The Green Tank has submitted comments on the public consultations for the National Marine Parks of the Ionian Sea and the South Aegean 1 – Southern Cyclades, expressing its support for their establishment and protection, as well as its satisfaction with the country’s fulfillment of commitments to marine biodiversity conservation and the creation of new marine protected areas.
However, it emphasized that the public consultation is only one important step toward the formal designation of these two new marine parks, which can only be achieved if broader issues are addressed, including improvements to the existing legal framework regarding the definition of protection zones within national parks and the activities allowed in them.
For each proposed National Marine Park, The Green Tank submitted specific comments related to the design of the park, its protection provisions, and management measures, specifically regarding:
- the scope of the study area,
- overlaps with previous Special Environmental Studies that have been conducted, and in the case of the Ionian National Marine Park, with existing nationally protected areas and their specific provisions,
- the protection and restoration of Posidonia meadows, drawing on experience gained from the Interreg EURO-MED ARTEMIS project, and
- the use of research results and actions from the LIFE MareNatura project, which aims to protect vulnerable marine species.
Specifically, regarding the Ionian National Marine Park, Green Tank submitted, together with the Pelagos Cetacean Research Institute and Ocean Care – partners in the SAvE Whales project – a separate set of comments. These centered on the proposed provisions and mitigation measures, which are considered insufficient for the effective protection of sperm whales, the main target species of the proposed Ionian National Marine Park.
You can read The Green Tank’s comments (in Greek) on the Special Environmental Study for the South Aegean National Marine Park 1 – Southern Cyclades here.
You can read The Green Tank’s comments (in Greek) on the Special Environmental Study for the Ionian National Marine Park here.
You can read The Green Tank’s comments (in Greek), together with the Pelagos Cetacean Research Institute and Ocean Care, on the Special Environmental Study for the Ionian National Marine Park here.
