Ecobreves – COLOMBIA: Port a Threat to Whales

By IPS Correspondents and - - Reprint | | Print |

BOGOTA, Aug 8 2005 (IPS) - Colombian ecologists are fighting the proposed deep-water port in the western Málaga Bay and the Gorgona and Tribugá islands, where in the next few weeks some 800 humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) will begin to gather as part of their annual migration pattern. Málaga Bay, considered a global nature reserve, is one of the 35 most important ecosystems in the world, according to Gabriel Zamora, director of the local environmental authority of Valle del Cauca.

Biologist Javier Espinosa told Tierramérica that with the proposed port the ships would use the same ocean route as the whales, which travel 8,000 km from southern waters to mate. The giant sea mammals would be scared off or harmed by excessive noise and by the pollution associated with shipping.