SPANISH:
Esta
página está en inglés como parte del compromiso en
apoyo a la difusión internacional de las
actividades desarrolladas por los habitantes de
Chañaral de Aceituno.
Chile does not only have a great
marine mammals diversity but also is a long
country with a complex geography. Often there are
areas with no scientific effort to assess the
marine mammals occurrence. CMMR Leviathan has
included creative efforts to solve this problem,
by designing and building an autonomous sailboat
for research purposes, is working on remote
monitoring technology but there is a solution much
simpler. Since 20 years the founders of our
Corporation have been working together with local
fishermen communities. They are every day at seas
and their experience deserves our respect.
At the CMMR Leviathan we strongly
believe that science is a tool and not a purpose.
As a tool it has to serve to the people that need
answers the most. We have been pioneers in Chile
in developing Whalewatching programs with local
communities based on our long term scientific
programs. This information is valuable for us as
well as for the tour operators in the coast. We
believe that we have found a way to help each
other by working together.
We are glad to present you the
first step of the pilot project "Participative
Study and Monitoring on Cetacean Diversity and
Occurrence in Chañaral Island" or "Vista al Mar".
Concept
This project is a
simple but important step to setup a
system for data collecting involving the new
members of the local community in sustainable
tourism procedures. The local fishermen as
tour-operators are taking digital photos
of the cetaceans and wildlife in general, the
screen of a portable GPS and the tourists
during their trips. The photos are able
to be shared with the tourists improving the
local tourism services and provides me
with valuable information about the cetacean
occurrence (as diversity and spatio-temporal
distribution) and the whalewatching practices.
In return, the operators will receive free
training, publicity and the equipment in
donation.
A high resolution photo camera
with underwater housing, a portable and
waterproof GPS, a desktop computer with Linux
and several accessories are delivered to the
local community. This first time to the
local inhabitants of Caleta Chañaral de
Aceituno, Region of Atacama, northern coast of
Chile. Several workshops were successfully
developed on how to use these equipment and
subjects like responsible whalewatching and
tourism management.
A contract is agreed between the
community and CMMR Leviathan on which
basically the community receives and become
the owner of the equipment with the mission of
taking photos of marine wildlife and the
screen of a GPS. on each event. The photos are
shared with CMMR Leviathan for its study but
is not allowed to commercialize that
material belonging to the local community. The
analysis conclusions are directly shared with
the community and every paper using that data
includes an acknowledgement to the authors of
the graphic material. I the other hand,
Leviathan contributes to promote the
services and products of the local
community on
its website and contacting tour agencies in
Chile and abroad. We know
that success often comes with the
risk of replacement by bigger stakeholders. We
want through this project, to help the local
community to improve their services and
products to become more competitive, keep
their land and if possible to offer their
services to the tour agencies instead of
becoming replaced by bigger stakeholders.
Goals of
"Vista al Mar":
- To diminish “tourism piracy” by
involving more local inhabitants in an agreement
to respect procedures to reduce the negative
impacts of the (yet non regulated) whalewatching
activities.
- To implement a system to
retrieve information on the local cetacean
occurrence and tourism practices with the
participation of the local community.
- To analyze the correlation
between the known cetacean distribution in the
area, the sites used by the tour operators, the
species they approach to, and to develop a
preliminary assessment of the local
tour-operator's cetacean sighting rate.
- To share technology that can
improve the local tourism product and services,
making more competitive the local community and
this way helping to diminish the risk of
“replacement” by bigger stakeholders that do not
necessarily share the same commitment to
responsible practices.
- To promote the operators with
better practices on
responsible whalewatching.
Welcome to see the ocean,
welcome to "Vista al Mar"
Welcome to visit Chile and its
natural resources in company of the people that
live at the field and are committed to environment
protection as well as scientific research. With
your visit you are supporting the CMMR Leviathan's
effort to promote responsible whalewatching,
respectful science, and social communities that
are willing to improve their standars each day to
bring you a great experience. Do not hesitate to contact
us.
Area of
Study
Chañaral de Aceituno is a small
town located in the coast of the northern part of
Chile, in the third region of Atacama in South
America. The access is from Santiago to La Serena
city (430km) and from there to the coast through
Punta de Choros (200km) as the southern access or
Domeiko as the northern access (280km from La
Serena). Do not hesitate to contact
us if you need assistance.
How to participate
To help us is very simple. Just
visit the town and enjoy your experience while
preferring to contract the services of the
members of the community linked to the project
(all the training is free for the community but
not all of them are participating). Then please
bring us some feedback by sharing your thoughts
with us through the forms provided below
on this page.
