A critical gap in protected area management is allowing illegal fishing to threaten a unique marine ecosystem off the coast of northern Peru, according to an investigation into the Illescas National Reserve.
The reserve, while protecting vital terrestrial and coastal areas including the only known coastal nest of the endangered Andean condor is designated exclusively as a terrestrial protected area. This limitation restricts park rangers’ ability to intervene against illegal fishing activities that take place just outside their jurisdiction in the adjacent sea.
The Chinchorro Challenge
The primary threat comes from fishers using chinchorro nets, a “very low selectivity” fishing method that has been banned across the Peruvian coast since 2009.
Park rangers frequently confront fishers using these nets at the reserve’s boundary, where the fishers provocatively settle, fully aware that the officials’ legal authority ends at the waterline. The indiscriminate nature of the chinchorro method results in high levels of bycatch (discarded, non-target fish) and causes serious damage to the seabed.
A High-Value “Transition Zone”
Conservationists are urgently calling for the marine area to be formally protected due to its exceptional biodiversity.
• Temperate-Tropical Transition Area: The waters off Illescas mark the confluence of cold currents (Humboldt) and warm currents, creating an ecotone known as the Temperate-Tropical Transition Area. This mixing of waters fosters a high productivity that is home to species from both tropical and cold marine ecosystems.
• Vulnerable Species: The area is the northernmost location in Peru to find large groups of Humboldt penguins (Spheniscus humboldti), a species categorized as vulnerable by the IUCN and endangered under Peruvian law. It is also home to South American sea lions and various migratory birds.
Silvana Baldovino of the Peruvian Society for Environmental Law (SPDA) argued that from the start, “Illescas should have been designated a marine coastal protected area, like Paracas.”
Moving Towards Marine Protection
The National Service of Protected Natural Areas of Peru (SERNANP) has acknowledged the problem. The Master Plan for Protected Natural Areas, presented in 2024, identifies the waters off Illescas as a high-value conservation area where “the establishment of a conservation method should be prioritized.”
Since Peruvian law prevents the expansion of an already-created protected area, the only path forward is to establish a separate marine protected area adjacent to Illescas.
In the meantime Illescas staff are conducting periodic joint patrols with the Environmental Police and other government entities. They are also working with registered artisanal fishing groups to promote responsible practices, as responsible fishers have helped alert staff to illegal activity in the boundary waters.
Matías Caillaux of The Nature Conservancy (TNC) is working with SERNANP to expand scientific knowledge of the marine ecosystem, noting, “Let’s understand what’s in the water,” to pave the way for the new, desperately needed conservation status.