General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean adopts measures to increase transparency, protect threatened corals and preserve breeding grounds
Oceana applauds decisions to increase fisheries transparency, protect threatened corals and preserve breeding grounds adopted by FAO’s General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean (GFCM) in their 43rd session. The enforcement of these measures’ package will be vital to help revert the overfishing crisis of this sea, since they will create areas where fish can reproduce safely and will hinder illegal fishing.
“Mediterranean countries have taken an important step to restore the abundance of this sea and protect some of its most vulnerable wildlife. Oceana urges them now to enforce these decisions and adopt robust compliance systems including sanctions, so that these decisions are truly effective. GFCM’s credibility will be at stake as long as the Mediterranean remains the world’s most overexploited sea”, said Pascale Moehrle, executive director for Oceana Europe.
With fifteen new decisions, it is the first time that such a high number of measures are taken since GFCM was established. Oceana particularly welcomes:
Oceana also welcomes the commitment adopted to ban single-use plastics in all GFCM meetings. GFCM is world’s first regional fisheries management organisation to adopt such kind of measure to create plastic-free zones in their future meetings. Oceana calls GFCM for leadership to encourage other international bodies, including the ICCAT and the FAO, to adopt similar commitments.
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