In Chile, the huillín, a type of native giant otter in danger of extinction, received crucial support for its survival this week.
This Tuesday, a Supreme Decree was published in the Official Gazette of the neighboring country, approving the so-called Plan RECOGE.
This is a 15-year roadmap designed to prevent the disappearance of the huillín in Chile’s Patagonia.
The measure will coordinate the State, scientific institutions, and local communities in the protection of the huillín (Lontra provocax).
Around the world, this species has been classified as “Endangered” since 2011, making this crucial.
An integral strategy for the conservation of the huillín in Chile
The Recovery, Conservation, and Management Plan establishes clear guidelines to protect the habitats of the huillín between the regions of La Araucanía and Magallanes in Chile.
Chile’s Minister of the Environment, Maisa Rojas, also highlighted the scope of the instrument.
“With the officialization of the Plan RECOGE, we are taking real actions to ensure that the State of Chile, with technical support and citizen participation, will work to prevent the huillín from disappearing,” she said.
Rojas added that “protecting it also means protecting healthy rivers, lakes, and wetlands, essential for adaptation to climate change.”
The plan emerged after a technical and participatory process that began in 2023, with nine workshops involving more than 12 public services and about 25 NGOs and academic centers.
Three priority action axes to protect the huillín in Chile
The Plan RECOGE is structured into three main strategic lines:
- Protect and restore riverbanks, wetlands, and coastal areas where the huillín feeds and reproduces
- Reduce human threats, organizing productive activities and infrastructure in its natural habitat
- Control invasive exotic species like the mink, which compete for food and increase pressure on populations
These actions are complemented by strengthening scientific research and monitoring to better understand its distribution and population size.
The plan also promotes environmental education and direct work with local communities, in addition to consolidating institutional coordination to ensure funding and continuity.
Support from conservation organizations
Maximiliano Sepúlveda, specialist of the IUCN otter group and Senior Officer of PEW, described the plan as “a key tool to face the complexity of protecting a highly threatened species.”
Sepúlveda emphasized that “the Plan RECOGE constitutes a significant effort by proposing a multisectoral governance.”
This is crucial because “it brings together different actors to address the conservation of iconic species in a coordinated manner.”
From Legado Chile, an organization working in the Maullín River Nature Sanctuary, Magdalena Huerta celebrated the publication: “This plan is key to moving from diagnosis to action in the conservation of the huillín.”
The Conservation Director added that its development integrated “scientific evidence, field experience, and the joint work of organizations, communities, and public services.”
What the huillín is like and why it is under threat
In Chile, as in the rest of Patagonia, the huillín inhabits riverbanks, lakes, wetlands, and protected coastal areas, always associated with clean waters.
This otter measures between 1.1 and 1.3 meters including the tail, weighs between 6 and 15 kilos, and has dark brown fur, webbed feet, and long whiskers.
It is a mostly solitary species. Males only come together to reproduce, while females form small groups with their young in hidden burrows near the water.
Its populations are distributed in a fragmented manner and face multiple threats:
- habitat loss;
- contamination of water bodies;
- pressure from human activities, and;
- competition with exotic species.
The Tarahuillín movement, which develops environmental education in Los Lagos, recognized that “the Plan RECOGE allows for strengthening its effective conservation in the territory and at the national level.”
