An international group of scientists who studied the deep ecosystem of the Chilean coast for 44 days has discovered 50 marine species, the vast majority at 1,500 meters deep, which can be used to create a new protected area in international waters. The results of this expedition were presented this Thursday by one of its two leaders, the researcher from the Barcelona Supercomputing Center (BSC) Ariadna Mechó, at the Ocean Decade Conference, which concluded this Friday in Barcelona. Through dives with a robot directed by a pilot, scientists have analyzed new varieties of fish, sea urchins, mollusks, sponge fields, deep coral gardens... Habitats considered vulnerable, key to biodiversity and requiring security to prevent its disappearance. “There is so little knowledge that you lift a stone and you find new species. This discovery will serve to create a protected area in this maritime corridor between the coast of Chile and Rapa Nui,” says Mechó, the only researcher of these marine ecosystems at the BSC, before presenting the results at the world ocean congress organized by the UNESCO in the Catalan capital.
Up to 25 scientists from different countries embarked at the end of February towards the seamounts of Chile, Rapa Nui (also known as Easter Island) and international waters. There, in one of the most unexplored areas in the world, the team co-led by Mechó dived daily to a depth of 1,500 meters where they studied 160 marine species. “We haven't put them all through the laboratory yet. As soon as we do it, more than 50 new ones will appear,” says Mechó, who began her career as a scientist at the Institute of Marine Sciences in Barcelona.
The protection of these species, which demonstrate the scarcity of information on the seabed off the Chilean coast, is key to avoiding a serious impact on the culture and economy of Rapa Nui. Hence the importance of your participation in the Ocean Decade Conference to present these results that will be used in the negotiations between Chile and Peru under the International Waters Treaty agreed last year to create marine reserves. “It is the perfect event to do pressure in the fight to save the world's seas. We are in the decade of launching decisive actions,” explains Mechó.
The researcher is clear that there are many species left to discover on the seabed. “We must protect them before they disappear and we don't even know they are there,” explains Mechó, who on this expedition—financed by the Schmidt Ocean Institute—collaborated with local navigation experts to incorporate their perspectives as members of the Rapa Nui community.
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Protecting marine life and studying the oceans are the motivations of this Valencian researcher, who in her 30 expeditions around the world has always found human waste. “There are plastics, fishing nets and even motors in areas where it seems no one has ever been,” says Mechó. Many fish on Rapa Nui, one of the areas with the greatest contamination of microplastics, feed on these small polymers, mistaking them for crustaceans, says the BSC researcher, who on another cruise found urinals from the English Navy that ended up in a British museum. “We have to take real action. Take real measures and policies. Let's all go together to protect the oceans that will give life to future generations,” says Mechó.