Production of GFDD Short Film on the Silver Bank Marine Mammal Sanctuary is Underway

Global Foundation for Democracy and Development (GFDD) is pleased to announce that it is in the process of producing a Short Film on the Silver Bank Marine Mammal Sanctuary. The project strives to raise awareness of the importance of this marine protected area in the overall global protection of marine mammals, in particular, humpback whales.

A multidisciplinary team of marine biologists, producers, camera persons and project consultants have already been
arduously at work filming onsite footage of whales in the bay of Samaná, and conducting interviews with local authorities involved in the ongoing management of the sanctuary.

Interviews have been conducted to date with the following major stakeholders: Augusto González, Presidente Asociación Dueños de Barcos; Leida Buglass, Museo CEBSE and Grupo Ecológico Juvenil de Samaná; Alexis Rodríguez, Asociación de Vendedores de Cayo Levantado; Peter Sánchez, Administrator of the
Marine Mammal Sanctuary; Miguel Bezi, Mayor of Samaná; and Omar Shamir Reynoso, Ministry of Environment.

The Short Film will be premiered during the II DR Environmental Film Festival (DREFF), to be celebrated in the Dominican Republic from September 6-9, 2012.

About the Silver Bank Humpback Whale Sanctuary
The Silver Bank Humpback Whale Sanctuary was established as a protected area by the government of the
Dominican Republic on October 14, 1986, under Decree No. 319-86. The sanctuary was created in order to protect the mating, calving and nursery grounds of humpback whales (megaptera novaeangliae). The marine reserve is protected under Fishing Law No. 5914-62, which prohibits the capture, killing and harm of marine mammals; outlaws the deposit of material contaminants; and forbids drudging of the ocean floor without prior authorization.

The Silver Bank Humpback Whale Sanctuary is overseen by a commission comprised by the following institutions: the Director of National Parks, the Province of Puerto Plata, the National Museum of National History, Centro de Biología Marina (CIBIMA), Universidad Autonoma de Santo Domingo (UASD), MAMMA, the Secretary of State of the Armed Forces and the Secretary of
Agriculture.

Since the founding of the sanctuary, the Dominican Republic has been a global pioneer in the protection of marine mammals, instituting the first “sister sanctuary” arrangement between the NOAA Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary off the coast of Massachusetts and the Dominican Republic’s Marine Mammal Sanctuary, two marine protected areas 1,500 miles apart that provide conservation programs for the North Atlantic humpback whale population at both ends
of its range.

It is estimated that the Dominican Republic’s sanctuary, which presently covers a 19,438 square mile area which encompasses the Navidad Bank and part of Samaná Bay, hosts an estimated 3,000 humpback whales from feeding grounds in Greenland, Iceland, Canada, the United States and Norway from December through March, making it the area of highest density of this whale species in the world.

The humpback whale population, previously on the
endangered species list, is now rcuperating after being decimated due to hunting during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

Links:
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