Proposal for a Marine Ecological Corridor

On May 31, Oceana, and the Official College of Biologists of the Basque Country (COBE) hosted a media conference to launch their proposal for a marine ecological corridor that would extend from San Sebastien (Spain) to Hendaye (France) encompassing some 27,000 ha over 35 km of coastline. Spain currently only has 1.3% of its marine area protected, considerably less than the 10% recommended by CBD. The ecological corridor would complement a similar proposal on the French side of the Basque country from Biarritz to Hendaye under the Natura 2000 network. Further research is anticipated to identify critical habitat areas as well as ongoing discussions with key government ministries.