Success! IUCN Designates the Canary Islands as an IMMA

The IUCN Marine Mammal Protected Areas Task Force recently announced the designation of 39 new Important Marine Mammal Areas (IMMAs) in the North-East Atlantic and the Baltic Sea. These additions result in a total of 280 IMMAs worldwide. In May 2023, during an international workshop in Hamburg, M.E.E.R. contributed to the proposal to designate an IMMA for the entire Canary Islands by providing sighting data and geographic maps from La Gomera. We are thrilled that this proposal has now been accepted! M.E.E.R.’s sighting database, one of the largest in the world, undoubtedly helped substantiate the importance of these waters for whales and dolphins.

IMMAs represent vital habitats for marine mammals. With the addition of new IMMAs to the IMMA e-Atlas, the portfolio of regions requiring direct conservation measures based on verified data continues to grow. Scientists are calling on national and regional governments to utilize the IMMA database for initiatives such as establishing new protected areas and conducting environmental impact assessments.

• Documents and Reports: marinemammalhabitat.org/resources/documents/
• IMMA e-Atlas: marinemammalhabitat.org/imma-eatlas/