North Atlantic’s Largest Marine Protected Area Created by Portugal’s Azores Islands

Dolphins off the coast of the island of San Miguel in the Azores. Juan Miguel Cervera Merlo / iStock / Getty Images Plus

The regional assembly of the Azores Islands — a nine-island archipelago in Portugal — has approved the North Atlantic’s largest marine protected area.

Its creation will allow Portugal to meet the United Nations goal of safeguarding 30 percent of the planet’s land and sea by the end of the decade.

“We have acted in advance of the international conservation goals for 2030 with the creation of the largest marine park in the North Atlantic, with fully protected areas and highly protected areas,” Bernardo Brito e Abreu, maritime affairs adviser to the Azorean government, told Reuters.

The new marine sanctuary will encompass nearly 115,830 square miles, providing protection for its vast and unique biodiversity — including deep-sea corals and hydrothermal vents.

“We are more sea than land and have influence in the maritime dimension that we are in the decision-making of our country, the European Union and the world,” said José Manuel Bolieiro, regional government president, in a press release from the Azores government.

Abreu said half the marine protected area’s network would be designated as “fully protected” and would not permit fishing activities. The other half would be “highly protected,” with only selected fishing allowed.

“Over the course of more than five years, scientists, NGOs, public bodies and associations from the fishing and maritime-tourism sectors came together in a process of co-creation that sought solutions that balanced the conservation of marine ecosystems with the impact on economic activities,” the press release said.

Approval of the marine protected area came just a few days following an announcement by the minister of environment and energy that the national government would provide 100 percent compensation to fishers for potential losses because of the implementation of a new Marine Protected Areas Network (RAMPA) through the country’s environmental fund.

The new law requires a management strategy and for the revision of marine protected areas along the coast of Portugal to be published in three years.

“It also provides an adaptive approach that allows new scientific evidence to be incorporated into each revision cycle, optimising their management and degree of success,” the press release said.

Bolieiro said the Azores was “making a significant contribution to Portugal meeting the international targets for the decade,” Reuters reported.

The Azores is an autonomous region that lies approximately 932 miles west of Portugal’s mainland.

The creation of the marine protected area refocuses “the debate, reflection and decision on this important cause, which is the sea, biodiversity and the quality of human, animal and plant life on the planet,” Bolieiro said in the press release.

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