Portugal leads marine protection with new designated area
LISBON - Portugal said on Wednesday it was creating a new protected marine area around the Gorringe Ridge in the Atlantic Ocean that includes Western Europe's tallest seamount, positioning itself as a leader on the way to international conservation goals.
The announcement by Environment Minister Maria da Graca Carvalho comes as countries gather in the French city of Nice for the third U.N. Oceans conference, aiming to accelerate action to preserve marine environments.
Carvalho said that with the Gorringe marine protected area (MPA), some 200 km (124 miles) off the southern coast of continental Portugal, and two smaller areas to be created, the share of its seas protected would rise to at least 27% from 19%.
"In terms of marine protection we are the most advanced country in the world with our characteristics combining continental and insular territory. Certainly the leader in Europe," she said.
The creation of more MPAs globally is a key goal of the U.N. conference amid a push to get more countries to ratify and implement the 2023 High Seas Treaty, which provides a legal framework to protect biodiversity in international waters.
So far, 51 countries have ratified the treaty, just short of the 60 needed for it to become legally binding.
According to a report from last October, 8.4% of the world's marine and coastal areas were protected, less than a third of the way to a global goal of 30% by 2030.
Carvalho said the creation of the MPA was expected to be approved by decree in the next couple of months, with total acreage and detail on how much will be designated as a fully protected area, where no fishing is allowed, to be determined.
Emanuel Gonçalves, chief scientist at Oceano Azul Foundation, which mapped the area with the Portuguese navy and whose findings informed the government decision, said the recommended MPA would total 100,000 square kilometres (38,610 square miles).
"A large-scale MPA like this, if fully protected, will functionally connect seamounts, abyssal plains, and open ocean, and create a safe haven to highly mobile and migratory species, and deep sea habitats," he said.
"It will provide a fertile nursery and feeding ground for turtles, sharks, marine mammals, sea birds and tunas, expand or restore kelp and coral forests and create a sanctuary for the unique breeding aggregation of torpedo rays."
Last year, Portugal created the largest protected area in the North Atlantic, encompassing almost 300,000 sq km around the Azores archipelago, half of it fully-protected. REUTERS
Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Straits Times
an hour ago
- Straits Times
US officials survey Air India crash site, families continue to wait for bodies
US National Transportation Safety Board and US Federal Aviation Administration officials surveyed the Air India plane crash site in Ahmedabad. FILE PHOTO: REUTERS AHMEDABAD - Officials from the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) surveyed the site of the Air India plane crash that killed at least 271 people, sources said on June 15 , with families continuing to wait for DNA profiling results to identify charred bodies. Along with the NTSB, officials from the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) were in Ahmedabad in western India's Gujarat state surveying the crash site, said one source with direct knowledge. The Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner with 242 people on board bound for Gatwick Airport south of London began losing height seconds after take-off in Ahmedabad on J une 12 , and erupted in a huge fireball as it hit buildings below. All but one on board were declared dead in the world's worst aviation disaster in a decade. Around 30 people died on the ground. Air India and the Indian government were looking at several aspects of the crash including issues linked to its engine thrust, flaps, and why the landing gear remained open as the plane took off and then came down. The secretary of the US Department of Transport, Mr Sean Duffy, said on June 13 he was in the process of deploying a team from the FAA and the NTSB to India. Boeing and GE, whose engines were used in the plane, were also sending teams. 'We'll take action should any recommendations come forward from the NTSB's investigation,' Mr Duffy said. The FAA and NSTB did not immediately respond to Reuters queries outside regular business hours. The FAA has said India will lead the investigation, but the NTSB is the official US representative for providing assistance, while the FAA provides technical support. Boeing officials will also look at various parameters in their inspections, including the angle of landing, as they investigate the matter, said the first source. In all, around 10 officials were present at the site on June 1 5, including from the NTSB, said the second source. India's aviation regulator has ordered all Boeing 787s being operated by local carriers to be inspected. The crash brings a fresh challenge for both Air India which has for years being trying to revamp its fleet, and Boeing, which is trying to rebuild public trust following a series of safety and production crises. In Ahmedabad, doctors were struggling to identify bodies that were charred in the incident, resorting to dental samples and DNA profiling. DNA samples of 32 victims from the crash have been successfully matched, Dr Ra jnish Patel, additional superintendent at the city's main hospital, said on Sunday. 'The bodies for which DNA samples have been matched are being handed over to the families with due respect,' he said. REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Straits Times
