We have launched two research campaigns aimed at increasing scientific knowledge of habitats and marine species of community interest with the aim of ensuring their conservation. On the one hand, it seeks to obtain more information on habitats in the Cap Bretón canyon, in the Basque Country, for its possible declaration as a new marine protected area and, on the other hand, the state of the pen shell populations in the Mar Menor, one of the strongholds of this endemic Mediterranean mollusc, will be evaluated. who is in a critical situation.

Explorations in Cap Bretón

Until 30 June, researchers from the Spanish Institute of Oceanography (IEO) and AZTI will explore the Cap Bretón submarine canyon system, located in the eastern region of the Cantabrian Sea, with the aim of identifying habitats and species of high ecological value and collecting all the information necessary for the possible declaration of this area as a Site of Community Interest (SCI) of the Natura 2000 Network. the largest network of protected areas in the world.

Given the extension of this formation and the numerous canyons it houses, the scientists will focus their studies on some of the tributary canyons in which, based on previous expeditions, a greater presence of rocky bottoms has been detected, the most suitable for the settlement of reefs, one of the most important habitats for the proper functioning of ecosystems.

They will also explore areas interspersed between canyons where the presence of pockmark fields, depressions of marine sediments generated by fluid emissions, which could represent particular habitats and host species linked to these emissions, has been detected. In addition, as in other submarine canyons in the Atlantic, the presence of other habitats and species of corals and sponges of high biological value is to be expected, but whose distribution and conservation status are unknown.

Evaluation of the condition of the pen shell

Today begins a campaign in the Mar Menor, one of the strongholds of the pen shell on the Spanish Mediterranean coast.

Since 2016 it has suffered mass mortality events caused by a parasite new to science, which has brought the species to a critical situation. For this reason, the Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge has launched urgent measures to recover the affected populations and improve their knowledge, in collaboration with research organisations and other national and regional administrations.

This expedition is carried out by autonomous diving and follows a previous one that was carried out in November 2019, in which live individuals were found in the lagoon. Researchers from the IEO’s Balearic Oceanographic Centre of the Balearic Islands will assess the state of these specimens, as well as the increase in mortality and the possible natural recovery of their population. Among other measures, larval collection collectors will be installed in eight different areas to promote recruitment, water samples will be taken to determine the parasite load and surviving individuals will be searched for monitoring during this campaign, which will end on June 27.

The pen shell assessment actions in the Mar Menor are also part of the monitoring actions associated with the Marine Strategies in Spain. With the information obtained, measures will continue to be put in place to safeguard this species in a critical situation.

Effective management of protected areas

The LIFE INTEMARES project advances towards a better knowledge of marine protected areas, with the aim of achieving an effective management of the marine spaces of the Natura 2000 Network.

The Biodiversity Foundation of the Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge coordinates this integrated project, in which the Ministry’s Directorate-General for Biodiversity, Forests and Desertification, IEO, CEPESCA, SEO/BirdLife and WWF-Spain participate as partners. It has the financial contribution of the European Union’s LIFE programme, among other sources of funding.