Marine birds News

Fishermen arrive to the cove with their catch of smelts. Untangling the small fish from the nets is hard, tedious work.

Fishermen arrive to the cove with their catch of smelts. Untangling the small fish from the nets is hard, tedious work.

A section of the Antofagasta Fisheries Terminal looking towards the city.

A long dock facing the ocean leaves a protected quay for the boats and where a large number of sea-lions live off the fish scraps from the fishermen and fish cleaners.

A solitary fisherman works on his nets at the Antofagasta Fishing Cove.

The Peruvian pelican (Pelecanus thagus) lives along the coast of South America from Ecuador to southern Chile. Since 2008, they are listed (IUCN Red List) as "Near threatened". Pelicans living in fishing coves become really tame and friendly.

The South American sea lion (Otaria flavescens), also known as the Patagonian sea lion, inhabits the coasts of Chile, Ecuador, Peru, Uruguay, Argentina and Southern Brazil. They are not very popular with fishermen because they damage nets and steal fish. Those living as families at the Antofagasta fishing cove are very tame.

The man wearing a red shirt is one of many "fish-cleaners" at the Fish Terminal. He works cleaning fish for customers in exchange of tips. Fish cleaners have "devoted followers" among the local marine birds.

The fishing cove is protected from the wind and the waves of the Pacific Ocean by a long dock leaving a channel between the red and green light signals for the boats to come in and out.

When fishing is slow many boats remain moored within the terminal, serving as perch for seagulls.

Access to the Antofagasta Fisheries Terminal in the northern section of the port of Antofagasta, Chile. Part of the city extends to the hills shown in the background. Beyond the mountains is the 105,000 square kilometres plateau of the Atacama Desert, one of the driest deserts on earth.

View of the Pan-American Highway (Route CH-5) which runs for about 1000 km along the Atacama Desert in northern Chile. The terrain in this region has been compared to that on Mars.