O SANTUÁRIO DAS SELVAGENS

“Regional authorities in Portugal’s Madeira Islands have expanded a protected marine area to create what they said is the largest fully protected marine reserve in Europe and the North Atlantic.

The reserve spans 12 nautical miles (22.2km) around the Selvagens islands, a small archipelago located midway between the Madeira Islands and Spain’s Canary Islands, which are off the northwestern African coast. It covers a total area of 2,677 square kilometres.

All species inside the reserve will be fully protected from fishing or other extractive activities …”.

(By the way, check out the little guided tour of Funchal that comes with this piece. Not related to the story itself, but a great little visual postcard just the same.)