Sustainable Fisheries Archives

EU nature law could be gamechanger for marine biodiversity, but will be meaningless if fisheries not properly addressed – NGO reaction

Today, the European Commission presented its legislative proposal on nature restoration, a new law with binding targets to restore degraded land and marine ecosystems across the EU. This is a major milestone to tackle the current biodiversity and climate crises and restore a healthy relationship between people and nature. We welcome the long-awaited publication of … Read more

BRIEFING: Fisheries and the Climate Crisis

No improvement for collapsed stocks – time for a reboot in the Baltic Sea

Responding to yesterday’s publication of annual scientific advice for 2023 fishing limits in the Baltic Sea by the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES), a group of non-governmental organisations said that the Baltic Sea remains in a dire condition, despite tightening of fishing limits in recent years, and that governments in the … Read more

Oceana highlights more work needed to end overfishing in European waters and to take into account ecosystem considerations

Good progress in Atlantic, but slower in Mediterranean Oceana recommends measures for most depleted stocks and forage fish Brussels – Reacting to today’s European Commission (EC) communication on the sustainability of EU fisheries and implementation of the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP), Oceana welcomes the progress the EC and Member States have made to decrease the … Read more

European Parliament calls for action on bottom fishing and true protection for EU’s marine protected areas

Strasbourg – Today, in an important step for the protection of the ocean and the climate, Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) adopted amendments which call on the European Union to prohibit extractive industrial activities – which include fishing practices like bottom trawling [1] – in all marine protected areas. The plenary vote on the Own-Initiative Report of … Read more

European environmental organisations call for a ban on destructive fishing practices in Marine Protected Areas

Just after the UK’s announcement to protect two areas of English waters by banning damaging fishing activities such as bottom trawling, it will be the European Parliament’s turn to show how ambitious it truly is in protecting EU waters. During the first week of May in Strasbourg, members of the European Parliament (MEPs) will have … Read more

NGOs urge European Parliament to push for full implementation of Common Fisheries Policy instead of considering reform

Ahead of the European Parliament’s public hearing on the implementation and future perspectives of the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) tomorrow, NGOs are calling on EU institutions and Member States to better follow and enforce the rules of the policy, rather than considering any reform at this stage. Vera Coelho, Senior Director of Advocacy at Oceana … Read more

Oceana Expands Campaigns in the United Kingdom

Oceana, the world’s largest ocean conservation organisation, is expanding its campaigns to protect and restore waters in the United Kingdom (UK). More than 90% of the world’s ocean productivity is under the direct control of 29 countries and the EU. Post-Brexit, the UK exclusive economic zone is ranked among the top 15 fishing areas in … Read more

EU and UK set quotas that will continue overfishing of some much-loved fish

Yesterday the EU and the UK reached an agreement on 2022 fishing limits for shared fish populations in the Atlantic Ocean and the North Sea. The fisheries agreement for 2022 includes 65 TACs for jointly managed fish populations and provisions for the exploitation of non-quota stocks as well. This is the second post-Brexit agreement on … Read more

More than 150,000 Europeans call on EU to ban bottom-trawling to protect ocean and climate

A giant colourful pop-up book depicting the devastation caused by destructive bottom trawling – and how the marine environment thrives in its absence – was delivered to European Union (EU) Commissioner Virginijus Sinkevi?ius by NGOs this morning, on behalf of more than 150,000 Europeans who have signed a petition calling for the EU to phase out destructive fishing practices, starting … Read more