Environment Minister Francisco Domínguez Brito signed on 6 April 2018 the Hamilton Declaration on Collaboration for the Conservation of the Sargasso Sea, the Bermuda News reported. The Declaration is a political commitment by the signatories to work with the Government of Bermuda and the Sargasso Sea Commission to conserve the Sargasso Sea — the high seas ecosystem in the North Atlantic sub-tropical gyre.
The Hamilton Declaration was originally signed in Bermuda in March 2014 by five governments — The Azores, Bermuda, Monaco, the United Kingdom and the United States. The British Virgin Islands, the Bahamas and Canada signed in 2016, and the Cayman Islands in 2017. The Dominican Republic is now the most recent signatory.
Bermuda Minister of Home Affairs Walton Brown said, “I am delighted to have the Dominican Republic join our Sargasso Sea family. We now have 10 Government Signatories and I am sure this will further advance the impact of this important and ground-breaking initiative.”
He explained that the Sargasso Sea is a unique ecosystem of nearly 5 million square kilometers in area — which is based on species of seaweed, Sargassum. The importance of the area is that the Sargassum mats act as a major spawning and nursery area for threatened and endangered species, including sea turtles and billfish, as well as for commercial species of tuna, wahoo and dolphinfish.
“It is the only place in the world where the European eel and the American eel spawn. They then migrate 3,000 miles back to the continents of Europe and North America. Both eel species are classified as endangered by the IUCN Red List. The European eel is critically endangered. Young eels – ‘elvers’ – are caught and exported to the Far East for the sushi trade.
“The EU has banned international trade in the young European elvers which has put increased pressure on other eel species, particularly American eels, which live in the rivers of the Caribbean region [including the Dominican Republic] but swim to the Sargasso Sea to spawn.
The Hamilton Declaration mandated the Government of Bermuda to establish the Sargasso Sea Commission to “exercise a stewardship role for the Sargasso Sea and keep its health, productivity and resilience under continual review”.
The Sargasso Sea Commission is appointed by the Government of Bermuda after consultation with the other signatories. It is composed of distinguished scientists and other persons of international repute committed to the conservation of high seas ecosystems that would serve in their personal capacity.
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Bernews
17 April 2018
