(This piece was first published on Parliament Magazine’s website) Multiannual budgets, tobacco regulations and the financial crisis have been on the mind of many Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) lately; and rightly so, as decisions made on these issues have far-reaching effects on the daily life of Europeans. However, on 23 October, MEPs will … Read more
Discards constitute 8% of total weight of world captures or more than 7.3 million tonnes of fish thrown away at sea. More than 20% of fish is discarded in European waters. On the occasion of a seminar organised by the European Commission on 27 and 28 May, in which experts will discuss their work to … Read more
In 2007, Oceana identified more than 100 vessels using illegal driftnets. Oceana presented two reports in Brussels today: “Italian driftnets: the illegal fishing activities continue” and “Thonaille: the use of driftnets by the French fleet in the Mediterranean”. Both reports condemn the continued use of this illegal fishing gear by the French and Italian fleets … Read more
Driftnets, a fishing gear that can reach dozens of kilometres in length, were prohibited in the European Union in 2002 because they constitute a threat to the conservation of cetaceans, sea turtles and sharks. Oceana has reported that Italy and France continue using this illegal fishing gear to capture bluefin tuna and swordfish, years after … Read more
Oceana, the international organization dedicated to conserving and protecting the world’s oceans, emphasizes the inefficiency of the current fish stocks management, which does not reflect real catches. In addition to the amounts of landings decided by the Council, tonnes of fish are also cut out from biological stocks by indirect impacts of fisheries, above all … Read more
The Australian authorities have confirmed that last December one of the most infamous pirate fishing vessels, the Viarsa 1, associated with the Galician ship owning company Vidal Armadores S.A. was scrapped at a shipyard in Mumbai, India. This puts an end to the long legal action against this vessel initiated in 2003 in connection with … Read more
Huelva’s trawling closed season began on September 24. Oceana doubts this measure will be effective and requests effective control measures during this period. The Oceana Ranger research vessel, which belongs to the marine conservation organisation Oceana, carried out part of its 2007 expedition off the coasts of Huelva in order to document seabeds, mainly in … Read more
Last Thursday, at seven in the evening, the Oceana Ranger research catamaran, property of the international marine conservation organisation Oceana, detected a Moroccan fishing vessel nine miles east of Alboran Island, setting an illegal driftnet measuring over five meters in length in Spanish waters and within the Alboran fishing reserve. The Ranger was in the … Read more
In 2006, the marine research and conservation organization, Oceana, undertook a campaign against the use with driftnets in the Mediterranean. Investigators documented swordfish fisheries carried out by Moroccan vessels with driftnets in waters of the Alboran Sea, and the presence of this destructive fishing gear in Moroccan ports. Xavier Pastor, Executive Director of Oceana in … Read more
Last year, on the initiative of Fisheries Commissioner Joe Borg, the European Commission presented a proposal to introduce a full definition of a driftnet. A number of driftnet fleets, including the French thonaillers have exploited the lack of a definition to flout the EU driftnet ban and continue using their illegal gear. This new definition … Read more
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