New Galápagos sanctuary protects unique marine life
New Galápagos sanctuary protects unique marine life
Muriel Vega (@murielvega)
Science / Conservation
April 7, 2016
© Dee Boersma
The marine ecosystem around Ecuador's Galápagos Islands can rest a little easier. The country has created a new marine sanctuary around the islands that will offer protection to the world’s greatest concentration of sharks, the world’s rarest penguin species and so many others.
The new marine sanctuary will protect 15,000 square miles and extends
The decree was signed on March 21 by Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa.
© National Geographic / MINISTRY OF THE ENVIRONMENT, ECUADOR
This is good news for conservationists as now 32 percent of the waters around the Galápagos will be protected from fishing, mining and other extractive industries. It will all be incorporated to the marine reserve created in 1998.
"We’ve been working for years in the Galapagos, advising officials in Ecuador to protect the fish-rich waters that penguins and other species rely upon for food," P. Dee Boersma, a conservationist and professor of biology at the University of Washington, says about the new sanctuary.
© Enric Sala/National Geographic Pristine Seas
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