The Official State Gazette (BOE) today publishes the Ministerial Order amending the annex to Royal Decree 139/2011 that develops the List of Wild Species under Special Protection and the Spanish Catalogue of Endangered Species, to include in these registers 27 species of fauna and flora threatened in Spain.
In this way, the Government increases the level of legal protection of these species, as set out in the Natural Heritage and Biodiversity Law for those species of fauna and flora that, due to their ecological value, uniqueness, rarity, or degree of threat, or because they are included in international treaties or community regulations, must be the object of special attention and require active conservation measures.
In this sense, it should be noted that the inclusion of a species in this List and Catalogue obliges the administrations to monitor its conservation status and the threats that affect them. For the species included in the catalogue, in addition, specific action plans must be executed for their conservation or recovery.
Among these new 27 species are terrestrial and marine. In relation to marine species, the Mediterranean populations of the black sponge, seven species of coral (black, branched black, orange-black, Mediterranean black, hard and fragile white coral and weak corallite), two gorgonians (fan and candelabra) and the Mediterranean madrepora are included in the List. These invertebrates are of high ecological interest because over the years their large colonies form complex habitats that are very important as a refuge for many other marine species.
Also included in the List is the olive sea turtle, a species present in the Canary Islands and also mentioned in the Mediterranean; the Atlantic Cory’s shearwater, now also in the Mediterranean, and the Mediterranean population of the Bengal tern.
For its part, and continuing with marine species, the “endangered” Catalogue includes the common pen shell, and in the “Vulnerable” category, the Canary Islands populations of three species of marine algae (the yellow, red and black mujo), the latter endemic to these islands.
THREE SPECIES OF SHARKS
Three species of sharks are also included: the angelshark, the angelfish and the spiny angelshark, all of which are “endangered”. Angelsharks are flat sharks of nocturnal habits that reproduce in the bays and shallow waters of our coasts and bury themselves in the sand. They have practically disappeared from our peninsular waters and constitute the second most endangered group of sharks in the world. The serious threats they face from climate change, habitat destruction, pollution or illegal trawling warrant special protection.
Finally, the Cuvier’s beaked whale is included in the Catalogue in the “Vulnerable” category, a species of calf adapted to living at great depths that has suffered a significant population reduction in recent years, so it is necessary to increase its protection.
As for terrestrial species, the Iberian sulphur butterfly is included in the “endangered” Catalogue, a rare butterfly exclusive to Spain located only in two small and isolated populations (Los Monegros, Aragón and Hoya de Baza, Andalusia); and the batueca lizard, one of the rarest continental reptiles in Europe, of which it is estimated that no more than 1,500 individuals survive and only in Las Batuecas and La Peña de Francia (Salamanca-Cáceres). Also included in the Catalogue, but in the “vulnerable” category, is the Leonese lizard.
In the group of mammals, the Cabrera vole, a rodent exclusive to the Iberian Peninsula, which lives in low meadows of grasses and reeds, is included in the Catalogue in the “vulnerable” category, a type of habitat in sharp regression due to the increase in the intensification of agriculture and the frequent location of infrastructures.
WOLF SOUTH OF THE DOURO, SPECIAL PROTECTION
Finally, in order to comply with the provisions of the European Union Habitats Directive, all the populations of the Iberian wolf existing in Spain south of the Duero are included in the List.
In the Habitats Directive, Spanish wolf populations are included in two annexes, with two different protection regimes, due to their different conservation status: those located north of the Duero in Annex V (species that can be managed); and those located south of the Duero (Extremadura, Andalusia, Madrid, Castilla y León and Castilla-La Mancha), in Annex IV (strictly protected).
To date, only wolf populations south of the Duero River in Extremadura, Andalusia and Castilla-La Mancha were included in the List. With the approval of this ministerial order, the entire distribution range of the species south of the Duero River now enjoys special protection.
According to the latest wolf census in Spain, carried out in 2014 by the Ministry for Ecological Transition (MITECO) and the autonomous communities, there were around 300 wolf packs, which means between 2,000 and 2,500 wolves, distributed mainly in the north of the Duero, while in the south they were estimated at 30
Herds.
MITECO together with the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (MAPA) and the autonomous communities are actively working to promote the coexistence of human activities and the conservation of the wolf and other carnivores. Among these state initiatives is the preparation by MITECO of a Catalogue of preventive measures aimed at mitigating the conflict between the wolf and extensive livestock farming. For its part, the MAPA has an Agricultural Insurance Plan that covers compensation for damage caused by those farmers who have subscribed to the corresponding policies.
