are secret, never shared with outsiders. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
As an added layer of security, fishing rights cannot be bought or sold. The only way to obtain lobster fishing rights is to inherit them. For islanders like Gonzalez, who grew up running along the islands\u2019 docks and swimming its coves, becoming a fisher felt like \u201cdestiny.\u201d Today, Gonzalez enjoys the freedom and independence of running his own fishing business. In fact, just about every aspect of the islands\u2019 economy is owned by local families. But that was not always the case. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
A century ago, companies in mainland Chile held a tight grip on the lobster industry and life on the islands. These companies controlled what supplies went in and out. They owned everything from the local general store to the fishing boats. Tired of their labor being exploited, fishers in Juan Fern\u00e1ndez began building their own boats under the cover of night. They gradually gained their independence in the 1960s and 70s, and the Juan Fern\u00e1ndez Fisherman\u2019s Cooperative was born. Today, the islands\u2019 economy is entirely in the people\u2019s hands. Fishers export the vast majority of their lobster to China, where one tail can fetch $20. <\/p>\n\n\n
![\"Thousands](\"https:\/\/oceana.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/18\/2025\/03\/SAO-\u00a9OCEANA-Juan-Fernandez-R.Crusoe-Eduardo-Sorensen-SUB-2011-012-1-2-1024x683.jpg\")
The Fernandezian community has pioneered many ways of protecting the lobster population. Starting 90 years ago, the islanders stopped catching egg-carrying female lobsters to ensure the population stayed healthy. Gonzalez explains that fishers only catch lobster above a minimum size, by which point the lobster should be grown enough to have already reproduced at least five times, producing around 3 million eggs. They also close the fishing season from May 15 to Sept. 30 each year. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe are always aware that where we are doing the fishing taxes the ecosystem,\u201d says Gonzalez. After relying on lobster for the last 100 years, the community is counting on the next 100 years, too. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
While the Juan Fern\u00e1ndez rock lobster fishery has remained strong due to these limits, the archipelago witnessed a different fishery crash in the 1990s. Bottom trawlers intensively fished the orange roughy, a slow-growing, deep-sea fish species, driving it to nearly disappear. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
To keep the rock lobster from meeting the roughy\u2019s fate, the people of Juan Fern\u00e1ndez sought to legally protect their surrounding waters. Small protected no-take areas already existed in waters around Robinson Crusoe island. Now, the islanders wanted to establish larger protected areas for local fishing grounds close to shore. The Fernandezian community partnered with Oceana to campaign for a new protected area that would allow both fishers and lobsters to thrive. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The campaign was successful. In 2016, Chile\u2019s government announced the \u201cMar de Juan Fern\u00e1ndez\u201d Multiple-Use Marine Coastal Protected Area<\/a>, which expanded in 2018 to cover 24,000 square kilometers (over 9,200 square miles) of protected ocean, plus a large-scale marine park. Admittedly a mouthful, the name\u2019s technicalities hint at what makes this protected area special. It is multi-purpose, allowing both sustainable fishing and the continued safeguarding of the marine life living in this biodiverse habitat. In Juan Fern\u00e1ndez, it\u2019s clear that the two go hand-in-hand. <\/p>\n\n\n\n There was one problem with the new protected area. Without an official management plan on the books, it would merely become a \u201cpaper park\u201d \u2014 protected in theory, but lacking the teeth needed to protect it in practice. Thus began an extensive collaboration between the local community, the Chilean government, scientists, and Oceana to establish a governance model. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In 2021, Dr. Liesbeth van der Meer, Oceana\u2019s leader in Chile, called someone she thought could help: Dr. Ignacio Petit. A marine researcher, Petit had worked in Juan Fern\u00e1ndez while completing his undergraduate thesis. After learning about the management plan, Petit eagerly joined the effort with Oceana. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The management plan proved to be a complex group project. A research organization called the Center for Ecology and Sustainable Management of Oceanic Islands (ESMOI) drafted the preliminary version of the plan, in collaboration with the Juan Fern\u00e1ndez community and Chile\u2019s government. Then Petit, along with his Oceana colleagues, spent months working with individual community members to incorporate their ideas. \u201cWhat kinds of fishing should be allowed?\u201d he\u2019d ask, \u201cand where?\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Much of the existing management would remain the same, continuing the fishers\u2019 traditional sustainable practices. But the community decided they wanted some parts of the nearshore waters to require higher standards, with only certain fishing gear permitted. <\/p>\n\n\n\n With a 200-page draft in hand, the final phase began: ensuring everyone was on board. Over the next six months, a local team of women, led and coordinated by local resident Scheila Recabarren, visited people the way neighbors often do in Juan Fern\u00e1ndez: over a cup of tea. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Neighbors hosted tea times with surrounding households \u2014 a chance to catch up with one another and to discuss the new plan. Oceana\u2019s team attended many of these teas to chat with a dozen community members at a time. When they weren\u2019t enjoying refreshments, the team knocked on nearly every door on the islands \u2014 ultimately reaching 89% of the archipelago\u2019s residents. They also held workshops, meetings, and activities like trivia, recalls Recabarren. <\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s always difficult to reach consensus with hundreds of people, Petit points out. There were a few naysayers, but the process otherwise went smoothly. \u201cPeople really wanted these protections,\u201d Petit says. The new management plan boasts the highest community involvement of any in Chile\u2019s history. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt\u2019s been scientifically proven that when communities are part of management plans, protected areas are better managed,\u201d van der Meer emphasizes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt\u2019s been scientifically proven that when communities are part of management plans, protected areas are better managed.”<\/p>-Dr. Liesbeth Van der Meer, Senior Vice President at Oceana<\/cite><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n Still, a new challenge threatened to snag progress. The Juan Fern\u00e1ndez community needed to elect representatives to oversee the plan as part of a Local Management Council. Unlucky timing meant this election fell too close to a political election and therefore was prohibited by Chilean law. They improvised a solution: \u201cWe worked with a legal consultant to create a community organization. Anyone could join the organization and help choose a board of leaders,\u201d Sof\u00eda Ramirez, Oceana\u2019s Director of Operations in Chile, explains. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The members approved a diverse group of representatives from the community, as well as tourism and fishing stakeholders from each of the three islands \u2014 including Daniel Gonzalez. Part of the Local Governance Council, these individuals voice concerns on behalf of the people and work directly with government officials to ensure everyone is represented. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In September 2024, they met around a table to officially sign off<\/a> on the long-awaited plan. <\/p>\n\n\n![\"Fishers](\"https:\/\/oceana.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/18\/2025\/03\/SAO-\u00a9OCEANA-Juan-Fernandez-R.Crusoe-Eduardo-Sorensen-SUP-2013-020-1-1-1024x680.jpg\")
Tea for your thoughts<\/strong> <\/h3>\n\n\n\n
![\"Officials](\"https:\/\/oceana.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/18\/2025\/03\/Adobe-Express-file-1024x768.png\")
Signed and sealed<\/strong> <\/h3>\n\n\n\n