Bluefin tuna is disappearing. However, tomorrow, bluefin tuna fishing with industrial seine will be reopened. This fishing season will be extended until June 15. The quota for the entire Mediterranean and East Atlantic has been reduced to 13,500 tons: too low to be profitable. Therefore, Italian vessels will not fish this year in exchange of … Read more
Oceana has documented and urged action by the Spanish government against the IUU fishing vessel “Furabolos” (IMO 8604668), now named “Eros 2”, and flying a Panama flag, currently in the port of Santa Eugenia de Ribeira in Galicia, Spain. IUU means “illegal, unreported and unregulated” fishing and it is a major contributor to overfishing and … Read more
Oceana released a new report today finding widespread malnutrition in commercial and recreational fish, marine mammals and seabirds because of the global depletion of the small fish they need to survive. These “prey fish” underpin marine food webs and are being steadily exhausted by heavy fishing, increasing demand for aquaculture feed, and climate change. … Read more
The bluefin tuna fishing season begins today for the Mediterranean purse seiner fleet, under the auspices of management measures that supposedly guarantee control over the fleet, but in reality ignore scientific recommendations and authorize unsustainable catches. In addition, illegal catches abound and Oceana calls for the immediate closure of the fishery to halt the decline … Read more
Oceana welcomes the constructive assessment of the present situation made by the Commission in the Green Paper, launched this morning in Brussels. This document, and the subsequent consultation period with stakeholders pave the way for the drafting of the Commission Proposal on the planned reform of the EU Fisheries Framework Regulation, to enter into force … Read more
On the occasion of the EU Agriculture and Fisheries Council meeting on 23 and 24 April, Oceana calls attention to the complete absence of regulations in EU waters to reduce the problem of bycatch and discards, which amount to over 3,000 tonnes every day. Discard is defined by the FAO as “the portion of … Read more
European fisheries are managed through the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP), which is a set of regulations covering all aspects of fisheries management from technical measures to Total Allowable Catches and fishing subsidies. The current CFP was adopted in 2002 but has failed to put a stop to the overexploitation of European fishing grounds. Since 2009, … Read more
Total Allowable Catch (TAC) is the tool used to establish maximum fishing limits during a certain timeframe and for each one of the species controlled by management plans. Scientific recommendations for each marine area specified by the FAO (ICES fishing areas) are used to establish catch possibilities. Currently, the TAC system is not working correctly … Read more
Discards and bycatch are two problems that are closely related. Bycatch is the portion of the catch that is not comprised of the fishery’s target species and the FAO defines discards as the portion of the catch that is thrown back into the sea. In fact, bycatch is usually discarded. This happens when: – the … Read more
Atlantic bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnus) is an emblematic species that has been driven toward extinction by overfishing (mainly due to the industrial purse seine fishery and their capture for fattening in cages) and international trade. The bluefin tuna is a predator and, as such, is in the highest positions in the food chain, playing an … Read more
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