Área Marina Costera Protegida "Las Cruces" (ECIM no-take reserve)

Coastal strip and adjacent seabed at Punta El Lacho, Las Cruces (El Tabo commune, Valparaíso Region), managed by the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile's Estación Costera de Investigaciones Marinas (ECIM) under a state maritime concession and declared Área Marina y Costera Protegida by D.S. N°107/2005 (Ministerio de Defensa Nacional/Subsecretaría de Marina). It has been run as a no-take marine reserve since 1982 to preserve it as a scientific baseline site on Chile's heavily-fished central coast; all extraction, including spearfishing/hunting of intertidal and subtidal fauna, is prohibited without express SERNAPESCA/university research authorization.