5 hours ago
- Straits Times
Families hold funerals for Air India crash victims
Grieving families of those who died in the Air India crash on June 12 are due to hold funerals in India on June 15. PHOTO: REUTERS Grieving families were due to hold funerals in India on June 15 for their relatives who were among at least 279 killed in one of the world's worst plane crashes in decades. Health officials have begun handing over the first passenger bodies identified through DNA testing, delivering them in white coffins in the western city of Ahmedabad. 'My heart is very heavy, how do we give the bodies to the families?' said Mr Tushar Leuva, an NGO worker who has been helping with the recovery efforts. There was just one survivor out of 242 passengers and crew on board the Air India jet when it crashed Thursday into a residential area of Ahmedabad, killing at least 38 people on the ground. 'How will they react when they open the gate? But we'll have to do it,' Mr Leuva told AFP at the mortuary on June 14. One victim's relative who did not want to be named told AFP they had been instructed not to open the coffin when they receive it. Witnesses reported seeing badly burnt bodies and scattered remains. The Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner erupted into a fireball when it went down moments after takeoff, smashing into buildings used by medical staff. Mourning relatives have been providing DNA samples to be matched with passengers, with 31 identified as of the morning of June 15. 'This is a meticulous and slow process, so it has to be done meticulously only,' Dr Rajnish Patel, a doctor at Ahmedabad's civil hospital, said late on June 14. The majority of those injured on the ground have been discharged, he added, with one or two remaining in critical care. Girls orphaned by crash Indian authorities are yet to detail the cause of the disaster and have ordered inspections of Air India's Dreamliners. Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu Kinjarapu said on June 14 he hoped decoding the recovered black box, or flight data recorder, would 'give an in-depth insight' into what went wrong. Just one person miraculously escaped the wreckage, British citizen Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, whose brother was also on the flight. Air India said there were 169 Indian passengers, 53 British, seven Portuguese and a Canadian on board the flight, as well as 12 crew members. Among the passengers was a father of two young girls, Mr Arjun Patoliya, who had travelled to India to scatter his wife's ashes following her death weeks earlier. 'I really hope that those girls will be looked after by all of us,' said Ms Anjana Patel, the mayor of London's Harrow borough where some of the victims lived. 'We don't have any words to describe how the families and friends must be feeling,' she added. While communities were in mourning, one woman recounted how she survived only by arriving late at the airport. 'The airline staff had already closed the check-in,' said 28-year-old Bhoomi Chauhan. 'At that moment, I kept thinking that if only we had left a little earlier, we wouldn't have missed our flight,' she told the Press Trust of India news agency. AFP Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Straits Times
15 hours ago
- Straits Times
IAEA says no damage seen at Iran's Fordow or Khondab nuclear sites
The Iranian flag flutters outside the IAEA headquarters after the first day of the agency's quarterly Board of Governors meeting at the IAEA headquarters in Vienna, Austria, June 9, 2025. REUTERS/Lisa Leutner IAEA says no damage seen at Iran's Fordow or Khondab nuclear sites No damage was seen at Iran's Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant or the Khondab heavy water reactor under construction, the U.N. nuclear watchdog said on Saturday. Earlier, the International Atomic Energy Agency said that Iran's Nuclear Regulatory Authority had informed it of no change in off-site radiation levels in Isfahan, the site of one of the nuclear targets struck on Friday by Israeli forces. The IAEA also said that four critical buildings at the Isfahan nuclear site had been damaged, including a uranium conversion facility and a fuel plate fabrication plant. "As in Natanz, no increase in off-site radiation expected," the agency said in a post on X. REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
