The plant’s location right here was no accident. Guafo lies within the Gulf of Corcovado, an unlimited waterway separating mainland Chile from the a lot bigger Chiloé Island. Thanks to freshwater enter from melting Andean glaciers, it has the proper situations for an abundance of krill, making it the most important feeding and breeding grounds within the Eastern South Pacific for blue whales. It’s additionally a frequent cease within the austral summer time for different cetaceans, together with humpbacks, orcas, sei and southern proper whale
Today, in 2023, this hall as soon as identified for the pillaging of animals, is now teeming with them. That’s why Yaqueline Montecinos, Marine Biodiversity and Ocean Policy Coordinator at WWF Chile, has moored a analysis vessel close to the old whaling station. Within an hour of arriving in a close-by fishing cove, she spots a distant spout. Then, a humpback whale emerges from the steel-blue waters, carving a path out and in of waves alongside the cloudy horizon. A couple of minutes later, it even wows her with cinematic acrobatics.
“This place is home to such a massive amount of biodiversity,” she says from the vessel’s bow as sea lions sure down slippery rocks and a pod of Peale’s dolphins scurries close by. Another humpback rises from the distant sea earlier than slapping its white-tipped tail, launching a burst of oceanic fireworks.
