The Juan Fernández Islands and Desventuradas Islands, have the greatest number of unique species of the worldwide marine ecosystems, according to the Oceana NGO.
This is the result of two unprecedented expeditions,made in 2014 and 2015, at the Islands of Robinson Crusoe and Santa Clara, and also at two submarine hills of the Juan Fernández Islands.
Regarding to the result of the studies, the Mayor of Juan Fernández, Felipe Paredes, pointed out that they were impressed about the quantity of species they have on those waters, and he also expressed the challenge of administrate, manage and preserve the ecosystems for the next generations.
“Close to 62% of the fish species of reef, known in Juan Fernández and also at the Desventuradas Islands, only live there. This is two or three times big than in Hawai or Easter Island, where 25% and 22% of the fish, respectively, are endemics”, Alan Friedlander, Chief scientist, explained.
The report well-named as ” Marine Benthic Biodiversity at Islands Robinson Crusoe, Santa Clara and submarine hills JF1 and JF2″, counted with the participation of Dr. Alan Friedlander, who is director of the Fisheries Ecology Research Lab at the University of Hawaii, and Chief scientist of the Pristine Seas program from National Geographic. Carlos Gaymer from the Northern Catholic University, Dr. Matthias Gorny from Oceana NGO, and Dr. Álvaro Palma from Fisioaqua.
