Back in 1990, the Tethys Research Institute proposed to the “European Association Rotary for the Environment” a project for the establishment of a marine protected area, a Biosphere Reserve, in the high seas encompassing the most important habitat for cetaceans in the region.
The rationale behind the proposal, which was named “Project Pelagos”, included the ecological representativeness of the area, its high species diversity, its intense biological activity, the presence of critical habitat for a number of pelagic species including cetaceans, and the opportunities that the area offered to baseline research.
Now, almost 20 years later, the pioneer of Pelagos Giuseppe Notarbartolo di Sciara and other four authors published a comprehensive review on the Cetacean Sanctuary.
‘The Pelagos Sanctuary for Mediterranean marine mammals’ provides a description of the rationale behind the initial proposal and an overview of the challenging process leading to the creation of the Sanctuary, a unique area that contains habitat suitable for the breeding and feeding needs of the entire complement of cetacean species regularly found in the Mediterranean Sea.
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To download the article:
Notarbartolo di Sciara G., Agardy T., Hyrenbach D., Scovazzi T., Van Klaveren P. 2008. The Pelagos Sanctuary for Mediterranean marine mammals. Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems 18:367-391.
For more information:
www.cetaceanalliance.org
www.tethys.org
