France, Spain and Italy must stop playing Russian roulette with their Mediterranean fisheries, and instead abide by EU law they committed to.

Ahead of the EU Agriculture and Fisheries Council (AgriFish) on 12 and 13 December 2021, Environment NGOs are extremely concerned that France, Spain and Italy are playing political games that risk burying all hopes to save Western Mediterranean fisheries. The Western Mediterranean is plagued by unacceptable overfishing – 2.71 times higher than sustainable levels, and … Read more

Oceana places virtual floating cod over Council of the EU to protest against overfishing

Today Oceana is placing a virtual floating cod over the Europa building in Brussels, where the Council of the EU meets, and over various fisheries ministry buildings across Europe. This action aims to denounce the overexploitation of European fish populations and to call on EU fisheries ministers, who will meet on 12-13 December, to set fishing opportunities for 2022 in line with science and so bring … Read more

Paper Parks in Spain – Bottom trawling inside marine protected areas

Summary Spain has an extensive network of marine protected areas covering more than 13% of its marine surface area. These areas have been designated to protect very rich and varied biodiversity, but their management is inadequate. In most of these areas, which form part of the Natura 2000 network, the status of the habitats and … Read more

New Technology to Help Tackle Illegal Fishing by Alerting Insurers to Risk

Global Fishing Watch, Trygg Mat Tracking, Oceana, Ocean Unite and the Ocean Risk and Resilience Action Alliance are partnering to create a risk assessment tool to help insurers identify vessels at risk of illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing Data-powered tool will help prevent vessels at high risk of involvement in IUU fishing operations from accessing … Read more

Oceana applauds new steps forward on transparency for Mediterranean fisheries

The General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean has improved its Authorised Vessel List, helping to identify those that fish illegallyThe expanded list still falls short on providing important information such as the vessel owner, previous flag and greater detail relating to the types of fishing licenses granted Oceana welcomes the adoption by the General Fisheries … Read more

Oceana urges Mediterranean countries to make fisheries more transparent and sustainable

The organisation calls on Mediterranean countries to make information on authorised fishing vessels public, to help identify those that fish illegally   Oceana proposes new 800km² fishery closure to protect exceptional deep-sea corals between Spain and Morocco  Oceana is urging the member countries of the General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean (GFCM) to improve fisheries management and ensure effective enforcement by modernising its Authorised Vessel List. This would mean publicly listing information about fishing licenses, detailing which vessels can legally operate where, when, how and under which conditions, especially for vessels allowed to fish … Read more

AGRIFISH: Some Baltic fish still in crisis as the EU starts to consider ecosystem impacts

Following the EU AGRIFISH Council press conference today, NGOs expressed disappointment that Member State fisheries ministers again haggled all night to raise Baltic fishing limits for 2022 above the European Commission’s proposal and against the clear scientific advice aimed at saving Baltic fish populations. However, NGOs also acknowledge that some progress was made towards considering … Read more