Biodiversity Summit week 1 recap

The Biodiversity Summit in Japan is kicking off week 2 and we thought we’d give you a recap with some highlights and news stories from last week. The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity released a report highlighted the enourmous (but necessary) cost of altering the global economy to put value on forests, reefs and other … Read more

Biodiversity

Today, delegates from over 190 nations are converging at the UN Convention on Biological Diversity meeting in Nagoya, Japan. For 2 weeks, they will be discussing ways to curb the erosion of biodiversity on the planet. Ryo Matsumoto, Japan’s Environment Minister said “we are now close to a ‘tipping point’ – that is, we are … Read more

An Education on Overfishing

A lot of people often ask what they can do to learn about the state of the oceans – there is so much information out there, it can certainly be a daunting task to sort through it all. That’s why we decided to pull together some of our favorite books and movies on marine issues. … Read more

The race for threatened sharks

Sharks are extremely vulnerable species which have been fished by European Union vessels at home and around the world without any management for decades. Globally, 21% of shark, ray and chimaera populations are threatened with extinction according to the IUCN Red List. In the Northeast Atlantic the figure is even higher with 26% threatened and … Read more

Learn more:The Case of France

French drift nets known as thonailles were used to catch pelagic species, including immature bluefin tuna in the Gulf of Lion. This illegal gear was used with connivance and support from the French government, taking advantage of a legal loophole in EU legislation.  However, Oceana reported these vessels since the ban on drift nets came … Read more

Halting IUU fishing: enforcing international fisheries agreements

The world’s fisheries are in crisis.   Experts report that 75% are significantly depleted, overexploited or fully exploited.  Behind these statistics are the stories of countless families whose livelihoods have been destroyed as the once-bountiful resources of the oceans have dwindled.  Governments generally recognise that there is little time left to act decisively to reverse the … Read more