Hugo Morán, the acting Secretary of State for the Environment, announced today that Spain will declare 9 new marine protected areas, during the presentation he made of the commitments with which the Spanish government is attending the international conference “Our ocean”, which is being held until tomorrow in Oslo.
Spain is attending the sixth edition of the “Our Ocean” International Conference, which is being held today and tomorrow in Oslo (Norway), with a total of 13 commitments aimed at the protection and sustainable use of
our seas and oceans. It is a meeting, organized by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, that brings together leaders from governments, businesses, civil society and research institutions to share experiences, identify solutions and commit to action for clean, healthy and profitable oceans. These commitments should be circumscribed in six areas of action (marine protected areas, climate change, sustainable fisheries, fight against marine pollution, sustainable blue economy and maritime security).
Hugo Morán, acting Secretary of State for the Environment, heads the Spanish delegation at this conference and was in charge of presenting today the commitments with which the Government attends this international event. Thus, Morán has announced that our country will have 9 new Marine Protected Areas before 2024. These new areas will be declared for habitats and marine species of exceptional value, and will be added to the one hundred of state competence that already exist in our waters, and which represent a protected area of about 12 million hectares, equivalent to more than 12% of our seas.
The new protected areas, which have already been identified but whose surface area has yet to be delimited, will be: the banks and gorges of the Alboran Sea; the west of the Strait of Gibraltar; east of the SCI “Marine space of the east and south of Lanzarote and Fuerteventura”; Strait of Gibraltar; Chafarinas Islands; central Catalan coast; the seamounts of the south of the Mallorca Channel; the submarine canyon system from Cabo Tiñoso to Cabo de Palos, and the Cap Bretón tributary canyon system.
In addition, Spain has committed to making an investment of 25 million euros over the next 4 years to monitor the environmental status of the marine environment and marine protected areas, through the Spanish Institute of Oceanography. Oceanographic and research campaigns will be carried out, which will significantly increase scientific knowledge of our seas.
Along these lines, Morán explained that an investment of 1 million euros will be allocated over the next four years for studies related to ship collisions with cetaceans, in the critical areas of the Canary Islands and the Balearic Islands. The waters of these two archipelagos are immensely rich in marine biodiversity, and are home to increasingly endangered cetacean species. These studies will provide a better understanding of the current situation and design effective measures to protect them. Spain will donate 40,000 euros to the MedFund Fund for the financing of marine protected areas in the Mediterranean. Our country is already part of this important project, along with the founding countries Monaco, France and Tunisia, and others that have joined since then.
In terms of blue growth, the Biodiversity Foundation will address the financing of 150 projects over the next two years for the conservation of marine biodiversity, the environmental sustainability of the sector
fisheries, and adaptation to climate change in marine protected areas for a total amount of 8 million euros. A marine citizen science program will also be developed with more than 2,000 participants in the first two years. More than 12,000 volunteers will be mobilised in actions to restore marine spaces in the coming years. And at least 1,500 technicians and officials will be trained on the management of marine protected areas in the next two years. These actions will also be developed through the Biodiversity Foundation.
The Spanish Office for Climate Change is going to carry out an analysis of the vulnerability to climate change of marine habitats and species in five marine protected areas, where pilot projects will be developed on
measures to adapt to climate change.
Spain is attending this international summit with three commitments related to fisheries sustainability. First, international cooperation mechanisms will be strengthened to combat illegal, unreported and unreported fishing.
regulated (IUU), which is a strategic priority for the Government. In this regard, the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food will launch an Action Plan to strengthen international cooperation mechanisms to combat IUU fishing, which includes, among others, increasing the current exchange of information, promoting training, as well as carrying out joint inspections with the authorities of the Third Countries where Spanish-flagged fishing vessels make their landings.
In addition, and given the successful experience obtained after more than three decades of management of the Network of Marine Reserves of Fishing Interest, Spain is committed to the creation of a new reserve, the Sa Dragonera (Balearic Islands), which will be used to create a new reserve.
will increase the number of marine reserves that make up the Network to 12. Sa Dragonera It has an important ecological and fishing value due to its great diversity of habitats and species. On the other hand Spain undertakes to strengthen its cooperation with West African countries with regard to the use of scientific knowledge as a basis for the sustainable use of fishery resources.
