Argentina creates two new marine parks to protect penguins, sea lions

by Mongabay.com on 14 December 2018

Argentina has officially created two large marine protected areas: the Yaganes Marine National Park, lying off of the country’s southern tip, and the Namuncurá-Burdwood Bank II Marine National Park in the South Atlantic. Together, the two parks cover a total area of about 98,000 square kilometers (37,000 square miles).

By designating these two marine parks, Argentina has increased the total area of its protected ocean to about 8 percent. This puts the country closer to achieving its commitment of protecting 10 percent of its national waters by 2020 under the biodiversity targets of the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD).

Recent explorations of the areas now designated as marine parks have shown that the waters and surrounding land are home to a rich diversity of marine creatures including the South American sea lion (Otaria flavescens); king (Aptenodytes patagonicus), rockhopper (Eudyptes spp.) and Magellanic penguins (Spheniscus magellanicus); South American fur seal (Arctocephalus australis); several species of sharks and rays; and rare cold-water corals. Many marine species in these parks are not found anywhere else on Earth. The sea floor is also covered by mountains and canyons and giant kelp forests, the expeditions conducted by National Geographic’s Pristine Seas team, the government of Argentina, the government of Tierra del Fuego, and the Forum for the Conservation of the Patagonian Sea, revealed.

“Argentina’s new marine parks are a significant step toward the preservation of the ocean and the diversity of ocean-dependent species in the Patagonian Sea,” Claudio Campagna, a marine scientist at the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), which has provided support for the creation of the parks, said in a statement. “These parks will permit marine wildlife to pursue their life cycles undisturbed.”

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https://news.mongabay.com/2018/12/argentina-creates-two-new-marine-parks-to-protect-penguins-sea-lions/