News of Jamaican trawlers entering Belize’s southern waters in December to fish led to a decisive agreement by the Ministry of Fisheries to halt the issuing of fishing licenses to foreign fishing fleets in Belize’s Exclusive Economic Zone pending consultation with local fishermen. The action will allow officials to assess the sustainability of the proposed … Read more
Oceana’s ongoing efforts to increase funding for the fishery observer program continue to produce results. Observers are trained monitors who count everything that is caught by a fishing vessel, including discarded fish, sea turtles and marine mammals. Observers are our eyes on the ocean and provide important information for fishery managers. In 2009, Congress appropriated … Read more
The United States Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation passed the Shark Conservation Act of 2009 by voice vote, paving the way for full Senate consideration. The bill, introduced by Sen. John Kerry, would end shark finning in U.S. waters by requiring all sharks caught to be landed whole with their fins still attached. … Read more
Following Oceana advocacy, the EU and USA governments proposed 8 species of sharks to CITES Appendix II. In preparation for the CITES negotiations in March 2010, the United States submitted the oceanic whitetip, dusky, sandbar, and three species of hammerhead shark – great, scalloped and smooth – for increased protection under these international trade rules. … Read more
Capping a five-year effort, Oceana helped persuade the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council to protect 59,000km2 of valuable deep-sea corals stretching from North Carolina to Florida by banning all bottom trawl activity in the area. Known as America’s largest continuous deep sea coral ecosystem, the area includes hundreds of pinnacles up to 500 feet tall … Read more
Beginning November 2009, bottom trawls and dredges will be prohibited in four deepwater canyons along the US Atlantic coast – a move that will protect the Atlantic tilefish fishery but that will also preserve a rich ecosystem that supports lobster, deep sea corals and sponges living in the canyons. Oceana pushed the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management … Read more
After campaigning by Oceana, the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council voted to put in place new restrictions on bottom longline fishing off the west coast of Florida that will save hundreds of loggerhead sea turtles each year. The measures reduce the number of vessels eligible to fish with bottom longline gear by 80 percent, … Read more
In honor of World Environment Day on June 5th and to implement the European Union’s commitment with the Convention on Biological Diversity, the Spanish government announced the creation of ten new Marine Protected Areas in Spain’s Exclusive Economic Zone. Oceana has played a key role in identifying and proposing protections for marine areas of interest … Read more
Spain’s Ministry of Environment and Fisheries Council committed to regulations prohibiting catches of thresher and hammerhead sharks – just two of the many shark species throughout European waters that are endangered. Following defeat of this same proposal through the international ICCAT (link9) process in late 2008, the Spanish government promised Oceana it would pursue these … Read more
After campaigning by Oceana, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Shark Conservation Act of 2009, which improves existing laws to prevent shark finning by requiring that sharks be landed with their fins still naturally attached in all U.S. waters.
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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.
