Cyprus hopes fake reef will shore up fisheries, tourism

The reef is to be con­struc­ted next year off the coast of Pol­is in an area of sea stretch­ing between Lat­chi har­bour and the Anas­sa hotel.

The arti­fi­cial reef, which will be the second in Cypus’ west­ern­most Paphos dis­trict, is included in the fish­er­ies department’s plans for 2014 – 2020 and will fall under the pro­tec­tion of Natura 2000.

A spokes­per­son for the Paphos region­al board of tour­ism said: “The main aim of these reefs is to pro­tect mar­ine nat­ur­al resources and devel­op biod­iversity and mar­ine life, as well as [sup­port] a more sus­tain­able and respons­ible form of tourism.”

Pol­is May­or Chryso­ch­ous Giot­is Papa­chris­tofi said the reef is a good idea as it will to pro­mote diving and snor­kelling among both loc­als and visitors.

Full story at Cyprus Mail.

What is Natura 2000?

Accord­ing to the European Envir­on­ment Agency: “Natura 2000 is the key instru­ment to pro­tect biod­iversity in the European Uni­on. It is an eco­lo­gic­al net­work of pro­tec­ted areas, set up to ensure the sur­viv­al of Europe’s most valu­able spe­cies and hab­it­ats. Natura 2000 is based on the 1979 Birds Dir­ect­ive and the 1992 Hab­it­ats Directive.”