Whale Protection Proposed for Gibraltar

Whale Protection Proposed for Gibraltar



March 2007 - A new proposal to protect the 
waterway that separates Europe from Africa for some of the 
world’s most threatened whales and dolphins will be considered 
later this year by the 20 governments that have signed an 
agreement to conserve the heavily trafficked marine region. 
The Strait of Gibraltar and the adjacent Alboran Sea would be 
protected under proposals being formally recommended to the 20 
country parties to the Agreement on the Conservation of the 
Black Sea, Mediterranean Sea and contiguous Atlantic area, 
ACCOBAMS, at the meeting of the parties in Croatia in October. 

Areas used by fin, sperm, Cuvier’s beaked and killer whales as 
well as bottlenose and common dolphins and harbor porpoises 
for feeding, breeding and rearing young are proposed for 
protection from encroaching industry and pollution. 
"These proposals are based on solid science and are some of 
the most far reaching and significant to be recommended in 
European waters," says Erich Hoyt, a senior research fellow 
with the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society, WDCS, based 
in England. 
Pilot whales play off the coast of Tarifa, the southernmost 
point of Spain. 
"They 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 Hoyt. 
Hoyt helped organize a scientific workshop on protected areas 
for cetaeans last November in Monaco that examined and put 
forward the proposals through the Scientific Committee of 
ACCOBAMS. 
One of the proposals would protect the Strait of Sicily - an 
area frequented by fin whales and a range of dolphin species 
off Italy, Malta and Tunisia and on the high seas. 
Other proposals would safeguard eight areas for common 
dolphins in the Mediterranean - five in Greece, and two in 
Italy - as well as the Amvrakikos Gulf of northwest Greece 
where about 150 bottlenose dolphins live in a semi-enclosed 
area that the WDCS says could function as a natural laboratory 
for research. 
In addition, the ACCOBAMS governments will consider protecting 
two areas important for Black Sea dolphins and harbor 
porpoises. 
The largest area proposed for protection is about 25,000 
square kilometers than encompasses the entire Alboran Sea and 
Straits of Gibraltar with substantial portions of the national 
waters of Spain and Morocco as well as the adjacent high seas. 

The area highlighted for protection in the Alboran Sea and 
Strait of Gibraltar is being proposed in a number of Special 
Areas of Conservation and Ocean Reserves, as well as an 
international Special Area of Mediterranean Interest under the 
Barcelona Convention, whose signatories include most 
Mediterranean countries. 
This region is the most productive and diverse area in the 
Mediterranean and features 10 of the Mediterranean’s whale and 
dolphin species in high numbers. 
The first aerial census of cetaceans off the coast of 
Andalucia, Spain was carried out by the regional government 
last June. It revealed the presence of large species such as 
sperm whales, some Cuvier's beaked whales and a large number 
of small dolphins. 
Yet the area is under intense pressure from fishing, including 
illegal driftnet fishing, as well as shipping traffic, and 
maritime pollution. 
About 14 kilometers (nine miles) wide at its narrowest point, 
the Strait of Gibraltar is the entry and exit point between 
the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. It is bordered 
by the continents of Africa and Europe, and the countries of 
Morocco, Spain, the British colony of Gibraltar, and the 
Spanish exclave of Ceuta. 
The cetaceans must navigate around some 90,000 vessels that 
transit the Strait of Gibraltar each year. 
Two of many ships lie at anchor in the Bay of Gibraltar. March 
5, 2007. 
The crossroads of world trade, the Port of Gibraltar is the 
largest bunkering port in the Mediterranean, supplying all 
grades of marine fuel by barge to vessels anchored in 
Gibraltar Bay. Frequent spills are inevitable. 
The latest spill occurred three weeks ago when the Sierra 
Nava, a refrigerator ship from Panama, ran aground outside 
Gibraltar on January 28, spilling fuel oil over four 
kilometers (2.5 miles) of protected coastline within the 
Estrecho National Park. 
Environmentalists are advocating urgent action to stop 
pollution from ships passing through the Strait of Gibraltar 
after six long-finned pilot whales from the Strait's resident 
population have washed up on beaches in southern Spain over 
the past three months. 
"They were all well-fed adults and there was no apparent 
reason for their deaths," Renaud de Stephanis, president of 
Conservation, Information and Research on Cetaceans, told the 
"Telegraph" in February. 
"Pilot whales are very sensitive to any type of contamination 
and we fear that marine pollution caused by oil spills is to 
blame," said de Stephanis, calling for immediate action to 
stop the pollution. 
The global conservation organization WWF is proposing better 
surveillance and "exemplary measures" to stop new incidents. 
WWF is pleased with a major advance for whale conservation in 
the Alboran Sea announced February 28. 
King Mohammed VI of Morocco has signed an agreement that will 
help phase out the use of driftnets in Moroccan waters, which 
are known to cause the accidental death or injury of many 
marine species, including whales and around 3,600 dolphins and 
23,000 sharks per year in the southwestern part of the 
Mediterranean Sea alone. 
Under the new EU-Morocco Fisheries Partnership Agreement, 119 
European vessels, mostly Spanish, will be allowed to fish in 
Moroccan waters in exchange for an annual €36 million 
compensation package. 
A portion of this compensation, as requested by WWF, will fund 
the phasing out of Morocco’s driftnet fleet, the largest of 
its kind in the Mediterranean. 
“This agreement is a major step forward in making fishing 
methods more sustainable in the Mediterranean,” said Dr. Sergi 
Tudela, head of fisheries at WWF Mediterranean. 
“We have been crying out for driftnets to be banned in the 
Mediterranean for years, so this concrete development is most 
welcome.” 
Stretching up to 14 kilometers in length, driftnets are 
fishing nets that drift with the tide or current buoyed by 
floats or attached to a boat. 
Though illegal, driftnets are still widely used across the 
Mediterranean. A recent WWF study showed that at least 177 
fishing boats were illegally using driftnets in the Alboran 
Sea between Morocco and Spain to target swordfish. 
Also announced this week is the official launch of a new 
online resource for marine protected areas called 
cetaceanhabitat.org, sponsored by the Whale and Dolphin 
Conservation Society. 
Visitors to the site will find news on recent sanctuaries and 
marine protected areas, MPAs, links to and descriptions of 
regional and world treaties on cetaceans and protected areas; 
definitions of key MPA terms such as critical habitat and 
ecosystem-based management; detailed references and downloads; 
and excerpts from Erich Hoyt’s book Marine Protected Areas for 
Whales, Dolphins and Porpoises, 
"We’re hoping this will be a grassroots information tool that 
helps promote the creation of the best possible MPAs 
worldwide, in line with regional and international targets," 
says Hoyt, who helped develop the site. "But our key message 
is that for MPAs to be successful for cetaceans and 
ecosystems, cetacean threats have to be addressed in 
comprehensive ecosystem-based management plans with generous, 
highly protected zones containing critical habitat areas." 





 

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