Alfaguara project, Marine conservation protected area in Puñihuil, Chiloé Island, Chile

The Alfaguara project is a marine conservation programme run from Puñihuil, on the northwest coast of Chiloé Island, by the Centro de Conservación Cetacea. Its work centres on the blue whales that feed in the waters immediately northwest of Chiloé, studied through photo-identification of individual whales, faecal and zooplankton sampling, sound recordings and land- and air-based observations.

Chilean whalers called the blue whale "alfaguara", and between 1926 and 1967 whaling ships killed about 97% of the blue whales in the southern Pacific. The Centro de Conservación Cetacea, founded in 2001, launched the Alfaguara project at Puñihuil in 2004. In 2008, after a poll in which 98% of citizens voted in favour, the Chilean government granted the project's request for a whale sanctuary.

Chilean whalers called the blue whale "alfaguara", and that name now labels the conservation project. Boat trips to watch whales and the three Puñihuil islets, a breeding site for Magellanic and Humboldt penguins from September to March, are run by local operators. After a study by the project, these operators formed an association and cut the number of penguin-watching trips to the islets to raise net income.

Whales can be sighted from the shore at Puñihuil, while boat-based watching is limited by weather and vessel type to perhaps 1,000 visitors a year. Three islets about 300 metres off the beach host Magellanic and Humboldt penguins between September and March. Boat operators there formed an association and cut the number of penguin-watching trips after an Alfaguara Project study.

Researchers identify individual blue whales by the patterns on their flanks, photographed during marine surveys. In the 2007 season alone, 17 surveys photo-identified 188 whales; by 2012 the catalogue held 363 individuals, almost a third of them resighted between 2009 and 2011.