Project 8 · Southeast Pacific (Humboldt Current)
Humboldt Coast Program
Coquimbo Region · Chile
Tidewright’s newest coast: the upwelling-rich, heat-shocked shores of the Humboldt Current, seeded in partnership with artisanal dive fishers.
- Status
- Seeding
- Launched
- 2025
- Hectares seeded
- 60
- Program target
- 350 ha
- Program lead
- Dr. Lena Fischer
Progress to target
17%
Illustrative program figures, part of Tidewright’s fictional record.
The program
The story so far.
The Humboldt Current makes Chile’s central coast one of the most productive stretches of ocean anywhere — and one of the most volatile. El Niño years now strip the huiro forests faster than they can regrow between events.
The program is built with the artisanal divers who know these reefs sponge by sponge: they hold the site knowledge, the boats, and — through a harvest-share agreement — a cut of every credit and crop the restored forest eventually yields.
Species of the reef
- Huiro kelpMacrocystis pyrifera
- Chilean sea urchinLoxechinus albus
- Marine otterLontra felina
Partners on the water
- Coquimbo Artisanal Divers’ Union (fictional)
- Atacama Desert Sea Institute (fictional)
Milestones
The record, season by season.
2025
Program launches; 60 ha seeded before the austral winter.
2026
Divers’ union harvest-share agreement signed; eDNA baseline published (planned).
Work near this coast?
Councils, fisheries, dive operators and community groups — every Tidewright program runs on local partnership.
Tidewright is a fictional company created as a design and content demonstration.