The establishment of fishing opportunities is the most important management tool to enable European Union (EU) fisheries to keep fishing mortality rates within sustainable levels. In fact, the state of fish stocks and intensity of fish resource exploitation depends heavily on the fishing opportunities decision. Although the manner in which fisheries are managed in the … Read more
A multitude of human activities have put the Baltic Sea ecosystems under severe pressure and turned this brackish, semi-enclosed sea into one of the most polluted in the world. Destructive fishing practices like dredging and bottom trawling pose heavy threats to these sensitive ecosystems. Oceana’s report on fisheries outlines the biggest problems related to fisheries … Read more
Several scientific studies provide proof of the successes of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) in enhancing biodiversity and benefiting sea life and habitats (e.g. FAO 2012 and references therein). MPAs provide species and habitats a place to rebuild and flourish; and they are also needed to maintain and restore (when possible) the damaged ecosystems. The areas … Read more
In 2015 the rules governing both the authorisations provided to the European Union’s large fishing fleet operating outside EU waters, and the authorisations of non-EU countries’ vessels such as Norway, Iceland and Faroe Islands to fish in EU waters, will be rewritten. The coalition of organisations working to tackle IUU fishing considers that the reform … Read more
In advance of the next EU Fisheries Council decision on fishing opportunities in the Baltic Sea, Oceana releases its recommendations for setting total allowable catches (TACs) for 2016, in line with the most recently available scientific advice and aimed at ensuring EU fisheries recover from overfishing within the committed deadlines. EU Member states shall ensure … Read more
This study details the results of the oceanographic campaign undertaken by Oceana in waters off the Balearic Islands in August 2014, to investigate the marine areas of Fort d’en Moreu and the seamounts in the Mallorca Channel. After several expeditions in this area by Oceana over the past few years, there is a wealth of … Read more
Seamounts are considered biodiversity hotspots and the Macaronesian region hosts over one hundred of them. However, biological information on these underwater elevations remains scarce. In 2014, Oceana launched an at-sea campaign aimed at identifying and describing deep-sea benthic communities that inhabit several Macaronesian slopes and remote seamounts. As a preliminary outcome, the presence of Vulnerable … Read more
Regulation (EC) 2347/2002, the ‘deep-sea access regime’, has failed to ensure the sustainable management of deep-sea fisheries and ecosystems in the North-East Atlantic Ocean. Many deep-sea species captured in the region are not covered by the regulation and therefore remain unmanaged, while only three of 24 managed species have one or more stocks considered to … Read more
Exploiting the most vulnerable resources.EU deep-sea fisheries in the North-East Atlantic
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
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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.
