Good news! The marine area in front of the cliffs of Jaizkibel, in the Basque region – has finally been nominated as a special area of conservation. Oceana made this recommendation in 2010 and we’ve been working on getting the area – which has suffered from the impacts of coastal development, included into the Natura … Read more
I’ve spent over a year analyzing hours of expedition videos taken by our underwater robot (the ROV). I have to say that you quickly start recognizing the usual suspects of fish and algae. One of the fish that is most commonly seen is the eelpout (Zoarces viviparous). It is a slimy skinned fish with lots … Read more
Some days ago I took part in Oceana’s coastal expedition on the Finnish side of Quark, collecting information about the underwater world in the area with a video robot and scuba dives. We happened to pass by a small harbor just as two medium size trawlers were landing herring on to two big trucks. It … Read more
During our most recent expedition in the Baltic Sea, we stumbled upon this guy along the coast of the Åland islands between Sweden and Finland. It’s a European flounder (Platichthys flesus), or Skrubbskädda, as we call them in Sweden. The European flounder is a flat fish with an oval shape that prefers to spend its … Read more
Today was the last day of the Oceana Baltic Sea Expedition. At least, formally. I concluded it in a presentation and press conference at the University of Sczcecin (Poland), where the Dean, Professor Andrzej Zawal, welcomed and introduced the event to thirty or forty university academics. It was an excellent opportunity to tighten up our … Read more
Once again, we’ve uncovered a disturbing amount of hidden subsidies to the EU’s fishing sector. You may remember in 2011, we calculated that a staggering 3.3 billion Euros in subsidies had gone from the EU to its Member State industries in just one year (2009). This year, we decided to take a look at state … Read more
Today, after concluding our field work, the day was mostly filled up with logistics: packing all the equipment, getting the vehicles ready for a long, long drive back to Spain and finally leaving Poland. This could be the final piece of the 2013 Baltic Coastal Expedition blog, but it is not over yet. While the … Read more
Time flies and we are almost at the end of our great adventure in the Baltic. After four weeks of intensive hard work we have to return to Madrid. We packed the ROV and sent it to Barcelona, then we wrapped all our stuff in Poland and started our return. But we had one last chance … Read more
Today is the last day of fieldwork. The rest of work will be done from different venues and it´ll consist of video reviewing, data collection, documentation, presentations and a long etc… The ROV team: Xavier, Maribel, Albert and Mike, worked from the other side of the bay on shore operations and we (the divers) drove … Read more
Today has been our first day of ROV and diving operations in Poland. We started early in the morning looking for a suitable place to launch our inflatable boat, but due to the fact that it is the peak of holiday season and the concentration of tourists is rather high, we spent a lot of … Read more
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We have already protected nearly 4 million square miles of ocean and innumerable sea life - but there is still more to be done.
Oceana in Europe gratefully acknowledges EU funding support.
