Greece announces the creation of two new marine protected areas, in the Ionian Sea and the Aegean Sea

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis announced on Monday, July 21, the creation of two new marine protected areas, as he had promised at the third UN Oceans Conference held in June in France . One is located in the Ionian Sea, south of the Adriatic Sea, and the other in the Cyclades archipelago in the Aegean Sea.

Recalling the maritime tradition of his country, located in the Eastern Mediterranean with approximately 13,600 kilometers of coastline and dozens of islands, the Prime Minister stressed that the creation of new marine areas aims to "honor this unique marine heritage and protect it for future generations," in a video message released by his services.

According to Kyriakos Mitsotakis, "these parks will be among the largest marine protected areas in the entire Mediterranean. They will allow us to achieve the objective of protecting 30% of our territorial waters by 2030, well ahead of schedule."

Several countries took advantage of the UN conference in Nice, in the south of France, to announce new marine protected areas and measures to ban trawling, including Greece, Brazil, and Spain, which have implemented measures across a quarter of their seas.

Turkey, a border country whose western coast is close to the Aegean islands, reacted to this announcement, stressing that "any unilateral action must be avoided in enclosed or semi-enclosed seas such as the Aegean Sea and the Mediterranean."

"International maritime law encourages cooperation between coastal states in these seas, including on environmental issues. In this context, we would like to reiterate that our country, as a coastal state in the Aegean Sea, is always ready to cooperate with Greece," the Turkish Foreign Ministry said in a statement. "Turkey will also announce its plans to protect the environment in maritime areas in the coming days," the statement continued.

NATO members but with historical disputes regarding the delimitation of waters in the Aegean Sea, Athens and Ankara signed a "good neighborly relations" agreement in 2023 aimed at easing the tensions often created between them.

For his part, the Greek Prime Minister explained that in these marine protected areas, "the extremely destructive practice of bottom trawling will be banned." He promised to work with "local communities, fishermen, scientists, but also with global partners, to make these parks examples of what is possible." "By doing this, Greece can be a voice for the sea, in Europe, but also beyond," he concluded.