Project Description
Bahía de San Antonio is a coastal marine protected area in central Argentina. With a tidal range of 9.3-meters (30.5 feet), the extensive salt marshes, mudflats, and sand beaches provide rich feeding areas for shorebirds, including long distance migrants such as rufa red knots and sanderlings. It is estimated that approximately 50% of the red knots that winter in Tierra del Fuego stop at Bahía de San Antonio to feed as they begin migrating north to their breeding grounds in the Canadian Arctic.
To compensate for injuries to migratory shorebirds as a result of the T/V Anitra oil spill, the Fundación Inalafquen and Manomet Center for Conservation Sciences received approximately $12,000 for red knot public outreach near Bahía de San Antonio. Six new, professionally produced signs were produced and installed around the Bahía de San Antonio Protected Natural Area to inform the public about seasonal restrictions due to the feeding shorebirds. An environmental education curriculum was developed for all primary schools in the Province of Río Negro to raise awareness and appreciation of red knots and the international importance of Bahía de San Antonio. Educational materials were designed and distributed including “membership cards” and lapel-pins for the “Red Knot Club” at Vuelo Latitud 40 Nature Center, 3,000 posters about red knots and the protected area, and 10 folders of computer-based resources that were distributed in digital format to schools. In the three communities located within the protected area, teachers and their classes attended training workshops on the importance of preserving the estuary for migrating red knots.
Parties Implementing Restoration
Fundación Inalafquen; Manomet Center for Conservation Sciences
DOI Project Representatives
Fish and Wildlife Service