Chile’s Juan Fernández fur seals: systemic recovery hinges on decolonising marine conservation and addressing extractive industrial legacies

Indigenous Rapa Nui and Juan Fernández islanders historically coexisted with the fur seals, viewing them as kin and stewards of marine health, with oral traditions documenting their decline during colonial incursions. Sylvia Earle’s 1965 discovery occurred amid a period of intensified industrial fishing and settler expansion, which displaced Indigenous stewardship practices that may have prevented the near-extinction. Modern conservation often erases these narratives, framing recovery as a scientific triumph rather than a restoration of relational accountability to place.

The 60-year delay in protection reflects a pattern where Southern Hemisphere biodiversity hotspots are discovered by Global North scientists but only protected after irreversible declines, as seen with the vaquita porpoise in Mexico or the baiji dolphin in China. Colonial-era resource extraction (e.g., sealing for fur, guano mining) devastated Juan Fernández ecosystems long before industrial fishing, yet these historical drivers are rarely centred in conservation narratives. The delay also mirrors how Global South conservation projects are often deprioritised in international funding cycles dominated by Northern NGOs.

Pacific Island communities have successfully integrated customary marine tenure (*tabu*) with modern conservation, such as Fiji’s Locally Managed Marine Areas (LMMAs), which have restored fish populations and cultural authority over resources. In Aotearoa New Zealand, the *Māori-led* co-governance of marine reserves (e.g., Te Tapuwae o Rongokako) demonstrates how Indigenous legal frameworks can outperform state-led protections in biodiversity outcomes. These models suggest Chile’s new park could be strengthened by legally recognising Rapa Nui and Juan Fernández islanders’ traditional rights and knowledge systems.

The Juan Fernández fur seal (*Arctocephalus philippii*) is a flagship species for the Humboldt Current’s biodiversity crisis, with its recovery dependent on addressing both local threats (overfishing, pollution) and global stressors (climate change, deep-sea mining). Sylvia Earle’s 1965 expedition was part of early marine mammal research that laid groundwork for modern cetacean conservation science, yet its delayed application reflects systemic gaps in translating science into policy for Southern Hemisphere species. The new park’s ‘no-take’ zone aligns with evidence that 30-50% of marine areas must be protected to maintain ecosystem resilience.

In Rapa Nui cosmology, the fur seal (*kio*) is a messenger between humans and the sea god *Tangaroa*, its decline interpreted as a rupture in cosmic balance requiring collective ritual restoration. Chilean poet Pablo Neruda’s *Odas Elementales* evokes the Juan Fernández islands as a place of wild, untamed beauty, a sentiment echoed in contemporary art that critiques industrialisation’s erasure of these landscapes. Spiritual traditions across Polynesia and South America frame marine conservation as an act of reciprocity (*mauri* in Māori thought), contrasting with the extractive logic driving the seals’ near-extinction.

Climate change projections for the Humboldt Current suggest upwelling zones—critical for fur seal prey—will shift poleward, potentially displacing the colony unless the park’s boundaries are expanded and connected to other protected areas. Scenario modelling by the UNEP’s *Global Biodiversity Framework* indicates that 30% of marine areas must be strictly protected by 2030 to prevent further collapses, yet current commitments fall short by 15-20%. The new park could serve as a case study for integrating Indigenous co-governance with adaptive management, a model scalable to other Southern Hemisphere hotspots.

Local fishers in Juan Fernández and Robinson Crusoe Island have long reported declining seal populations and linked it to industrial trawling, but their knowledge was dismissed by scientists and policymakers until recently. Rapa Nui activists have criticised the park’s exclusion of their traditional territories, arguing that without Indigenous co-management, protections will remain performative. The delay in protection also reflects racialised hierarchies in conservation, where Global North scientists’ discoveries are prioritised over decades of Indigenous observation and advocacy.