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Whale and Dolphin Sanctuary of Uruguay’s Hope Spot Champions Celebrate the Designation of Uruguay’s First – Ever Oceanic Marine Protected Area
Cover Image: Aerial view of Isla de Lobos, Uruguay. Credit: Jikatu.
Author: Christy Keating
The sanctuary, years in the making, will protect dozens of species and combat the effects of overfishing.
On a tiny island five miles south of Uruguay’s southernmost point, a lighthouse soars nearly 200feet into the air. Its light has been keeping sailors safe since 1858, warning passing ships against the rocky shallows that surround the island. And now, for the first time, those waters themselves are equally protected, along with the island’s populations of South American sea lions (Otaria flavescens) and fur seals (Arctocephalus australis), thanks to the establishment last August of Uruguay’s first-ever oceanic Marine Protected Area (MPA).
The Isla de Lobos MPA provides a safe haven not only for the Western Hemisphere’s largest colonies of sea lions and fur seals, but also for hundreds of species of corals, fish, sea turtles, seabirds, and cetaceans, including the migratory Southern right whale.…
The post Whale and Dolphin Sanctuary of Uruguay’s Hope Spot Champions Celebrate the Designation of Uruguay’s First – Ever Oceanic Marine Protected Area appeared first on Mission Blue.
Author: Christy Keating
The sanctuary, years in the making, will protect dozens of species and combat the effects of overfishing.
On a tiny island five miles south of Uruguay’s southernmost point, a lighthouse soars nearly 200feet into the air. Its light has been keeping sailors safe since 1858, warning passing ships against the rocky shallows that surround the island. And now, for the first time, those waters themselves are equally protected, along with the island’s populations of South American sea lions (Otaria flavescens) and fur seals (Arctocephalus australis), thanks to the establishment last August of Uruguay’s first-ever oceanic Marine Protected Area (MPA).
The Isla de Lobos MPA provides a safe haven not only for the Western Hemisphere’s largest colonies of sea lions and fur seals, but also for hundreds of species of corals, fish, sea turtles, seabirds, and cetaceans, including the migratory Southern right whale.…
The post Whale and Dolphin Sanctuary of Uruguay’s Hope Spot Champions Celebrate the Designation of Uruguay’s First – Ever Oceanic Marine Protected Area appeared first on Mission Blue.
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