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

Habitat Protection for Cetaceans around the World 263
BOX 5.7 ARGENTINA: PROVINCIAL AND NATIONAL LAWS
DIRECTED TOWARDS WILD CETACEANS
There are a large number of laws at the provincial and national level that come into
play in any discussion about protecting wild cetaceans in Argentina. At the national
level are the following laws and resolutions:
• National Law Number 22344/80, Ley sobre el comercio internacional de
especies amenazadas de flora y fauna silvestre;
• National Law Number 23094/84, Monumento Natural Ballena Franca Austral
(Eubalaena australis);
• National Law Number 25052/98, Ley de conservación de Orcas (Orcinus
orca);
• National Resolution 351/95, which prohibits the hunting, capture and transport
of cetaceans within national jurisdiction (‘Reglamento para establecimientos
que albergan mamíferos marinos’); and
• Recommendation Number 10/00, a ‘southern cone’ initiative which designates
Eubalaena australis as the ‘MERCOSUR’ whale (passed in 2000 by the
MERCOSUR Parliament under the southern cone free trade agreement, the
Asunción Treaty).
In Buenos Aires Province, there are two laws:
• Provincial Law 11477/94, Ley Provincial de Pesca, and
• Ordenanza 9702/94 (in Municipio General Pueyrredon).
Chubut Province has Provincial Law 2381/84, modified by Provincial Law 2618/85,
with the Decreto Reglamentario Number 916/86, which prohibits all activity without
official authorization and includes persecuting or approaching, sailing, swimming
and diving near any marine mammals in the provincial jurisdiction on the coast
and in the sea. The mandate of a provincial park in Chubut (Provincial Law
4617/00) is to protect and conserve natural ecosystems through native species, to
restore habitats to their original state in places where they have been modified,
and to work in accordance with scientific, economic and tourist objectives with
conditions. Land inside the park is in the public domain. The park can be zoned
for three uses: untouchable or highly protected; for conservation and commercial
exploration; and for tourism and recreation.
Río Negro Province has Provincial Law 1960/85 which regulates research,
conservation and use of biological resources of aquatic habitat, including
cetaceans.
In Santa Cruz Province, provincial natural reserves can be designated to
protect areas where the conservation of ecological systems or the preservation of
transitional zones to provincial parks is important or when the area does not require
the legal status of a provincial park. The conservation priorities in provincial natural
reserves are protecting animals, plants, the main physiographic features and
scenic beauty, and maintaining the ecological balance. In 2001 and 2003, Santa
Cruz Provincial Laws 2582/2001 and 2643/2003 declared the Commerson’s
dolphin and southern right whale as provincial natural monuments, the highest
conservation level in the province. These laws aim to protect these species in
provincial waters against any kind of exploitation or habitat destruction.
Tierra del Fuego Province has Provincial Law 101/93 which prohibits the
capture and commercialization of cetaceans and other animals.