Sustainable Fisheries Archives

Oceana welcomes EU Commission proposal to phase out deep-sea bottom trawling in the Northeast Atlantic

Deep-sea species and habitats are extremely vulnerable to exploitation. Today, the European Commission published a strong draft regulation establishing access requirements and conditions applicable to deep sea fisheries in the Atlantic. Oceana is pleased with this significant step towards the sustainable use of deep marine resources and the protection of vulnerable marine ecosystems. Among the … Read more

Oceana welcomes new Danish HELCOM Chairmanship and encourages prioritization of work on fisheries and marine protection

Oceana welcomes the new Chairwoman of the Baltic Marine Environment Protection Commission (known as HELCOM), Helle Pilsgaard, in her new position, and looks forward to the two-year Danish Chairmanship of HELCOM. In a letter addressed to Ms. Pilsgaard, Oceana marked its appreciation for plans to tackle the human causes of eutrophication by setting country-wide nutrient … Read more

Victory: 10 species of threatened sharks and rays get protected

Good news readers! Great news, actually: Yesterday, EU has finally voted in favour of strictly protecting ten threatened species of sharks and rays in the Mediterranean Sea, under the Barcelona Convention. These species, including hammerheads, tope, and shortfin mako, have declined dramatically in numbers – some by as much as 99% during the last century … Read more

Management plan for endangered baltic salmon riddled with loopholes that threaten the stock

Today, members of EU Parliament Fisheries Committee adopted the report by Marek Gróbarczyk (ECR, PL) to establish a multiannual plan for the Baltic salmon. Oceana is disappointed in the outcome of the vote and urges stronger measures. The text was proposed by the Commission in 2011, six years after the International Baltic Sea Fisheries Commission … Read more

State of the World Fisheries gets a bad report card

Every two years, the FAO releases a report called the State of the World Fisheries and Aquaculture, and every two years, those of us who follow the issue are disappointed by dismal statistics. This year, 87% of evaluated stocks were fully or over-exploited, up 2% from the last FAO report. Our board member Dr. Daniel … Read more

Overfishing: a video

As part of our policy work on reforming the Common Fisheries Policy, Oceana often teams up with other NGOs in the area so as to maximize our influence on decision makers in Brussels and the EU. Here’s a great video that came out of this partnership that clearly explains the scale of the overfishing … Read more

Sharks and Rays Gain Protections in the Med

The EU voted in favor of strictly protecting 10 threatened species of sharks and rays in the Mediterranean Sea, under the Barcelona Convention. These species, including hammerheads, tope, and shortfin mako, have declined dramatically in numbers – some by as much as 99% during the last century – while others have vanished from parts of … Read more

Oceana: RIO +20 fails to make real progress towards restoring oceans

Oceana finds the final Rio +20 declaration to be a weak statement of intent, with no legally binding commitment that fails to respond to the urgent conservation and management needs of the world’s oceans. Rio +20 concludes without any real progress towards a sustainable future. However, the international marine conservation organization acknowledges as a positive … Read more

Council compromises on fisheries policy, delays all priority targets

The text, voted by a qualified majority, maintains the most important provisions of the original Commission proposal such as the objective to restore fish stocks at Maximum Sustainable Yield, but postpones all priority target deadlines by several years. “Although this result is highly disappointing, particularly with regards to the discard ban, it is realistically the … Read more

Danish presidency opts for status quo not sea of change

In an effort to achieve an agreement before the conclusion of the Danish Presidency, horse-trading to accommodate all member states has resulted in a significant weakening of the Commission’s reform proposal from June 2011: The required recovery of fish stocks by 2015 [1], already watered down in the Commission proposal, has been further delayed and … Read more