Latin American countries join reserves to create vast marine protected area
Also: 4 LatAm nations create fishing-free corridor in east Pacific (Associated Press)
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Source: The Guardian
Latin American countries join reserves to create vast marine protected area
‘Mega-MPA’ in Pacific will link waters of Ecuador, Colombia, Panama and Costa Rica to protect migratory turtles, whales and sharks from fishing fleets
Dan Collyns in Lima
@yachay_dc
Tue 2 Nov 2021 16.22 GMT
Four Pacific-facing Latin American nations have committed to joining their marine reserves to form one interconnected area, creating one of the world’s richest pockets of ocean biodiversity.
Panama, Ecuador, Colombia and Costa Rica announced on Tuesday the creation of the Eastern Tropical Pacific Marine Corridor (CMAR) initiative, which would both join and increase the size of their protected territorial waters to create a fishing-free corridor covering more than 500,000 sq km (200,000 sq miles) in one of the world’s most important migratory routes for sea turtles, whales, sharks and rays.
The move comes amid growing clamour for action to protect rare marine species and commercial fish populations against foreign fishing fleets exploiting the region’s rich marine biodiversity, as well as to limit illegal, under-reported and unregulated (IUU) fishing by local fishing communities.
The president of Colombia, Iván Duque, announced an additional 160,000 sq km of marine protected area on top of the country’s existing 120,000 sq km at Cop26 in Glasgow on Tuesday.
The day before, Ecuador’s president, Guillermo Lasso, took the first step by announcing the expansion of the current 133,000 sq km Galápagos marine reserve by 60,000 sq km.
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Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/nov/02/four-latin-american-countries-join-protected-marine-reserves-to-create-mega-mpa
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Source: Associated Press
4 LatAm nations create fishing-free corridor in east Pacific
By MANUEL RUEDA
November 2, 2021
BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — Four Latin American countries announced Tuesday that they will expand and unite their marine reserves to create a vast corridor in the Pacific Ocean in hopes of protecting sea turtles, tuna, squid, hammerhead sharks and other species.
The new marine corridor will connect the Galapagos Islands in Ecuador with Colombia’s Malpelo Island and the Cocos and Coiba Islands in Costa Rican and Panamanian waters, protecting migratory species from fishing fleets of hundreds of vessels that visit the eastern Pacific each year.
The announcement was made during the U.N. climate conference in Glasgow, Scotland, where world leaders gathered to discuss carbon emission targets and other environmental policies.
It comes amid growing concern over industrial fishing in the eastern Pacific, where fishing fleets from China and other countries are hauling in hundreds of thousands of tons of marine life each year using questionable methods.
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Read more: https://apnews.com/article/science-environment-and-nature-colombia-environment-europe-e03e8b57010328472386b0e717cb3003
