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12:16 GMT
GENEVA, Oct 17 (KUNA) -- New facts about marine life enable scientists to
locate some of the ocean's most ecologically and biologically significant
areas (EBSAs), in the planet's most remote places.
At the 11th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological
Diversity (CBD) in Hyderabad, India, IUCN (International Union for
Conservation of Nature) calls on the international community to protect them.
This is the first time the world ocean, including its international waters,
comes under scientific scrutiny, combining new facts about the distribution,
migration routes and reproductive, nesting and nursing grounds of many
threatened species, such as tuna, sharks, turtles and whales.
The Global Ocean Biodiversity Initiative, of which IUCN is a partner, has
been engaged in compiling and processing the new data.
"Many of these important areas lie outside of national jurisdiction, and
thus remain neglected or poorly protected," says Kristina Gjerde, IUCN Senior
High Seas Advisor. "We need to bring these remote places to the center of
government attention."
Over 120 marine 'hotspots' located by experts in the Western South Pacific,
the Mediterranean, the Wider Caribbean and Western Mid-Atlantic are now
waiting to be approved by the CBD.
This approval is needed to push the international community to recognize
and protect these areas. The new knowledge gathered about them should be used
by those managing marine activities to preserve areas beyond national
boundaries, in line with international law - according to IUCN.
One of the areas, the Sargasso Sea serves as a crossroad of the Atlantic
Ocean. Its iconic floating Sargassum seaweeds provide a unique shelter to many
species some of which, like the Sargassum angerfish, are unique to the area.
Some 30 species of whales, dolphins, and porpoises breed, live in or
migrate through the Sargasso Sea, as do species of tuna, turtles, sharks, rays
and the European and American eels.
New tracking technologies have allowed researchers to examine migration
routes of many species, including the Pacific leatherback sea turtles,
threatened by poaching and unintentional fishing. Better protection of these
areas could ensure the survival of this species, listed as Critically
Endangered on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.
"We are calling the Convention to approve the proposed EBSAs and urge the
international community to protect them - for the sake of our oceans and the
services they provide to people around the world," says Patricio Bernal, IUCN
Coordinator of Global Ocean Biodiversity Initiative. "If we fail to do this,
we risk losing rich marine life before we even have the time to explore it."
The oceans are a vital part of the earth's life support system and are home
to an estimated 80 per cent of the world's biodiversity, from tiny
phytoplancton to blue whales - the largest creatures on the planet.
They provide us with oxygen, food and water and regulate the earth's
climate. While unsustainable human use, climate change and ocean acidification
continue to threaten their biodiversity, only about 2 per cent of the world's
oceans is protected - including less than 1 per cent of their international
waters - and much of them remains unexplored.
Among other features, scientists assessed the biological diversity and the
number of rare species in the areas. They also looked at how important these
places are for the survival of threatened species and how vulnerable they are
to threats such as climate change and human activity, including pollution and
illegal and badly managed fishing.
"Unregulated fishing is responsible for the mass mortality of sharks, which
can cause dramatic shifts in the whole of the marine environment," says
Kristina Gjerde. "Plastics are pervasive in all ocean basins, contaminating
the food chain with unknown effects. Emerging activities such as deep seabed
mining threaten to industrialize the seafloor on a scale as yet unimagined."
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