The Biodiversity Summit in Japan is kicking off week 2 and we thought we’d give you a recap with some highlights and news stories from last week. The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity released a report highlighted the enourmous (but necessary) cost of altering the global economy to put value on forests, reefs and other … Read more
Today, delegates from over 190 nations are converging at the UN Convention on Biological Diversity meeting in Nagoya, Japan. For 2 weeks, they will be discussing ways to curb the erosion of biodiversity on the planet. Ryo Matsumoto, Japan’s Environment Minister said “we are now close to a ‘tipping point’ – that is, we are … Read more
Longlining is a passive fishing technique using baited hooks. The full fishing gear consists of various branch lines – between 100 and 200 – which hang from a main line (kept on the surface by buoys) onto which the hooks are attached. In the case of the Spanish longlining fleet working in the Mediterranean, the … Read more
Nine of the 20 areas around the world with the highest amounts of fish discarded at sea (in terms of the amount of fish discarded compared to the amount landed) can be found in the North-East Atlantic. Six of these are fisheries worked by bottom trawling and the other three are worked by vessels that use … Read more
The most recent world report (FAO, 2005) estimates that, during the period from 1992 to 2001, 7.3 million tons of marine organisms were discarded each year around the world, representing 8% of the total catch. Unfortunately, the discarded specimens are not likely to survive and are often caught before they have had time to reproduce. … Read more
At the beginning of the year, Council Regulation (CE) 43/2009 of 16 January 2009 prohibited high grading in the North Sea. This prohibition is applicable to all commercial species. The next step for this measure is its application in all European waters and other interesting steps are being taken in other areas. The EU, Norway … Read more
Oceana works in the EU to achieve the approval of specific legislation concerning bycatch and discards. The proportion of discards in European waters is putting the future of many fisheries at risk. These fisheries discard more than 50% of their catch. Oceana proposes the implementation of a set of measures that have been proven effective … Read more
Every day, more than 6,000 kilometres of fixed gillnets (‘rasco’ or anglerfish nets) are deployed in the waters of the North-East Atlantic to catch anglerfish, deep-sea red crab and deep-sea sharks. The poor selectivity of these nets, together with the length of time they are left in the water, means that many of the creatures … 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.
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