Alborán Sea Hope Spot

The Alborán Sea is home to some of the highest biodiversity in the Mediterranean, including sea birds, turtles, seahorses, bottlenose dolphins, sharks and dwarf sperm whales. Creatures also found here include planktonic species, red coral, fan mussels, algae, nudibranchs and several endangered fish.

A brilliantly colored nudibranch lies among the reef (c) Eco&Dive Rincón de la Victoria
Mission Blue declared the Alborán Sea a Hope Spot in September 2018, coinciding with the Alboran Sea Forum on September 13th-17th. This meeting between IUCN (Intercontinental Union for Conservation of Nature) Center for Mediterranean Cooperation and the Universities of the Alborán Sea was to discuss a unified system of regulations between North Africa and Europe (Spain, Morocco, Algeria) to protect the waters and species that inhabit it.
(c) Eco&Dive Rincón de la Victoria
The area of coastline that lines the Alborán Sea is of high ecological value with an incredible biodiversity of susceptible and endangered species that are currently on the IUCN Red List and protected species of MAPAMA (Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, Food and Environment).
(c) Eco&Dive Rincón de la Victoria
“An intercontinental framework to enhance the conservation status of the Alborán Sea Hope Spot is an idea whose time has come. Now, as never before, we have the chance to protect the vibrant living systems that support life on the planet. The Alborán Sea Hope Spot, poised at the mouth of Gibraltar, is a critical piece of that work.” – Dr. Sylvia Earle
Did you know: the Alborán Sea is the second busiest area for ships in the world?
Click on the marker on the map to learn more about the Alborán Sea!
“The Alborán Sea is transited every day by tankers and cruisers without stopovers, and they harm the passage of cetaceans, bluefin tuna, loggerhead turtle and sea birds,” says Gemma Infante, Hope Spot Champion and Diving Instructor at the Diving School of Eco&Dive Rincón de la Victoria.

(c) Eco&Dive Rincón de la Victoria
“We need to make known the Alborán Sea’s environmental value for its protection and create a comprehensive Marine Protected Area. This would immensely benefit the area at a social, economic and environmental level. We’re looking forward to working with Mission Blue to grant credibility to what we know firsthand,” Infante adds. “With unified data comes better data, and in turn will result in improved policy. Better policy and stronger enforcement of such policy will bring the needed protection to the Alborán Sea.”
(c) Eco&Dive Rincón de la Victoria
Since 2008, we’ve been raising awareness of the need to protect the Alborán Sea through diving. We aim to make each diver feel like part of the habitat they’re visiting, and help generate passion for sustainability. With each diving experience comes a strengthened connection with the ocean. Since 2012, we have conducted studies in different areas across the Málaga coastline to provide competent authorities and residents the right information to ignite support of protecting the Alborán Sea. Upon conducting studies over several years, we saw the need to create Eco & Dive. Our mission is to teach and raise awareness of the ecological value of the living species that inhabit these areas through scuba diving. In 2015 after 3 years of follow-up in the areas, we joined the municipality of Rincón de la Victoria to clean up the beaches to bring to the residents’ and authorities’ attention of the rich life in this area, including the importance of Limonium malacitanum on the cliffs of the Cantal in the Cove of the Moral.
“Our project is to show the beauty of our sea bottom to protect them from today.”— Eco&Dive.
Read the full press release here .