Environmental Protection Minister Tamar Zandberg announced Tuesday that she will soon declare a new marine protected area in the Mediterranean Sea, which will double the size of such areas within Israel’s Exclusive Economic Zone — a band of water stretching 200 miles into the sea.
The Palmachim Disturbance is located 30 km (18.5 miles) west Tel Aviv. Its depth ranges from 450 to 1200 meters (1.500 to 3,900 feet).
A disturbance in geology is a zone of rock strata that shows faulting and folding processes.
According to the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel, this area was discovered in the last decade and includes rare corals, squids, sharks, unique methane sources, and breeding grounds for endangered species like the Atlantic bluefin tuna.
The SPNI has described it as a site of “extraordinary importance,” with “unique aspects of nature, some of them important on a global scale.
The governments Committee for the Preservation of the Marine Environment registered the disturbance for preservation in 2019.
Zandberg was addressing the President’s Climate Forum in Jerusalem.
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