Marine protected areas for whales, dolphins, and porpoises: a world ...

Habitat Protection for Cetaceans around the World 135
and Birkun (2002) add several points particularly relevant to MPAs in the
region:
• All MPA managers within the region should be made aware of the
possibility of cetacean critical habitat within their borders in order to
harness scientific support and implement cetacean conservation measures.
• An inventory of the region’s MPAs should be maintained in order to help
assess and enhance their real and potential effectiveness for cetacean
conservation. This could be used to help form a regional MPA network
focused on common cetacean monitoring and conservation protocols.
• When important critical habitats are identified, there should be specific
MPA measures under the SPA Protocol of the Barcelona Convention.
Case Study 3: Pelagos Sanctuary for Mediterranean Marine
Mammals
Pelagos Sanctuary for Mediterranean Marine Mammals
Type: Existing international sanctuary affording protection for large whales.
Location: Corsico-Provencal-Ligurian Basin, central Mediterranean Sea, west of
central Italy, south of France and Monaco. The waters of the sanctuary are 47 per
cent in the national waters of the three countries, and 53 per cent in international
waters.
Cetacean species: fin whale, Balaenoptera physalus; sperm whale, Physeter
macrocephalus; striped dolphin, Stenella coeruleoalba; bottlenose dolphin, Tursiops
truncatus; short-beaked common dolphin, Delphinus delphis; Risso’s dolphin,
Grampus griseus; long-finned pilot whale, Globicephala melas; Cuvier’s beaked
whale, Ziphius cavirostris; occasional presence: minke whale, Balaenoptera
acutorostrata; humpback whale, Megaptera novaeangliae; orca, Orcinus orca; false
killer whale, Pseudorca crassidens; rough-toothed dolphin, Steno bredanensis.
Additional species and other features: Rich pelagic diversity including tunas,
swordfish, sunfish, sharks and giant devil rays. Prevailing oceanographic conditions
in the area feature a permanent front which favours primary marine productivity. Key
basis of this productive ecosystem is a mesopelagic zooplankton biomass,
especially krill, Meganyctiphanes norvegica, likely the exclusive food of
Mediterranean fin whales (Notarbartolo di Sciara et al, 2003).
Size of designated protected area: 33,772 square miles (87,492 km 2 ). Water area
only from nearshore to pelagic.
Rationale: To protect the whales and dolphins in prime cetacean habitat in the
Mediterranean waters of France, Monaco and Italy. The habitat, located from
nearshore to deep-water, pelagic areas, includes cetacean feeding grounds as well
as areas used by migrating and breeding cetaceans.
The motivation for creating the Pelagos Sanctuary for Mediterranean Marine
Mammals – originally called the Ligurian Sea Sanctuary – came from