The Biodiversity Foundation of the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Environment joins the celebration of World Oceans Day today. The Ministry, as the body in charge of the protection of the sea in Spain, wants to draw society’s attention to the environmental richness of our seas and this year 2015 it pays special attention to marine species.

Spain is one of the European countries with the greatest marine biological diversity, and yet the sea is largely unknown to most citizens.  It is estimated that there are about 10,300 species in the seas of Spain, 5.1% of the world total, which is about 200,000 marine species.

Thanks to the LIFE+ Indemares project, coordinated by the Biodiversity Foundation, new species have been discovered and spaces that were practically unknown until now have been explored. Thus, the Network of Marine Protected Areas has gone from protecting 1% to 8.6% of our seas with the consequent development of plans and strategies for the conservation of marine spaces.

In addition, the Biodiversity Foundation develops the ECOSAFIMED programme, which promotes sustainable artisanal fishing practices and encourages cross-border cooperation between countries on both shores of the Mediterranean, in order to address common challenges and achieve habitat conservation.

The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and the Environment will develop, throughout 2015, conservation measures for the protection of endangered marine species. Among them are the killer whale of the Strait and Gulf of Cadiz, the conservation of the loggerhead turtle and other sea turtles, the Balearic shearwater and cetaceans from the Black Sea, Mediterranean Sea and Atlantic.