Don Martin Island
Don Martin Island, also known as Don Martin Islet or San Martín Island, is an island belonging to Peru located in the Pacific Ocean, off the coast of the department of Lima. It is located one kilometer southwest of Vegueta Point and has an area of approximately 16.50 hectares. The island is very important because it is a guano deposit and the habitat of numerous species of marine birds, which have found a feeding, breeding and resting area on Don Martín Island. For this reason, in 2009 the island was protected by law within the National Reserve System of Islands, Islets and Puntas Guaneras, a natural reserve that protects and preserves representative samples of the biological diversity of the marine-coastal ecosystems of Peru.
Geographic description
Don Martín Island is under the influence of the cold waters of the Humboldt Current and is located around 11º 01' S latitude and 77° 40' W longitude. The highest point of the island is 50 meters above sea level. It is approximately 800 m long, in a north–south direction, and 200 m wide from east to west. The whitish color of the island is the result of the mixture of the guano layers and the erosion of the rocky surface.Don Martín Island, with its trapezoidal shape and almost flat relief, has small rocky formations on the southwest side and on the east side there is an area known as La Península, which is a space where, in addition to a dock, there are also areas that house a contingent of workers who come to the island during the guano extraction season.
Biological diversity
Don Martín Island is an important biogeographical point in terms of breeding sites for some species of marine birds such as the Peruvian booby and the Humboldt penguin. Other species of birds that can be observed include the guanay, the chuita, the cushuri, the Peruvian pelican, and the black-billed curlew, Peruvian gull, Dominican gull, grey gull, grey capuchin gull, Franklin's gull, red-crowned gallinule, and grebes.The underwater world of Don Martin Island shows an impressive landscape and a lot of life, where fish and invertebrates are the most representative taxonomic groups. The most abundant species of fish are represented by the pejesapo, machete, lorna, etc. Invertebrates among mollusks and crustaceans are the turban snail, fan shell, clam, plover, hairy crab, moon snail, limpet, small crab, wattleshell, etc.
In the marine mammal group, 2 species have been recorded: the sea otter and the South American sea lion, a species of sea lion that belongs to the Otariidae family.