Researching the Malgrats and Toro Marine Reserve

Second day in the Balearic Islands. As I explained yesterday, we are staying in the Western part of Mallorca until the strong wind pass. We are researching the Malgrats and Toro Marine Reserve. The Local government is planning to change the map of the marine reserve leaving outside some areas. We are surveying those sites. … Read more

Spain to create second-largest marine national park in the Mediterranean, south of Mallorca

Spain is set to announce today it will create the second-largest marine national park in the Mediterranean[i], making the area of Cabrera National Park nine times larger and taking the total area protected to 90,794 hectares. The park, located south of Mallorca, will offer the highest level of legal protection for threatened marine life, including corals, … Read more

The rediscovery of Rosalinda incrustans (Cnidaria: Hydrozoa) in the Mediterranean Sea

The present note reports a new record of Rosalinda incrustans (Cnidaria: Hydrozoa) since its last reliable record in the Mediterranean Sea in 1958. Several colonies were recorded on the spider crab Anamathia rissoana off the Balearic Islands. The taxonomic history of R. incrustans, considered a putatively extinct species in a recent paper, is reviewed.   … Read more

The need of cartography for coralligenous and rhodoliths beds along the Mediterranean Sea: The Balearic Islands case

Coralligenous and rhodoliths beds are two types of biogenic habitats, structured by calcareous red algae. Widely distributed along the Mediterranean Sea, these formations create complex three-dimensional structures, where countless marine species –including those of high commercial value and endangered ones– feed, rest and nest. These characteristics confer the two habitats a great ecological and economic … Read more

Isidella elongata (Cnidaria: Alcyonacea) facies in the western Mediterranean Sea: visual surveys and descriptions of its ecological role

Isidella elongata is a candelabrum-shaped alcyonacean forming important facies on the bathyal muddy bottoms of the Mediterranean Sea, currently considered a sensitive habitat and heavily impacted by deep-sea fisheries. Until a few decades ago, this facies was a widespread habitat of the deep Mediterranean seabed and I. elongata was a common species in the trawling … Read more

Researchers find underwater forest of critically endangered bamboo coral in the Balearic Islands

The forest was discovered at a depth of 400 meters between Mallorca and Ibiza, an area Oceana has campaigned to protect Scientists from Oceana, the Spanish Institute of Oceanography, and the University of Bari (Italy) have described and listed the biodiversity associated to a bamboo coral (Isidella elongata) forest for the first time. The colony … Read more

1400 km2 in the Balearic Islands protected from destructive fishing

Oceana welcomes the creation of fishing protected areas in the Menorca Channel, and the modest expansion of another area to the east of Cabrera Archipelago National Park. These areas will allow the conservation of coralligenous formations and rhodolith beds, habitats formed by calcareous red algae in which many species feed and reproduce, and which are … Read more

1,400 square kilometers in the Balearic Islands protected from destructive fishing

After four years of Oceana’s campaigning for increased protections, Spain announced a ban on bottom trawling and other destructive fishing methods in a 1,400 square kilometer region between Mallorca and Menorca. The Spanish government also expanded the protected area in Fort d’en Moreu, a vibrant reef to the east of Cabrera that has been threatened … Read more

Denmark protects new areas with key ecosystems in Kattegat

On May 6th, the Danish government released its long-awaited decision to establish new marine protected areas (MPAs) in the Kattegat. The MPAs will protect fragile and threatened soft bottom species and habitats, such as sea pens and Haploops, which are largely left unprotected throughout European waters. Once in place, the 590 km2 areas, spread over … Read more

2005-2015: Twenty expeditions in just one decade

What is the best month to go on an expedition? Well, that depends on where you want to go and what you want to see. If you check Oceana in Europe’s website or our recently launched story map, you’ll discover the answer is actually any month – apart from December. Since 2005, we have organised … Read more