Sydney (Australia), Oct 8 (EFE).- The Australian Government announced this Tuesday that it has quadrupled the surface of the marine park surrounding Heard and McDonald Islands, in the subantarctic zone, to 310,000 square kilometers, an area that exceeds the that occupies Italy.
Heard and McDonald Islands, 372 square kilometers and located more than 4,000 kilometers from southwest Australia, are home to glaciers, wetlands, as well as Australia’s only active volcanoes.
These remote uninhabited islands, which were declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1997, are an important habitat for diverse populations of penguins, seals and albatrosses, among other unique species on the planet.
“This is a unique and extraordinary part of our planet. We are doing everything we can to protect it,” Australian Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek said in a statement released today announcing the decision.
“It is not only a great environmental victory for Australia, it is a great environmental victory for the world,” celebrated the minister.
Australia, following this announcement, has protected 52% of the oceans that are part of its territory, exceeding the 30% target that the Government signed as part of a United Nations treaty on nature in 2022, he added. the statement.
For its part, the alliance of 27 environmental organizations Save Our Marine Life, led by the Pew Charitable Foundation and the Australian Marine Conservation Society, today welcomed the announcement, although it noted that it failed to include a large part of Gunnari Ridge.
This subantarctic area is home to the icefish mackerel, which is fished alongside toothfish in the waters around Heard and McDonald Islands for commercial purposes, among other fish, while also being a globally important feeding ground for albatross penguins and Antarctic fur seals, according to a statement from the alliance.
“The Government’s own scientific report stated that protection was insufficient for a number of seabed habitats,” said Pew Charitable Foundation representative Fiona Maxwell in the statement.
The alliance noted that the waters of the Antarctic Ocean have global importance in the fight against the climate crisis, pollution, fishing and invasive species that affect the survival of everything from krill to whales as they try to adapt to changes in their habitats. EFE
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