Tom Powell
A ‘WHALE highway’ through the Mediterranean is being planned to protect creatures from oil drilling.
If successful, it will be a great victory for those who have long campaigned against oil drilling in the area between Catalunya and Valencia and the Balearic Islands.
Celebrities such as Paris Hilton and Kate Moss have backed the campaign to end oil drilling off the coast of Ibiza in recent years.
Spain’s Environment Ministry is aiming for the zone to be designated a ‘Specially Protected Zone of Importance’ by the Barcelona Convention for the Protection of the Mediterranean.
This means exploratory oil drilling will be banned in the area, helping to conserve whales and dolphins.
The highway will be discussed at the next meeting of the Barcelona Convention.
Karmenu Vela, the European Commission’s director general for the environment, said he also approved of the plan ‘for the protection of marine species and to advance towards completing the international agreements on the protection of marine biodiversity’, according to Europa Press.
Many different species of whales make their home in the Mediterranean, including sperm whales, pilot whales and fin whales, the most common species found in the Mediterranean.
