The study looked into the fishing activity across marine Nature 2000 sites having a focus on variety of protected features protected by the Habitats Directive. Significant incompatible fishing activity was observed inside Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) across all of the European Union (EU), particularly within reef and sandbank habitats types (codes 1170 and 1110).This poster summarizes … Read more
In addition, because this marine area encompasses almost 300,000 km2 within its territorial waters and Exclusive Economic Zone, the Galicia-Bay of Biscay area is Spain’s second largest ocean area after Canarian waters. Despite this, only 250,000 ha are protected, in other words, less than 1%. Ninety-four percent of this protected area corresponds to the recently … Read more
What is the best month to go on an expedition? Well, that depends on where you want to go and what you want to see. If you check Oceana in Europe’s website or our recently launched story map, you’ll discover the answer is actually any month – apart from December. Since 2005, we have organised … Read more
In 2006, 2007 and 2008, Oceana employed an ROV to complete bionomic seabed surveys in the Mediterranean Sea and Bay of Biscay, between 50 and 350 meters depth. Information on positions, depths and times of observations was recorded, providing new data on the geographic distribution and bathymetric range of chondrichthyans. Fourteen species were found: five … Read more
Given the diversity of possible appearances of some habitats contained in the OSPAR List of Endangered and/or Declining species and habitats across the North East Atlantic, a more precise description of the habitat as it occurs in relation to different substrates, depths and regions will need to be developed. When defining habitats, there are several … Read more
The work carried out by Oceana in the Galician Atlantic and the Bay of Biscay provides new information about areas of ecological interest to expand the network of marine protected areas. As such, Oceana contributes to the achievement of Spain’s objectives and commitments, including the EU Habitats Directive, the OSPAR convention and UN Biodiversity Convention … Read more
The area of the Bay of Biscay and Galician Atlantic is characterised by a combination of waters from subpolar and subtropical gyres. This, along with other more complex factors, means the area is important in terms of upwelling and downwelling. In addition, because this marine area encompasses almost 300,000 km2 within its territorial waters and … Read more
In honor of World Environment Day on June 5th and to implement the European Union’s commitment with the Convention on Biological Diversity, the Spanish government announced the creation of ten new Marine Protected Areas in Spain’s Exclusive Economic Zone. Oceana has played a key role in identifying and proposing protections for marine areas of interest … Read more
Sign up today to get weekly updates and action alerts from Oceana.
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.
