Today the European Commission published a Proposal for a Regulation to establish a Community system to prevent, deter and eliminate illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing, by both the EU fleet wherever it fishes and for all vessels, including from third countries, in Europe’s seas. A prohibition of imports from illegally caught fish, a tightening … 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
Species in danger of extinction, such as hake, anchovy or cod are among the worst managed. While negotiations on TACs and quotas will start next Monday, Oceana reminds EU fisheries Ministers that the last advice from the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) about fishing opportunities for 2008 is alarming. Only 13 … Read more
Yesterday, the European Commission released its advice for setting 2014 Total Allowable Catches (TAC) in the Baltic Sea. Oceana recognizes the EU’s efforts to move closer to a sustainable approach, but maintains that the fishing quota recommendations fall short of already agreed upon international targets. In the case of the Western cod stock, while scientific … Read more
The announcement follows last week’s Commission decision to close this fishery to conserve stocks. The Commission made public this morning that it has opened infringement proceedings against 7 EU countries for failing in their legal obligation to properly send bluefin tuna catch data. Cyprus, France, Greece, Italy, Malta, Portugal and Spain could eventually face severe … Read more
Following meetings with Oceana, the Carrefour chain of hypermarkets has announced that they stopped selling bluefin tuna captured in the Mediterranean Sea from 1 August, in order to avoid the collapse of this fishery in the Mediterranean. The Carrefour Group is the first food distribution group in Spain to adopt precautionary measures geared towards promoting … Read more
The discarded fish constitute 8% of the total weight of the world’s captures, or more than 7.3 million tons of fish that are thrown away at sea. Oceana affirms that this practice is most troubling in the European Union’s Atlantic fisheries. One out of every 6 kilos of fish captured in Europe never reaches the … Read more
The poor state of the anchovy stock in the Cantabrian fishing grounds has once again obliged the European Commission to close them down for the second consecutive year. The aim is to try to alleviate the serious mistakes made by the French and Spanish governments which, despite opposition from scientists, allowed anchovy fishing to continue … Read more
Fines levied against France for selling hake smaller than what is authorised add up to more than 100 million Euros The European Commission has pressed charges against the Spanish government before the European Union Courts of Justice, after seven years of continuously reporting on Spain´s non-compliance of European regulations concerning the catch, landing and sale … 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
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