Works of art help save the marine ecosystem in Venezuela's Los Frailes archipelago northeast of Isla de Margarita.

Huge statues have been made for the sole purpose of immersing them in a coral reef.

An innovative solution for nature to take back its rights.

A first victory

Among the five works of art that make up this first underwater museum in South America is a sculpture of the Virgen del Valle, patron saint of eastern Venezuela.

It is 2.3 meters high.

It "is made of silica sand and treated with caustic soda to obtain a neutral pH, the crown of mother-of-pearl shells", explained Anays Toro, sculptor and doctor.

"It was submerged in January and in less than five months it was completely covered with corals or oysters," she rejoices.

Doctor Anays Toro, marine biologist Sandra Sanchez and aquaculturist Vanessa Valverde had the idea for this museum after the failure in 2019 of a plan to plant corals.

It was destroyed in less than a year by the passage of trawl nets, a common clandestine practice in this area despite its ban in 2009.

“Incredible respect for” the Virgin

“Trawling led to the decline of all the coral population that existed there and which was very useful not only to shelter and maintain shelters for fish and other underwater animals but also for tourism, to show tourists the beautiful things that exist here,” noted Sandra Sanchez.

To reduce fishing in this place, the two women relied on "respect for the Virgin", indicated Anays Toro.

The fishermen "have an incredible respect for her, they have the faith that she is the one who takes care of them when they go to sea", added Sandra Sanchez.

A tourist spot?

Four other works of art have since reached the seabed: three of heroines of the state of Nueva Esparta, to which the island of Margarita belongs, and an anchor in honor of the Navy, immersed just before the inauguration of the museum on September 8, the feast day of the Virgen del Valle.

Divers from the Venezuelan Navy have untied a yellow ribbon on the sea floor to delimit the museum which will be able to accommodate tourist divers and "make Los Frailes a tourist attraction", notes the head of the Admiralty, Neils Villamizar.

And on the surface, buoys indicate to fishermen “that they must be careful where they throw their net or their anchor because that is where the patron saint is,” says Sandra Sanchez.

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