Spain creates Mediterranean Sea reserve for whale migration

[Judi Lynn]

Updated 3:00 pm, Friday, June 29, 2018



FILE - In this June 15, 2001 file photo, a sperm whale calf swims next to its mother and a pod of sperm whales, about four miles off the coast of the Agat Marina in Guam. Spain says it will create a marine wildlife reserve for whale and dolphin migration the Mediterranean Sea in which prospecting for fossil fuels will be prohibited. The Spanish government announced on Friday, June 29, 2018 that the protected area will cover 46,385 square kilometers (17,909 square miles) between the Balearic Islands and the mainland. The species Spain hopes to protect are Fin whales, sperm whales, grey sperm whales, pilot whales, Cuvier’s beaked whales, bottlenose dolphins, striped dolphins, common dolphins and loggerhead turtles. Photo: CHRIS BANGS, AP / 2001 AP


MADRID (AP) — Spain is creating a marine wildlife reserve for the migrations of whales and dolphins in the Mediterranean Sea and will prohibit searching for fossil fuels in the area.

The Spanish government announced Friday that the protected reserve will cover 46,385 square kilometers (17,909 square miles) between the Balearic Islands and the mainland. It says the area "is of great ecological value and represents a migration path of vital importance for cetaceans in the Western Mediterranean."

Teresa Ribera, Spain's minister for ecological transition, says "this is the end of new prospecting or any type of extraction of fossil fuels" in the protected area.

The species Spain hopes to protect are Fin whales, sperm whales, grey sperm whales, pilot whales, Cuvier's beaked whales, bottlenose dolphins, striped dolphins, common dolphins and loggerhead turtles.

https://www.chron.com/news/world/article/Spain-creates-Mediterranean-Sea-reserve-for-whale-13037862.php

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