The Jardines de la Reina National Park, located south of the provinces of Ciego de Ávila and Canagüey, received the Blue Park award in the Golden Category, an award that for the first time, a protected area of ​​Cuba receives for having achieved the highest scientific standards for the protection and management of marine life.

Awarded by the Marine Conservation Institute, the award recognizes the extraordinary efforts of countries, managers of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) and members of local communities to effectively protect marine ecosystems now and in the future.

According to the note on the website of the Ministry of Agriculture (Minag), the award came during the virtual gala for the 25th anniversary of the Marine Conservation Institute, and it was awarded to this national park for having reached the highest scientific standards of protection and management of marine life.

“This honor comes with a further commitment to increase the park's conservation achievements by enhancing our management capacity and effectiveness to meet and, if possible, exceed the high science-based standards set for Blue Parks,” Gabriel Brull Puebla , Conservation Director of the Flora and Fauna Business Group of Cuba, stated.

The National Park, which covers more than 2,000 square kilometers, is located 80 km off the southwest coast of Cuba and protects vibrant mangroves, seagrass beds and coral reefs, which are some of the healthiest habitats left in the weathered Caribbean Sea today.

According to the information, for the conservation specialist of the Secretariat of the Biological Corridor in the Caribbean, José L. Gerhartz-Muro, “its designation as Blue Park publicly recognizes the success of 25 years of systematic conservation work carried out by Marlin-Azulmar, its foreign counterpart, the Flora and Fauna Business Group, the Center for Coastal Ecosystems, the National Center for Protected Areas and many other institutions that have joined forces in this common endeavor.

On the other hand, the text underlines the criteria of Dr. Fabián Pina-Amargós, a marine scientist with 20 years of experience in research in the park, who said: «The Jardines de la Reina National Park is a successful example of conservation. It shows the greatest abundance of fish in Cuban waters, which is only comparable to some remote places in the Central Pacific ».

The park is home to 37 species of coral, 283 species of fish, and 120 species of birds, some of which are found nowhere else in the world.

In addition, among the vulnerable, endangered or critically endangered species found in these protected waters are elkhorn and staghorn corals, sea turtles (hawksbill, green, shed and loggerhead ones), species of groupers Guasa and Criolla Cherna, and silky and whale sharks.

Meanwhile, the Blue Park Awards were created to encourage countries to safeguard marine fauna, secure critical habitats, promote resilience to climate change, and safeguard the beauty of our oceans for future generations. The goal is to create an effective network that protects and maintains marine life and habitats around the world, which now includes Jardines de la Reina National Park.