1 February 2013
US Designates San Francisco Bay/Estuary as Ramsar Site
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The Secretariat of the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands of International Importance especially as Waterfowl Habitat (Ramsar Convention) reported that the Government of the United States (US) has designated the San Francisco Bay/Estuary (SFBE) as its 35th Wetland of International Importance.

30 January 2013: The Secretariat of the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands of International Importance especially as Waterfowl Habitat (Ramsar Convention) reported that the Government of the United States (US) has designated the San Francisco Bay/Estuary (SFBE) as its 35th Wetland of International Importance.

According to the Ramsar Secretariat, the San Francisco Bay is the largest estuary on the Pacific Coast of the US, and provides habitat for a wide range of flora and fauna species and a number of ecological services such as flood protection, water quality maintenance, nutrient filtration and cycling, and carbon sequestration. The site hosts wintering shorebirds and is recognized as a site of Hemispheric Importance by the Western Hemisphere Shorebird Reserve Network. It is also important for over 130 species of resident and migratory marine, estuarine and anadromous fish species.

Parts of the site not owned or managed for conservation are threatened by development. Parts of the area are within the UNESCO Golden Gate Biosphere Reserve (1988), and it encompasses a number of US National Wildlife Refuges and other protected areas.

The US’s designation contributes to one of the goals contained in the Ramsar Convention’s Strategic Plan for 2009-2015, which is to reach a protected area of 250 million hectares by 2015. [Ramsar Press Release]