The Italian Legislative Department has recently backed the new “zero tolerance” policy recently announced by Paolo de Castro, the Italian Minister of Agriculture and Fishing, declaring it illegal for vessels to carry driftnets, known as “spadare” on board. These nets have been prohibited by the EU since 2002. This decision precedes the publication of a … Read more
Despite the fact that driftnets have been banned in the Mediterranean for many years, a fleet of Moroccan fishing vessels continues to use this destructive fishing gear in the Alboran Sea and the Straits of Gibraltar, setting nets up to 12 kilometres long. Oceana, the marine conservation organisation, estimates that this fleet is made up … Read more
The annual meeting of the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) which ended last night, brought agreement to examine the status of Atlantic sharks, but no measures to protect these vulnerable species from overfishing. The lack of action by ICCAT leaves conservationists looking to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species … Read more
The detention by Norwegian patrols of two vessels flying Spanish flags, apprehended while catching Greenland halibut, has once again highlighted the wide-ranging practice of rogue fishing by companies that have received subsidies from Galician and Spanish authorities. One of the detained vessels, the Monte Meixueiro, belongs to the Vigo-based company Valiela, S.A., which has received … Read more
The Galician businessman, Antonio Vidal, has been indicted by the US Administration for attempting to fraudulently enter into that country’s market some 25,000 kilos of fish protected by international conventions, in this case Patagonian toothfish (Dissostichus eleginoides) and Antarctic toothfish (Dissostichus mawsoni). (http://www.oceana.org/fileadmin/oceana/uploads/europe/reports/cp_usdep_antonio_vidal.pdf) Both Antonio Vidal and one of his companies, Fadilur S.A., have been … Read more
The EU Council of Fisheries Ministers is to debate next week the management of Mediterranean fisheries. Oceana condemns the fact that the EU has spent tens of millions of Euros in its attempt to eliminate driftnets, yet there are still some 200 European fishing boats that continue to use them. “European citizens are being swindled … Read more
Along the last three weeks, the Oceana Ranger catamaran has sailed a thousand miles in the Thyrrenian sea, close to the south Italian and Sicilian coasts. The Ranger crew has been able to report the activity of dozens of fishing boats using driftnets which were banned by the European Union four years ago. These boats … Read more
Last Friday, the research catamaran Oceana Ranger intercepted two boats using driftnets, which were fishing making use of that gear, which is prohibited by the European Union, and which even violates the contradictory Italian legislation. The Oceana boat was anchored in the port of Ponza in the late afternoon of last Thursday when it observed … Read more
Miguel Bose participated for a week in the actitivities of Oceana, the international conservation organisation. The singer joined the catamaran, Oceana Ranger, during its stay in the Corsican harbour of Bastia, to work with its crew of biologists, divers and campaigners. He joined the Ranger directly from Peru where, for the previous weeks, he had … Read more
At midnight Oceana’s research catamaran left the harbour of Portoferraio in Elba and headed to the fishing grounds of the Western Mediterranean, where a fleet of dozens of Italian fishing boats continue to use driftnets, in defiance of the European Union ban. Driftnets were banned from 2002 because of their total lack of selectivity and … Read more
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