One of the positive news from the COP 26 environmental conference is that Ecuador has decided to turn 60,000 square kilometers of sea around the Galapagos Islands into a nature reserve, reports World at Large.
This means, among others, that a migration route from Costa Rica to the Galapagos will now be within the nature reserve.
The "sea motorway" is used by, among others, whale sharks, turtles, hammerhead sharks, rays, tuna, and other endangered species. They will now have better odds of successfully moving between different breeding grounds and areas food is plentiful at any given time.
Industrial fishing has been depleting fish stocks in this corridor for decades. The ban on fishing in the area will hopefully give many endangered species an opportunity to recover. In total, the new reserve will expand the total protected area by 45 percent.
