2.2.1 International recognition of the waters
of the Canary Isles as a Particularly Sensitive Sea Area entails the
likely regulation and control of the intensive shipping in the region,
in order to prevent polluting spillages and, when necessary, minimize
the effects of accidental pollution.
2.2.2 The Canaries are a leading tourist destination
in the European context. There is no need to emphasize the impact
that damage to the marine environment would exert on the tourist industry,
or on the service sector, which accounts for 80 per cent of the islands'
overall economy.
2.2.3 In recent years, the marine environment
of the Canaries archipelago has been the subject of international,
regional and national research projects, and the focus of many expeditions
by scientific and commercial vessels, in the fields of oceanography,
biological investigation into fishing and biodiversity of the Canaries.
2.2.4 The faculties of La Laguna University, the
Faculty of Marine Sciences at the University of Las Palmas de Gran
Canaria, the Canarian Institute for Marine Sciences (Ministry for
Education and Science, Canaries Government) and the Canaries Oceanographic
Centre (Spanish Institute of Oceanography, Ministry of Science and
Technology), constitute an important teaching and study resource.
There also exist many institutions or centres focusing on specific
activities: they include the Museum of Natural Sciences in Tenerife,
the Island Marine Agency in La Palma and Tenerife, and the Gran Canaria
animal recovery centre (which every year cares for dozens of turtles
damaged by oil and around fifteen beached cetaceans).