Yet more species pushed to the limit

Following last week’s World Parks Congress in Sydney, the IUCN red list was updated, showing that the Pacific Bluefin tuna, Chinese puffer fish, American eel, Chinese cobra and the Australian butterfly are currently being pushed to the limit. The Pacific Bluefin tuna (Thunnus orientalis) was moved from the “least at risk” category to now be … Read more

Oceana celebrates NEAFC improvements on shark management

Lack of agreement for key commercial stocks like mackerel, blue whiting or herring Today, the North East Atlantic Fisheries Commission (NEAFC), responsible for managing fishery resources in the international waters of that region, has finished its week-long annual meeting in London. Oceana, an NGO observer to NEAFC, strongly welcomes the measures adopted for shark management … Read more

NGO and European fishing industry join voices in calling to eradicate shark finning in Atlantic

Cepesca and Oceana have called upon the 49 Contracting Parties to the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tuna (ICCAT) to close legal loopholes that still allow some fleets to carry out illegal finning of sharks (i.e., removing shark fins at sea while discarding the bodies), by adopting a measure requiring all sharks to … Read more

Oceana: Deep-sea sharks still in deep trouble

Sharks in the deep waters of the Northeast Atlantic continue to face a bleak future, according to new scientific advice from the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES). Scientists produced recommendations for three deep-sea shark species (kitefin shark, leafscale gulper shark, and Portuguese dogfish), and their advice remains unchanged from that of … Read more

Oceana documents rich biodiversity in the Canary Islands

With the support of the Biodiversity Foundation and the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and the Environment, Oceana has conducted over ten ROV dives at depths of between 80 and 1,000 meters around El Hierro Island in the Canaries, as well as several others with divers in shallower areas. Through this work, Oceana has documented large … Read more

Oceana launches expedition to El Hierro island and the Atlantic seamounts

The government projects that El Hierro will be made into the first marine national park in Spain Today, Oceana launched an expedition with the support of Biodiversity Foundation to document the waters around the island of El Hierro, which is expected to become the first marine national park in Spain. The one-month campaign will be … Read more

A giant footstep towards saving sharks

Yesterday, the entry of 5 new species of sharks and all manta rays to the CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species) Appendix II went into effect, as agreed on in the CITES meeting last year in Bangkok, Thailand. The shark species that are now included in this list are the Oceanic Whitetip, the … Read more

Oceana calls for the immediate closure of the Cabrera refuge, following the release of wastewater into the national park

Oceana calls for the immediate closure of the Cabrera refuge until a system of wastewater treatment is put in place in order to purify wastewater, and to ensure that there are no negative effects on the waters of the National Park and its ecosystems. “At the board meeting of the National Park, we were assured … Read more

Marine litter is growing problem in the World’s oceans

On Saturday, Oceana joined a research expedition arranged and led by the University of Örebro and Pangaea Exploration to study marine litter in the Baltic Sea, an increasing problem in the world’s oceans. During the course of a month, this expedition will visit several key areas of the Baltic Sea, all the way from Kattegat, … Read more

Oceana launches website to gather data on unwell fish in the Baltic Sea

Today, Oceana has launched a website with the aim of compiling information on the issue of sick, dead and disappearing fish in the Baltic Sea. The creation of a database such as this will hopefully increase available knowledge and help researchers and authorities to carry out further studies on this worrying issue.  Reports from fishermen, … Read more