For most people, Patagonia conjures up visions of endless mountains, with condors soaring down from the snowy peaks, endless plains of pampas grass, the blue glaciers of Tierra del Fuego or the Chilean Fjords. But there’s another side to this vast region that deserves to be better known: Patagonia’s Atlantic coast.
This is an area with some of South America’s best wildlife watching. Tourism here has traditionally been restricted to Peninsula Valdes, an area famed for its Southern right whales. But in April 2025, the conservation NGO Rewilding Argentina announced the creation of Patagonia Azul Provincial Park, when the region’s Chubut province placed a coastal area the same size as Yosemite National Park under protection. With a plan in place to slowly develop parts of the park for low-impact eco-tourism, it’s a major milestone for Argentina’s marine conservation.
Patagonia’s coastal biodiversity
Patagonia Azul Provincial Park puts 729,294 acres (300,000 hectares) of marine coastal area under protection in Argentina’s Chubut province. The new park lies south of Peninsula Valdes, about 250km south of the gateway city of Trelew, close to Bahia Bustamante.
‘The ocean here is full of wildlife,’ Mariana Cassini of Rewilding Argentina told Swoop. ‘We have four different species of whales including humpbacks and sei whales, as well as Southern elephant seals and South American sea lions.’ The beaches are also home to large colonies of Magellanic penguins.
What makes Patagonia Azul unique however are its islands. The coastline here is home to an archipelago of around 60 islands and islets with more than 50 species of seabirds. ‘They’re the perfect refuges for birds as well as sea lions,’ said Cassini. The birds’ guano helps provide extra nutrients to make the sea even more productive, while kelp forests offer shelter for fish nurseries. Throw in the rocky intertidal areas that support unique ecosystems, and it becomes apparent that this is an area of incredible biodiversity.
Away from the sea, the landscape here is wild, rather than completely pristine. Earlier in the 20th century there was a large kelp industry here processing seaweed, and much of the interior was traditionally given over to the large sheep ranches that are so common across Patagonia. But with the wool industry in long-term decline, wildlife has been flourishing here, with guanaco, mara and other species thriving.
Threats to marine wildlife
The drive to protect this biodiverse region was the increasing threat posed by industrial fishing. ‘The fishing industry in Argentina is really difficult to manage because it’s not transparent – there’s a lot of trawling along the seabed,’ said Cassini. As well as the damage done to the seafloor, the ships take a lot of by-catch that then just gets dumped back in the sea. This by-catch isn’t just fish – it’s the larger species that are drawn to the richness of the area for the same reason as the fishing boats, including penguins and even sea lions.
The whole of the park has now been declared a no-take zone for fishing. That’s not just important for its marine life, it will also help protect the sea birds.
‘Sea birds like petrels are the best friends of the fishing ships,’ said Cassini, explaining how petrels will follow the trawlers for miles in search of an easy meal when the by-catch is thrown overboard. Unfortunately, the birds are attracted to pretty much anything that the ships toss away, including damaged fishing gear and netting.
‘We have a study from one of the islands that showed that 7 out of 10 petrel chicks have plastic in their stomachs. These chicks can’t fly, so this plastic is coming from their parents who are feeding on the dead fish that get mixed up with the trash from the ships.’ A prime aim of the new park is to give these seabirds the space they need to feed naturally, away from the dangers of the fishing vessels.
Creating the park
It took six years of work for Rewilding Argentina to turn their plans for Patagonia Azul into reality, by working with other non-governmental organizations, the community of the nearby town of Camarones and politicians. Argentina’s current political climate has been against the creation of new national parks, so the support of the Governor of Chubut province, Ignacio Torres, proved crucial. As a result, Patagonia Azul is gazetted as a provincial park, but has all the legal protections of a national park.
With the help of Wyss Campaign for Nature, the organisation was able to donate 45,000 acres (18,000 hectares) of land to form the future entrance to the park. This land once belonged to the ranching industry, another key point for Cassini.
‘In Argentina, we have 4,000 kilometres of coastline, but we don’t think of ourselves as an ocean country. We developed Patagonia through cows and sheep, and it’s often really difficult to actually see the sea because the coast is lined with private ranches. Argentinians often don’t know we have huge penguin colonies and these amazing different species of whales, because it’s not something you see growing up.’ A core aim of the park is to foster a connection between Argentinians and their ocean, as well as protecting the environment itself.
A future for tourism
There are already two access points of the park at Isla Leon and Bahía Bustamante, where there are free campsites for visitors to enjoy the ocean. Rewilding Argentina’s plan now is to develop proper facilities for visitors at Tova Island, which is planned to be the main entrance to the park.
Tova Island will have a small port to allow access for tourist boats to visit the islands, as well as marine biologists taking part in research projects. There are plans to create the Huella Azul coastal trail for visitors to enjoy – all part of a wide plan to promote local economic development and employment.
On the conservation side, Rewilding Argentina will build on the work they’ve already started to restore the native kelp beds, as well as monitoring the local populations of humpback whales, Magellanic penguins, petrels and sea lions.
For now, travellers wanting to see this area can camp at one of the gateways or stay at Bahía Bustamante Lodge to see how this exciting project evolves.
‘One of my favourite things about this park is about giving the space to know the marine side of our country,’ Cassini concludes. ‘It’s a great opportunity for us Argentinians to be friends with our ocean, and know our coastal communities.’
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