The Council of Ministers, at the proposal of the Ministry for Ecological Transition, has approved the agreement extending the limits of the maritime-terrestrial national park of the Cabrera Archipelago.

The Council of Ministers, at the proposal of the Ministry for Ecological Transition, has approved the agreement extending the limits of the maritime-terrestrial national park of the Cabrera Archipelago, incorporating 80,779 new hectares of adjacent marine spaces. Thus, the total area of the park goes from the current 10,021 hectares to 90,800, making it the largest marine national park in the western Mediterranean.

This national park, declared in 1991, is located in the south of Mallorca and is made up of a main island, Cabrera Gran, and 18 smaller islands, of which the Illa dels Conills is the most important. As a result of the expansion, the marine area of the Network of National Parks goes from 4 to 23% and the Cabrera Archipelago becomes the largest national park in Spain, including terrestrial ones.

The new expanded park will incorporate the open sea into the national park network for the first time. Covering a depth range of more than 2,000 metres, a variety of unique and threatened Mediterranean habitats of particular value are protected, as well as their associated seascapes.

Thus, the extension area provides an important representation of two natural systems not yet present in the National Parks Network (pelagic areas of passage, reproduction or habitual presence of cetaceans or large migratory fish and deep coral banks) and substantially improves the representativeness of two others (steep slopes and escarpments and rocky lowlands). With these natural systems and their associated biodiversity, the National Parks Network will substantially improve its marine richness and representativeness.

Likewise, the expanded area will provide important feeding areas for one of the most representative elements of the fauna of the current national park, such as seabirds, the most endangered group of birdlife globally. Storm petrels, cormorants, seagulls and shearwaters (the Balearic shearwater is the most endangered bird in Europe), species in some cases classified as endangered, will benefit from the protection of fishing resources provided by the park, also avoiding accidental catches in fishing gear.

As for cetaceans and large fish species, the area is a real sanctuary, especially important for dolphins, sperm whales, fin whales, sharks, swordfish and bluefin tuna. The area to be expanded is included in the most important breeding area for the latter species in the entire Mediterranean.