Alexandra Cousteau to Bauzá: There is still time for this regional government to be the one that expands the Cabrera park
The regional president José Ramón Bauzá pledged in March to study the expansion of the national park, but there has been no progress at all since then.
Press Release Date: November 8, 2013
Location: Madrid
Contact:
Oceana Web | email: webadmin@oceana.org | tel.: 202.000.0000
Oceana demonstrates its willingness to work with the Regional Government, the scientific institutions and the fishing industry to protect the waters around the park.
Oceana has released a message from Alexandra Cousteau in which the granddaughter of the famous explorer reminds the president of the Balearic Regional Government of his promise to study the expansion of the Cabrera National Park. José Ramón Bauzá had a meeting in March this year with Cousteau and Xavier Pastor, Executive Director of Oceana in Europe, which was also attended by the Regional Minister of the Environment, Biel Company, and offered to initiate discussions regarding the issue. Since then not a single step has been taken, although scientific studies support the need to expand the park.
“Each day that passes, areas of great ecological interest are deteriorating because they are outside the Cabrera National Park. The same habitats and species enjoy effective protection on one side of the line and are abandoned to their fate on the other,” explains Alexandra Cousteau, Oceana adviser. “I hope, therefore, that the president fulfils his promise and begins the work to assess the extension of the park. There is still time for the Regional Government led by Bauzá to go down in history as the one that increased the size of the Cabrera National Park.”
The scientific studies by the Regional Government itself, and those by the Spanish Institute of Oceanography and the CSIC, along with the documentation work done by Oceana all demonstrate the presence of endangered species outside the park boundaries. Last week, a team from an international marine conservation organisation took new pictures showing the presence of maerl seabeds and coralligenous gardens in one of the areas proposed for expansion, the Fort d’en Moreu. Alexandra Cousteau was also present during this visit to Cabrera.
Oceana maintains that the Regional Government is missing a great opportunity to promote the expansion of the national park, with the consensus of the opposition groups and supported by the Central Government, small-scale fishermen and a large number of social sectors in the Balearic Islands.
“Oceana is more than willing to work with the Balearic Regional Government, scientists and fishermen in order to improve the protection of the area surrounding the Cabrera park. We would be delighted to meet with them again and provide all the information collected by our organisation on the marine ecosystem and the analysis of the fisheries in the area,” concludes Xavier Pastor.
Further information: Cabrera
