This first workshop was attended by representatives of the scientific community, public administrations, the fishing, aquaculture and nautical-recreational activities sectors, among others.

The island of El Hierro has hosted the first participatory workshop of the nine scheduled that will serve to update the management plans of 24 Special Areas of Conservation (SACs) of the Canary Islands. This cycle of workshops is part of a participatory process that began in April, with a period of prior public consultation and will end with the publication of new regulations that will update the SAC management plans.

This action, framed in the LIFE IP INTEMARES, a project that we coordinate and which aims to actively involve socioeconomic sectors and citizens in the identification of measures that allow the uses and activities that take place in these protected marine areas to be compatible with the conservation of their natural values.

This first workshop has had the participation of the scientific community, public administrations and representatives of the fishing, aquaculture and nautical-recreational activities sectors, among others. On Thursday 9 the appointment will be in La Palma, where the second workshop will take place to be held on the different islands until the end of the cycle, next July.

The 24 Special Areas of Conservation of the Canary Islands are home to species of marine reptiles of community interest such as the loggerhead turtle (Caretta caretta) and green turtle (Chelonia mydas), cetaceans including the bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus), the striped dolphin (Stenella coeruleoalba) and the spotted dolphin (Stenella frontalis), the pilot whale (Globicephala macrorhynchus), the pilot whale (Grampus griseus), or the sperm whale (Physeter macrocephalus).

There are also unique fish such as the angelshark (Squatina squatina), which is currently critically endangered according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Among the most characteristic habitats are reefs, sea caves and sandbanks that, in many cases, are home to sebadales, seagrass meadows of great ecological richness.

The 24 spaces were declared Sites of Community Interest (SCI) as SACs in 2011 to guarantee the necessary protection and in parallel the corresponding conservation and regulation measures for uses and activities were approved. This regulation will be renewed thanks to the update of the management plans.

LIFE IP INTERNARES

The LIFE IP INTEMARES project is coordinated by the Biodiversity Foundation of the Ministry for Ecological Transition. The General Directorate of Sustainability of the Coast and the Sea of the same ministry, the IEO, the Spanish Fisheries Confederation, SEO/BirdLife and WWF-Spain participate as partners. It has the  financial contribution from the European Union’s LIFE programme, among other sources of funding.

Do you want to know more about the LIFE IP INTEMARES project?

You can follow our twitter profile @LifeIntemares, the hashtag #INTEMARES and enter the intemares.es website, where we inform you of the latest news on the actions of the project and marine news.