Oceana urges the European Commission (EC) and Member States to prioritize creating a broad strategy to address both the exponential loss of marine species and habitats as well as mitigate the effects of climate change such as acidification. The international marine conservation organisation is urging these measures on the occasion of the renewed EU Biodiversity … Read more
From March 13-25 in Doha, Qatar, countries from all around the world are attending the 15th CITES Conference of Parties. If supported by two-thirds the 175 parties present at the event, the proposals to protect 8 species of sharks would ensure the sustainable trade of products from these species. Oceana, the international marine conservation organization, … Read more
Today all four shark proposals were debated. Unfortunately, only one was approved. The proposals to protect hammerhead sharks, oceanic whitetips and the spurdog were rejected. The good news is that the proposal to protect the porbeagle was agreed! This is a large, migratory and warm blooded shark. It´s meat is heavily consumed in Europe. The … Read more
Tomorrow proposals for protection of 8 shark species will be discussed. We are very excited cause it seems that there is a will to reach an agreement. Some fishing countries, like Spain, seem to be in favour of these proposals and everyone, including countries envolved in shark fisheries and trade, acknowledge that there is a … Read more
This morning, Sunday, we were back to work. The EU finally organized a coordination meeting with the NGOs, thanks pushing by our colleague from the office in Brussels! We didn´t get much information out of it. Bluefin didn´t get discussed at all, sharks were all good since the EU supports all proposals, and the same … Read more
Last evening we went on a boat ride on a traditional wooden fishing boat. Well, the boat was so traditional that the motors broke and we were out at sea, drifting away, for a while before they got fixed. We finally ended up back at port, safe and sound! Today we went to a delgate … Read more
Friday 19 March Despite the European proposal for the protection of bluefin tuna’s defeat, not everything is lost yet. There is still a little possibility to which we’ll hold tight. Today is a day for praying so there’ll be no meetings. We’ll take this opportunity to go out for a walk and clear up our … Read more
Breaking news out of Doha: a trade ban on bluefin tuna (Appendix I listing) has been defeated. Although there were repeated calls from delegates from the E.U., U.S. and Monaco to allow time for parties to meet and arrive at a compromise position, a Libya delegate forced a preemptory vote on the E.U. proposal, which … Read more
Today is Monday and we start working “on the spot”. We thought we’re going to find known faces from the ICCAT meeting, and we’re right. Even though CITES is a conservation-oriented meeting, this year the presence and interference of the fishing industry is going to be stronger than ever because of the importance of the … Read more
Hi everybody! Sorry for not writing before but with all the travel rush we just didn’t have a minute to do it. We finally made it to Doha! We arrived on Sunday night to attend the CITES meeting. From the taxi cab we could see a scenario of lights and anarchic skyscrapers which made the … Read more
Sign up today to get weekly updates and action alerts from Oceana.
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.
