At the beginning of the year, Council Regulation (CE) 43/2009 of 16 January 2009 prohibited high grading in the North Sea. This prohibition is applicable to all commercial species. The next step for this measure is its application in all European waters and other interesting steps are being taken in other areas. The EU, Norway … Read more
Oceana works in the EU to achieve the approval of specific legislation concerning bycatch and discards. The proportion of discards in European waters is putting the future of many fisheries at risk. These fisheries discard more than 50% of their catch. Oceana proposes the implementation of a set of measures that have been proven effective … Read more
ICCAT The International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) is an international body responsible for the conservation and management of tuna and related species, as well as species caught incidentally as bycatch in these fisheries, including sharks. For more information about ICCAT
Oceana carried out expeditions on land and on board the Oceana Ranger catamaran and the Marviva Med in the Mediterranean, as well as fishing surveillance activities in countries like Italy, France, Spain, Croatia, Greece, Turkey, Tunisia and Morocco. Oceana develops its campaign primarily in May and June, the months when the tuna fleet is most active, … Read more
Society as we know it, perhaps in every country on earth, would not exist in its present form without economic subsidies. Economic support knows many different faces: apart from direct payments to those in need, it may be provided through public-private partnerships or bi-lateral agreements, by joining a free trade agreement or union (such as … Read more
At Oceana we take a very positive view of the efforts being made by the Fisheries Directorate-General and the European Commission to establish criteria of sustainability in Mediterranean fisheries in accordance with the recently-passed new EU Common Fisheries Policy. At the same time, we believe that many of the Commission’s proposals, which on occasion do … Read more
The European Commission proposal with regard to the setting and distribution of quotas for deep-sea marine species (Com (2004) 746) represents a significant step forward in complying with the European Union’s commitments and the new Common Fisheries Policy. The proposal follows a number of scientific recommendations, many of which have been repeatedly ignored for years, … Read more
The continuous deterioration of the fisheries in the North-East Atlantic demonstrates the European’s Union’s resounding failure to manage these fisheries over decades. While the assessment that ICES made in 2003 of the majority of commercial species caught by European fleets was already pessimistic, the panorama represented by the latest report in 2004 is even worse, … Read more
Nearly 100,000 vessels make up the European Union fishing fleet. This includes boats that fish both in EU waters (the domestic fleet), in the waters of other countries and in international waters (the deep-sea fleet). In addition, there is an unknown number of vessels belonging to other European countries that are not members of the … Read more
Every day, more than 6,000 kilometres of fixed gillnets (‘rasco’ or anglerfish nets) are deployed in the waters of the North-East Atlantic to catch anglerfish, deep-sea red crab and deep-sea sharks. The poor selectivity of these nets, together with the length of time they are left in the water, means that many of the creatures … Read more
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We have already protected nearly 4 million square miles of ocean and innumerable sea life - but there is still more to be done.
Oceana in Europe gratefully acknowledges EU funding support.
