i84 



C. SKOTTSBERG 



Table I. 

 Lobster catcli 1940—46. After Guzman. 



i<>40, 



i«(4i 



1042, 



i')43 



1044 



K'45 



Gross weight in kg 



y con su persistencia, indiferente del pasado, espera el momento propicio para 

 construir un nuevo penal, sobre las ruinas del septimo presidio" (there had been 

 5 on Masatierra). 



(3n January the i6th, 1935, President Arturo Alessandri signed a decree 

 making the Juan Fernandez Islands (together with Easter I.) a National Park, and 

 two (ierman residents, Weber and Carlos Bock, both addicted to the study of the 

 fauna and flora, were appointed honorary forest inspectors. Bock soon died, and 

 Weber left the islands after some years. The regulations were strict; had they been 

 followed the goal for which I had fighted so many years, supported by Chilean col- 

 leagues, would have been attained. The rules did not infringe upon the reasonable 

 rights of the colonists, nor was the fishing industry affected. In order to collect 

 specimens of the indigenous plants and animals, also for scientific purposes, a license 

 was required. No permanent habitations could be erected on Masafuera and Santa 

 Clara. It is evident that Weber, in spite of his earnest intentions, did not quite 

 understand what effective conservation involves or he would not have written the 

 following words (p. 138): "Die Tierwelt von Juan Fernandez war leider sehr 

 sparlich, es soUte mehr Leben in die schweigsamen Walder kommen" — it did 

 not occur to him that the introduction of foreign animals, even a few birds, would 

 disturb Nature's balance in a way never properly to be foreseen. 



Unfortunately a law has little effect without adequate means to enforce it. 

 Without money and men with authority a conservation program cannot be realized, 

 and in the case before us there was neither. Serious inroad upon the forests 

 might, however, be prevented, and with the declining lobster industry and the 

 non-existent possibilities to expand agriculture there seemed to be no danger that 

 more people would settle on Masatierra. Ikit what happened? Guzman's interesting 

 account gives the answer, I.e. p. 37. 



' This figure, which is identical with the figure for 1940, must be incorrect. In all other cases 

 save one 1941 the average weight of the langosts slightly exceeded I kg, and it was very little 

 below that weight in 1941. 



* On p. 202 r,u7.iii;'m cjuotes a very different figure: 47238 kg obtained during the period 

 Jan. — Aug. The balance cannot, 1 am sure, have been consumed locally, because the people 

 fish for the companies, so that some other explanation has to be found. 



