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 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
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 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
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
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
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
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
During a number of oceanographic campaigns, Oceana has focused part of its research on documenting the sea beds of the Balearic archipelago, in order to determine the importance of the habitats and species present there and request the establishment of the most adequate protection and management measures. Given the ecological and economic importance of these … Read more
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
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We have already protected nearly 4 million square miles of ocean and innumerable sea life - but there is still more to be done.
Oceana in Europe gratefully acknowledges EU funding support.
