The Santa Cruz Wildlife Refuge ( pt, Refúgio de Vida Silvestre de Santa Cruz) is a

wildlife refuge A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, or features of geological or ...

in the state of

Espírito Santo Espírito Santo (, , ; ) is a state in southeastern Brazil. Its capital is Vitória, and its largest city is Serra. With an extensive coastline, the state hosts some of the country's main ports, and its beaches are significant tourist attra ...

, Brazil.

Location

The Santa Cruz Wildlife Refuge is offshore from the municipality of Aracruz, Espírito Santo. It has an area of . It is contained within the Costa das Algas Environmental Protection Area. The refuge covers a roughly rectangular area of the Atlantic Ocean extending southeast from the coast between Rio Preto in the south and Pontal do Piraqueaçu in the north. A survey to provide information on creation of the conservation unit found 116 species of vascular plants in the salt marches and mangroves and 560 species of algae. The algae provide substrate, shelter and food for the diverse marine fauna.

History

The Santa Cruz Wildlife Refuge was created by federal decree on 17 June 2010. The management plan was to define fully protected areas and areas that could be used for small-scale fishing for subsistence purposes. It is administered by the

Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation The Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation (Portuguese: ''Instituto Chico Mendes de Conservação da Biodiversidade'', ICMBio) is the Brazilian Ministry of the Environment's administrative arm."Brazilian Federal Law 11.516/2007 (Por ...

. It became part of the

Central Atlantic Forest Ecological Corridor The Central Atlantic Forest Ecological Corridor ( pt, Corredor Central da Mata Atlântica is an ecological corridor in the states of Espírito Santo and Bahia, Brazil. It promotes improvements to connectivity between fragments of Atlantic Forest ...

, created in 2002. The consultative council was created on 23 November 2010. The refuge is classed as

IUCN protected area category IUCN protected area categories, or IUCN protected area management categories, are categories used to classify protected areas in a system developed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). The enlisting of such areas is par ...

III (natural monument or feature). Objectives are to protect biological diversity and natural environments, including the mangroves and coastal vegetation important for species that use the area for feeding and breeding, and for stabilizing the coastline, to support compatible tourist, recreational and educational use of the seafront, and to contribute to recovery of biological resources and sustainability of fisheries and small-scale subsistence extraction by the coastal communities in the region around the unit.

Notes

Sources

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Santa Cruz Wildlife Refuge Wildlife refuges of Brazil Protected areas of Espírito Santo