Nourished by the Falkland Current, the Southern Ocean off Patagonia supports one of the richest fisheries and largest gatherings of marine wildlife in the world. A million pairs of Magellanic penguins, 150,000 pairs of black-browed albatrosses, 50,000 elephant seals, and 2,500 southern right whales grace the shores of Patagonia. Tragically, uncontrolled industrial fishing is systematically degrading the fisheries and threatening the marine wildlife that depends on them.
In response, Claudio Campagna, Argentina's foremost marine mammal scientist, his friend and Wildlife Conservation Society colleague, Graham Harris, and a cadre of scientists from Argentina and eight other countries together with a coalition of conservation organizations are championing the Sea & Sky Project for the Conservation of the Patagonian Large Marine Ecosystem.
The Foundation is underwriting their collective efforts to assemble and publish a comprehensive Status of Conservation of the Patagonian Sea that will serve as a blueprint for managing the ecosystem. Components include: ecological modeling; diagnostic monitoring indicators; temporal and spatial zoning to mitigate impacts on marine wildlife and ensure sustainable fisheries; and an effective legal and regulatory framework.