Cabrera Park has allowed rare species to flourish

Staff reporter JUAN del Alamo, the Balearic environment secretary and head of the Biodiversity Foundation, presented a report on the island of Cabrera, off Majorca, which is a Natural land and maritime park. The report reveals that the protection programme of the area has favoured the recovery of rare flora and fauna. The presentation, which took place yesterday at the Balearic University in Palma, was also attended by the Minister for the Environment, Jaume Font; and Gabriel Porta, the vice-president of the Philippe Cousteau Foundation, which took part in the investigation. The aim of the project was to document the current state of the marine reserve of Cabrera. Subsequently, it is intended to raise public awareness of the Park's rich natural heritage. A technical team of six people, biologists, marine scientists and divers have worked for 10 months on the project. As an initial step, information will be compiled on existing legislation and on scientific publications which make reference to marine reserves. With the help of conservationist groups, scientific institutions and fishermen, a collection was then made of samples selected from the protected marine areas.Once complete, the study highlighted the rich biological diversity of the National Park, which boasts 435 species of marine plant life in its depths. The beds of neptune grass, which reach 2.5 metres in length, are some of the finest preserved in the world. Also of scientific importance are the numerous species of large fish found in these waters along with 1'000 invertebrate marine creatures. Another aspect of the study has investigated land-based fauna on the island which is rich in invertebrate species, dominated by the wall lizard and birds such as the Eleonor falcon and osprey. The study says that the protection of this particular wildlife habitat has permitted the flourishing of species that some years ago were not seen in this area.