Also, you can contribute with the project
directly is you have cameras, GPS or you want
your brand to be linked to this effort.
The local members linked to the
responsible tourism practices are:
Mr Pascual Iribarren,
Juan Campusano, Luis González, Patricio Ortiz, Hector Oyarzun, Rebeca
Ovalle,
Pascual Morales, Cristian Torres
and Aurora Campusano. By preferring them,
more members of the community will join us
participating on the free workshops and training
provided by CMMR Leviathan.
Local Services
The small town, has grew and now
offers everything you need to have a great
experience. If you like to explore small towns,
wildlife, desert and ocean, to know the local
stories and enjoy great sea food, this is your
trip.
if you travel light, do not worry. Among others,
Mr. Angel Marin, our local Maritime Authority, is
the owner with his wife, of a great store where
you would find everything you need.
Among several alternatives, Mr Jony Peña, has
built the best restaurant in town. Great
environment, and nothing fresher than to be at a
couple feet of the port where the best sea food
arrives every day. Try the local avaloni, or
"crazies" better known in town as "locos". Or the
different species of fish you will never find in a
big market. Jony is also the main authority of the
town. His phone, +56 9 91658455. Be prepared.., in
Chile we eat a lot and only the
best food.
Several members of the community have built houses
or extra rooms for rental. Ranging from a house
with about 10 beds and a full
kitchen, to a small room, you will find what
you need. The community helps each other
so, they will check the room
availability for you. We recommend you to
arrange your accommodation with time,
Also, Ms Aurora, aside the local market of
Mr. Marin, can help you with everything and you
will wonder how she manages to have so many weird
plants of the desert at home.
In the earlier days, each owner of
a boat was competing for the tourists. Now the
community has setup a small association so there
is no competition, The president of the local
Tourism Association is Mr. Captain Patricio Ortiz
(phone +56 9 85808276). He is well known for his
squeals to find the whales and dolphins, and his
always happy attitude. He has learned and
improved directly form our scientific studies
for about 20 years. He can bring your life
trip or help you finding whom will do it.
the local community is bade by the last members of
the Chango ethnic, and families that work on olive
agriculture. So, you will find a mixture between
agriculture, fisheries and ecotourism all
together. Do not forget to get your local bottle
of prime olive oil. The fishermen are open to go
diving with you, to show you their work at seas
harvesting kelp, crab, fish and molluscs. They
manage an area of coast with great success. So,
enjoy your food.
Handcrafts are now a growing matter since Ms
Rebeca Ovalle (Phone: +56 9 88625976) became a
member of the community. Many members of the
community contribute with this work.
A graphic sample
all these photos have been taken
by the local community members. For some, this was
the first time to handle a camera and they did it
greatly and underwater! Ask Mr. Pascual!
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A local seafood dish
prepared with tomato, lettuce and
potatoes, with tasty “locos” (Concholepas
concholepas).
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Mr Jony invested in a
restaurant and actually is the President of
the local community.
He is also a great cook and prepares all the
dishes of his restaurant. |
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The area is part of the Chango
culture. Some of the inhabitants are
descendants of that ethnic.
Among the handcraft they make is
the model of the floating catamaran that
use to be made with the skin of two sea
lions inflated as the pontoons of a Zodiac
boat.
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The main
herbivore of the area is the Guanaco.
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A couple of “rollizos”, a local
fish that is very tasty and they use to
say resembles to a “submarine with the
windows opened”.
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On top, a “loco”, and below a small
flounder fish. Mr. Pascual, during the
review of the photos at night in front of
all the students said “this is the
salad on top and the main dish below”.
Locos are related to “abalone”,
and are the main product of this town. The
local fishermen have assigned an area
where they manage this resource instead of
harvesting it from everywhere.
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This is what the local inhabitants name
“maisillo”, corresponding to the groups of
eggs from “locos”.
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One of the fishermen divers harvesting
kelp from their managed area. He has
problems in his legs due to bad techniques
on diving when he was younger. However he
continues diving and is one of the best in
town.
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The best crab, “jaiba mora”, living
between the rocks sharing its habitat with
some shrimps.
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With practice, now the fishermen are
using more features of the camera, as
macro to take this photo of a small fish
over a rock.
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Or these small shrimps living on the
small spaces between the rocks associated
with kelp.
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Ship leaking diesel in a marine reserve.
Since several years this threat is known
but still is not addressed to prevent a
disaster.
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