Oil Exploration and Marine Protected Areas in the Canaries: Hardly Compatible

The Habitats Directive is the most important EU environmental legislation, requiring EU Member States to protect specific habitat types by incorporating them into a network of protected areas (both on land and at sea) called Natura 2000. But it’s not looking like every country is going to meet their requirements. In the Canary Islands for … Read more

Doñana: Overview

The marine environment of the Doñana site is, as occurs in the terrestrial domain, an exceptional site for biodiversity. Situated in the gulf of Cadiz, at the confluence of special geographic, oceanographic and environmental characteristics, the marine area of Doñana is a place of enormous strategic and biological productivity. It is of great importance for … Read more

The VELUX Foundations to support Oceana Baltic Sea campaign

Oceana acknowledges the generous support of the Velux Foundations, which have awarded a twelve month grant to support Oceana’s Baltic Sea recovery programme. The funds will support the international marine conservation organization efforts to expand the network of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) in this sea and improve the status of its fisheries resources via long-term … Read more

Oceana welcomes EU Commission proposal to phase out deep-sea bottom trawling in the Northeast Atlantic

Deep-sea species and habitats are extremely vulnerable to exploitation. Today, the European Commission published a strong draft regulation establishing access requirements and conditions applicable to deep sea fisheries in the Atlantic. Oceana is pleased with this significant step towards the sustainable use of deep marine resources and the protection of vulnerable marine ecosystems. Among the … Read more

How do jellyfish reproduce?

It’s summer time, which means that jellyfish are back in the news – recent reports describe thousands clogging beaches in Spain. We thought it might be interesting to look into their reproductive ways and it turns out jellyfish have a rather interesting lifecycle. Interested in learning more? When jellyfish mate, the male’s sperm fertilizes the … Read more