Nominated species include the tallest gorgonian in the Mediterranean and the longest-living ocean coral The 11th meeting of the Barcelona Convention on Protected Areas and Biodiversity will start next Monday in Rabat (Morocco). One of the main topics for discussion this year will be the improved protection of deep-sea corals, given the proposal of the … Read more
The new species was discovered on a seamount 30 miles off the Spanish coast. Oceana and the Centro de Estudios Avanzados de Blanes (CEAB-CSIC) have discovered a new species: a unicellular organism of exceptional size (4-5 cm high), belonging to the phylum foraminifera, which imitates carnivorous sponges in its appearance and way of capturing food. … Read more
You know, we at Oceana want it all, which is perhaps why we love seamounts so much. It’s not just because they are feeding grounds and spawning areas for highly migratory species; or because they attract lots of sharks, tunas, turtles, cetaceans and seabirds; or because you can find a wide variety of habitats and … Read more
Oceana proposes multiplying by 10 the protected surface, including sensitive habitats and endangered species that lie beyond the park boundaries. Alexandra Cousteau, Jacques Cousteau’s granddaughter and an Oceana advisor, has travelled to the Balearics to support the proposal for the enlargement of the Cabrera National Park. The visit will take place 36 years after the … Read more
The dumping of the waste into the sea will affect fishing activity, human health, the quality of bathing water, and the conservation of marine ecosystems. Oceana sent today to the Paris headquarters of UNESCO, the body in charge of Biosphere Reserves, a complaint against the project of dumping into the sea the waste materials from … Read more
What has to happen in a few months in a relatively small area – 5,000 sqkm- for 180 scientists from different organizations to sign a joint document and send it to media? Many things, and none of them good: drastic budget cuts for protected areas, redundancies that dismantle effective teams, destruction of years-long work… All … Read more
Can a place 3,000 feet deep, dark and cold be a hot spot of biodiversity? Yes, it can! In fact, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has included four such sites in their Lebanon’s marine protected area strategy , and the reason why we’re talking about them here is because it’s a … Read more
Located between Spain, Morocco and Algeria, the Alboran Sea is to the very West of the Western Mediterranean. If the Strait of Gibraltar can be called the gate to the Med, then the Alboran Sea is a busy hall where thousands of ships and migrating cetaceans go to and fro. Such hectic activity in a … Read more
The seabeds which attract most attention due to their extraordinary wealth are coralligenous seabeds, where illegal trawling is being performed. The authors of the report request that trawling activities move to greater depths. The enlargement of the Cabrera National Park has the support of many researchers who have examined the seabeds surrounding this area. A … Read more
It’s not looking good for habitat and species protection in the Mediterranean, a big deadline is coming up and EU Member States from the region are failing to meet their obligations, despite the looming threat of financial penalties. But let me rewind a bit, to give you a bit of background. The Habitats Directive is … 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.
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