Oceana has today presented a report co-financed by the Biodiversity Foundation on Galician waters and the Cantabrian Sea to promote the creation of at least 15 new protected areas.

Oceana has today presented a report co-financed by the Biodiversity Foundation on Galician waters and the Cantabrian Sea to promote the creation of at least 15 new protected areas.

The Sisargas Islands, the Bermeo and Niebla shoals, the Avilés canyon, the waters off Cape Peñas, the coastal area of Sonabia, the Castro Verde shoal, the Capbretón canyon or the seabed in front of Jaizkibel are some of the places that Oceana has identified as areas of ecological importance for the Galician-Cantabrian area and for which it is asking for protection.

In 2008, the sea defence organisation Oceana, in collaboration with the Biodiversity Foundation, carried out a study of the seabed between Galicia and the Basque Country that lasted about three months and the results of which have been made public today.

In total, about 1,500 miles were covered and 105 dives were made between the surface and 350 meters deep, in which nearly 800 different species and more than twenty different habitats were identified. An underwater robot was used for this purpose and a dozen divers participated.

Cold-water corals, deep-sea sponge fields, gorgonian gardens, seagrass meadows, oyster and worm reefs, maërl beds, muddy sea-feathered bottoms, underwater canyons, caves and overhangs, kelp forests, and many other communities have been documented. Of note is the discovery of a new species of “mushroom” sponge on rocky bottoms between 50 and 120 metres, the appearance of sharks with a greater geographical distribution at depths above 300 metres, or the diversity of black corals below 150 metres.

Despite this great biological diversity, Oceana highlights the scarcity of commercially valuable fish and crustaceans, such as anchovies, monkfish, roosters, sole, Norway lobster, hake and many other species.