Chinijo Archipelago

The Chinijo Archipelago ( Spanish: Chinijo Archipelago ) is a small archipelago north of the politically Spanish owned Canary island of Lanzarote in the Atlantic Ocean.

Geography

For Chinijo archipelago includes the uninhabited islands Alegranza, Montaña Clara, Roque del Este, Roque del Oeste and the only inhabited island of La Graciosa, on the total of 644 people ( as of 2009).

The area covers 40.48 square kilometers of land area, is separated by about a kilometer wide strait of El Rio Lanzarote, where it is administered by the municipality of Teguise.

Conservation

The archipelago was declared in May 1986 together with the steep northern coast of Lanzarote, the Risco de Famara and parts of the quicksand level El Jable and the Monte Corona ( all part of the municipality of Haria ) at the national level through legislation on nature conservation area which the name Parque Natural del Archipielago Chinijo bears. This nature park is with a total area of ​​462.36 square kilometers (of which 91.12 square kilometers of land area) far beyond the area of the archipelago. Within this natural park, the islands of Montaña Clara, Roque del Este and Roque del Oeste as Reserva Natural Integral de los islets are especially protected since 1994. Your protection is higher up than the rest of the parks, so that entering these three islands is strictly prohibited.

In 1986, 17.22 square kilometers of the entire nature park to Zona Especial de Protección para las Aves ( ZEPA), a Special Protection Area of the bird world according to Directive 79/409/EEC on the conservation of wild birds. Important representatives here among the approximately 150 species of birds are ospreys, Leonora and desert hawk, yellow -billed shearwaters, petrels and Egyptian vulture.

In the flora and fauna of this natural park some endemic species exist, where ninety percent of lanzarote African endemics live in Chinijo Archipelago.

The waters of the archipelago Chinijo 1995 have been also reported as Reserva Marina de Isla Graciosa e islets del Norte de Lanzarote as a special protection area, left by the Canary Directorate for Fisheries and the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food. Under protection are available here, among other live marine turtles, nine cetacean species and limpets.

At European level, the archipelago is one of the protected areas of the Natura 2000 network and internationally since 1993 as a Biosphere Reserve Lanzarote UNESCO.