No Housing Slump for Penguins

© Graham Harris/WCS

The homeowners’ market for penguins in Patagonia is booming, following the Argentine government’s declaration of a new marine park. The isolated and windswept coast of the South American Cone may deter human investors, but for seabirds, this ecosystem is one of the most productive on the planet. Located in Golfo San Jorge, the new protected area covers about 250 square miles of coastal waters and nearby islands strung along almost 100 miles of shoreline.

More than half a million Magellanic penguins—estimated to be 20 percent of the entire species—nest and feed along the coastal area. The park also includes more than 40 small islands, which support Patagonia’s only two nesting colonies of southern giant petrels, as well as its only South American fur seal colonies. Other denizens of this coastal oasis are the endangered Olrog’s gull, the white-headed steamer duck, and almost a quarter of Argentina’s imperial and rock cormorants.

While Patagonia’s coastline is largely undeveloped, its wildlife is under pressure from a number of threats. Many seabirds become entangled in the fishing nets of Argentina’s commercial shrimp boats. Oil pollution from tankers and from expanding offshore oil drilling operations is a looming possibility.
 
The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) collaborated with the Government of Chubut Province, the National Parks Service of Argentina, and Fundación Patagonia Natural to create the new marine park. WCS has been active in Patagonia since the 1960s, conducting studies for the conservation of southern right whales, Magellanic penguins, and southern elephant seals.

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