Bridges Trade BioRes • Volume 7 • Number 5 • 16th March 2007

Marine Protection to Expand in Shipping Hotspot

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The Mediterranean countries are planning to take action to protect marine mammals in the Strait of Gibraltar, one of the world’s busiest shipping routes.

The Scientific Committee of the Agreement on the Conservation of Cetaceans of the Black Sea, Mediterranean Sea and contiguous Atlantic Area (ACCOBAMS) has come up with new proposals to protect whale and dolphin populations of the Strait of Gibraltar, Alboran Sea, and other areas of the Mediterranean, to be considered at the meeting of the parties in October.

The Strait of Gibraltar between Africa and Europe is a major shipping route, with some 90,000 vessels transiting the straight each year. The largest area proposed for protection includes the Alboran Sea and the Straits of Gibraltar, including national waters of Spain and Morocco, and the adjacent high seas. The area is about 25,000 square kilometers and is home to large and productive numbers of all 10 whale and dolphin species found in the Mediterranean. The proposals “aim both to protect critical marine ecosystems as well as to reduce persistent threats to the whales and dolphins and the species and habitats they depend on,” said Erich Hoyt, a Senior Research Fellow at the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society, who applauded the proposals.

The Port of Gibraltar is the largest bunkering point in the Mediterranean, refueling dozens of ships a day - making marine pollution inevitable. Most recently, on 28 January, a Panamanian ship ran aground and spilled fuel over 4 kilometers of protected coastline. Six long-finned pilot whales washed up on the beaches of Spain in the last three months, a higher number than usual. Their deaths were attributed to pollution from ships.

ACCOBAMS was signed by 20 European and African countries situated around the Mediterranean and Black seas in an effort to reduce the threat to cetaceans (members of the order Cetacea- whales, dolphins, and porpoises) and increase knowledge of these animals. It came into effect in 2001.

The Spanish Navy recently strongly advised ships in the Strait of Gibraltar to slow down to avoid hitting whales. The Strait itself is the home of about 260 pilot whales and dozens of sperm whales who flock to the area to eat squid. The Strait is only 14 km wide at its narrowest point, and is the only entry and exit point between the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean.

ICTSD reporting; “Spain tells ships to avoid whales,” BBC NEWS, 26 February, 2007; “Whale protections proposed for Strait of Gibraltar,” ENVIRONMENT NEWS SERVICE, 5 March 2007; “Protection for whale and dolphin habitats,” WHALE AND DOLPHIN CONSERVATION SOCIETY, 5 March 2007.