Eleven organisations dedicated to ocean conservation have conveyed to the Ministry for Ecological Transition and Demographic Recovery (MITERD) the need for Spain to meet its marine conservation targets, as set by the European Union. Specifically, they have called for the approval of coherent management plans for Spanish marine protected areas (MPAs) and the strict protection of 10% of their waters by 2030.
Representatives of ClientEarth, Ecologistas en Acción, Marilles Foundation, GEN-GOB, Greenpeace, OceanCare, Oceana, SEO/BirdLife, Tursiops, Bluewave Alliance, and WWF Spain met with the Director General of Biodiversity, María Jesús Rodríguez de Sancho, at the MITERD headquarters and offered their collaboration to achieve marine environmental sustainability.
Likewise, they have demanded to follow up the Maritime agreement between environmental organisations for the effective protection of 30% of the Spanish Mediterranean, also signed by ANSE, GOB Menorca, GOB Mallorca, Save the Med, and Vell Marí. This document establishes the basis to achieve the real protection of the 30% of the Mediterranean Sea, one of the most damaged in the world, due to overfishing, pollution, and the effects of climate change.
Far from commitment
The organisations reminded MITERD that Spain is far from achieving 10% of its waters under strict protection, the most effective measure to conserve and restore marine ecosystems and their resources. This is demonstrated by the results of the report Objective 10×30. The urgency of establishing strictly protected marine areas in Spain, elaborated by Oceana. The study concludes that the percentage of strict protection in Spanish Mediterranean waters is insignificant (less than 0.1%).
The organisations also reminded MITERD: ‘It is necessary to advance in the definition of the criteria to be applied at the state level to identify and establish strict protection zones, as well as to develop the corresponding monitoring and evaluation plans, as these are essential for the protection of these areas to be really effective.’
Likewise, they recognised the progress made by MITERD in the creation of MPAs, which already cover 23% of the Spanish marine surface. This includes the recent proposal to declare the Mar de las Calmas National Marine Park, in El Hierro an MPA.
New MPAs
Although the Spanish Mediterranean already has 30% of its surface area designated as protected, during the meeting it was also requested that new EMPs in the Mediterranean proposed by local actors, especially fishers, be taken into account to move towards greater coherence and connectivity of the EMP network.
This is the case, for example, of the Serra de Tramuntana Marine Reserve in Mallorca (which has broad social support and has been claimed for years by the Balearic Islands government, but for which there is no clear roadmap), or the Penyal d’Ifac Marine Reserve in Calp (Alicante).
Pablo Rodríguez Ros, coordinator of MED30, the 30×30 strategy for the Spanish Mediterranean: ‘The Spanish government has a great opportunity in the Balearic Islands to move towards the goal of strictly protecting 10% of the Mediterranean. Likewise, from Marilles Foundation, we also demand the declaration of the marine reserve of Tramuntana, Baix Fondo, and Eivissa’s outer waters, proposals that have been supported for years by society, the fishing sector, and the government of the Balearic Islands.’