Portugal's government has approved the creation of a new 173,000-square-kilometre (66,800-square-mile) marine reserve in the Atlantic, marking a major step towards its target of protecting 30 per cent of its maritime territory by 2028.
In a statement late on Thursday, the government said the reserve would protect "unique deep-sea habitats, including cold-water corals, coral gardens, sponges and threatened species".
The new reserve will raise the share of Portuguese waters under protection to 25 per cent from around 19 per cent.
It covers the Madeira-Tore seamount complex, between Madeira and mainland Portugal, and the 22,900-square-kilometre Gorringe Ridge, some 200 kilometres (124 miles) off the country's southern coast, home to Western Europe's tallest underwater mountain.
The marine protected area will, "balance biodiversity conservation with sustainable traditional fishing", according to the government.
In 2024, Portugal created the North Atlantic's largest network of marine protected areas around the Azores archipelago covering 287,000 square kilometres.
Portugal is working towards the United Nations goal of protecting at least 30 per cent of the world's oceans by 2030 under the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, a global agreement to halt and reverse biodiversity loss.
(Reporting by Sergio Goncalves; Editing by Andrei Khalip and Xevi Fontdegloria)