in South America, an underwater highway to protect fish circulation corridors

In the ocean, marine animals circulate via a network of migration routes and corridors, often wiped out by intensive fishing. Four Latin American countries, Costa Rica, Panama, Ecuador and Colombia, have joined forces to create and protect a marine traffic corridor. Called “Nemo’s highway”, the project will be born in the heart of the Pacific. “As soon as the animals leave these protected areas, they again become vulnerable to fishing and human activities. So we said to ourselves: ‘Why wouldn’t we protect these marine highways, which connect these key areas?’“, says Erick Ross Salazar, executive director of the NGO MigraMar.

Marine animals will be protected over thousands of kilometres, where only local fishing of non-endangered fish will be allowed. With the help of cameras, scientists have confirmed the existence of these highways in their natural state. They recorded the passage of a school of hammerhead sharks. “If we manage to protect the specific corridors that the animals use during their migrations, we could finally give them their chance again.“, noted Mario Espinoza, professor of biology at the University of Costa Rica.