Oceana calls on the UK to protect at least 10% of UK seas in Highly Protected Marine Areas. At present, about 30% of UK seas are designated as Marine Protected Areas, but most are “paper parks” – protected only in name. With the UK government soon to release a review into Highly Protected Marine Areas … Read more
On 16-17 December, the Agriculture and Fisheries Council of the EU (“Agrifish”) will decide on fishing limits in EU Atlantic waters and the North Sea for 2020. For the first time, measures will be approved for Western Mediterranean waters as well. Oceana urges ministers to meet this final extension of the legal deadline to stop … Read more
Commission to stop the overfishing crisis of hake, mullet, shrimp and Norway lobster Oceana warns that the European Commission’s proposal on fishing opportunities for the Mediterranean and Black Sea falls short in tackling the overfishing crisis of these seas. The acknowledged extent of fraud in vessels’ engine power requires a higher reduction of fishing … Read more
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
Oceana has unveiled potential cases of illegal, unreported and poorly regulated fishing in the waters of the Mediterranean – the world’s most overfished sea (80% of fish stocks). The findings from this analysis will be submitted to the meeting of the General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean (GFCM) this week in Tirana, Albania. The analysis is based … Read more
The European Parliament approved today in a plenary vote the first multiannual plan for demersal stocks (fish that live and feed near the sea bottom) for the Western Mediterranean Sea. With 461 votes in favor and 62 against, the legal obligation of reaching sustainable fishing by 2020 at the latest, as agreed under the Common Fisheries … Read more
The European Parliament’s Committee on Fisheries (PECH) formally adopted today a political agreement on a multiannual plan for demersal species (mostly found at the bottom of the ocean) in the western Mediterranean Sea. The plan will not end overfishing by 2020 but will now extend the sustainable fishing deadline to 2025, therefore failing to rebuild … Read more
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The Mediterranean Sea is one of the world’s most important seas. However, it is currently the world’s most overfished sea, with more than 90% of stocks fished above what is considered sustainable (i.e. above Maximum Sustainable Yield, or MSY). In the Western Mediterranean alone, overfishing affects 80% of demersal fish stocks, which live and feed … Read more
The Mediterranean is the top tourism destination worldwide. Sunbathers and swimmers flock to the sea during summer holidays. Idyllic though it may seem, all is not well. The Mediterranean is the world’s most overfished sea, with the highest percentage of unsustainably harvested fish populations, according to a recent report from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization. Increasing human activity … Read more
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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.
