Location
Key Information
| 979 km2 | MARINE AREA |
| 979 km2 | TOTAL AREA i |
Regulations: COBI
Boundary: COBI (Unmodified)
2.0
February 2024
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Purpose
To protect this area, which contains active fissures, less common than in some of its areas, and vertical rises that in some faults produce elongated ridges several kilometers long. The richness of species gives this area a great biological importance and a high diversity specific to the environment. The air vents support diverse environments, such as bathypelagic zones of soft bottoms with sediments up to 200 meters thick and marine areas with a great variety of ecological processes that occur in the unique ecosystems that exist here, making it very important for conservation.
Species of Concern: Giant tube worm (Riftia pachyptila), Clam (Calyptogena pacifica), Hydrothermal Vent Fish (Thermarces cerberus), Brotula (Diplacanthopoma sp.), Giant Squid (Dosidicus gigas), Sperm Whale (Physeter macrocephalus)
Regulations Summary
Restrictions
The following activities are prohibited:
1. Throwing away, dumping, or discharging any type of organic or radioactive waste, solid or liquid waste or any other type of contaminant, as well as discharging waste water and discharges of any kind.
2. Exploring or exploiting mineral resources.
3. Introducing exotic specimens or populations of wildlife, as well as genetically modified organisms.
4. Modifying water flows.
5. Exploiting and using wildlife, except scientific collection.
6. Removing chimneys and rocks from hydrothermal vents for geology research or chemical sampling.
Allowed
1. Scientific research.
2. Environmental education.
3. Scientific collection that does not adversely affect the habitat.