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The Chilean coast holds a high seabird diversity and also extensive fisheries that interact with birds producing bycatch. We used data on beached seabirds reported by news media to depict spatial and temporal patterns of fishery-related seabird mortality and correlated these data with the spatial and temporal fishing effort of the three main purse-seine fleets operating in south-central Chile (33 to 40°S). Between 2005 and 2019 we detected 97 mortality events reporting >19,000 beached seabirds attributed to bycatch. Mortality was recorded between 18 and 53° S (~3800 km of coastline), affecting 16 seabird species, with 90% concentrated between 33 and 40°S (800 km), exactly where purse-seine fleets operate. Sooty shearwater (Ardenna grisea) comprised 70% of all dead birds recorded. Magellanic penguins (Spheniscus magellanicus) and guanay cormorants (Phalacrocorax boungainvillii) were also affected. Mortality events of Sooty shearwaters was highest (P

Anthropogenic marine debris (AMD) is an ubiquitous problem, which has motivated public participation in activities such as beach surveys and clean-up campaigns. While it is known that beaches in the SE Pacific are also affected by this problem, the quantities and types of AMD remain largely unknown. In the context of an outreach project, volunteers (approximately 1500 high-school students) participated in a nation-wide survey of AMD on 43 beaches distributed randomly along the entire Chilean coast (18 degrees S to 53 degrees S). The mean density of AMD was 1.8 items m(-2) and the major types were plastics, cigarette butts and glass. Densities in central Chile were lower than in northern and southern Chile, which could be due to different attitudes of beach users or to intense beach cleaning in central regions. We suggest that public participation in surveys and cleaning activities will raise awareness and thereby contribute to an improvement of the situation.

Over the last decade the Humboldt penguin, Spheniscus humboldti, has become a focus for ecotourism. Current management applies visitor guidelines similar to those developed for Magellanic penguins, Spheniscus magellanicus. However, unlike these, Humboldt penguins are extremely sensitive to human presence. Breeding success was significantly reduced at frequently visited sites. Heart rate telemetry during disturbance experiments revealed that Humboldt penguins respond more strongly to human presence than do any other penguin species thus far studied. A person passing an incubating penguin at 150 m distance already provoked a significant heart rate response. Recovery times were up to half an hour after direct human approach, causing increased energy expenditure without any overt behavioural reaction. Being extraordinary sensitive to human activity with little habituation potential the Humboldt penguin proves to be a difficult focal species for ecotourism. For sustainable ecotourism visitors are required to stay out of sight of Humboldt penguin breeding and moulting areas. Management guidelines need to acknowledge that even closely related species may react very differently towards human presence.