By Andrew Atkinson

Mediterranean countries have agreed to the Spanish Government’s proposal to incorporate the western Mediterranean cetacean migration corridor in the list of Specially Protected Areas of Importance of the Barcelona Convention.

Following the decision taken in Naples, within COP21, the area that is now protected is a continuous strip of seawater of 46,385 km2 of surface, and 85 km of average width, which runs between the Catalan and Valencian coast, and the Balearic archipelago.

These waters have great ecological value and constitute a corridor of cetacean migration of vital importance for the survival of cetaceans in the Western Mediterranean.