Global News - October 2007

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South American nations 'must protect their aquatic wildlife'

Thu 18 October 2007 14:45 UK — South America,marine wildlife

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The governments of South America should establish a greater number of marine protection areas to help save rare sea life, an international conference has concluded.

Participants in the second Latin American Congress on National Parks have agreed to declare the period between 2008 and 2018 the "decade of marine protected areas".

After the week-long conference, which was held recently in Argentina, over 2,200 participants signed the historic Bariloche Declaration.

This urged Latin American governments to make establishing national and regional marine protection networks their top conservation priority.

A statement from World Conservation Union (IUCN) - which helped organise the event - read: "Amid concern that the region's rate of marine protection areas designation is too slow to meet the 2012 target, congress participants called for a refocusing of conservation efforts on the oceans.

"Existing marine protection areas cover about 0.5 per cent of the marine area of Latin America, while nearly 20 per cent of the continent's land area is protected.

"Most of Latin American marine protected areas are multiple use, small in size, and do not extend far beyond the coastal line. Efforts for setting up oceanic and high seas marine protection areas are nonexistent."

In August, a number of Brazilian fishermen were caught on camera apparently killing 83 dolphins and joking about their illegal activities.

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