Why Healthy Oceans Need Sea Turtles

Sea turtles have played vital roles in maintaining the health of the world’s oceans for more than 100 million years. These roles range from maintaining productive coral reef ecosystems to transporting essential nutrients from the oceans to beaches and coastal dunes. Major changes have occurred in the oceans because sea turtles have been virtually eliminated … Read more

The race for threatened sharks

Sharks are extremely vulnerable species which have been fished by European Union vessels at home and around the world without any management for decades. Globally, 21% of shark, ray and chimaera populations are threatened with extinction according to the IUCN Red List. In the Northeast Atlantic the figure is even higher with 26% threatened and … Read more

Deep sea species: The European Union must decide between science and the private interest of the fishing industry

The European Commission proposal with regard to the setting and distribution of quotas for deep-sea marine species (Com (2004) 746) represents a significant step forward in complying with the European Union’s commitments and the new Common Fisheries Policy. The proposal follows a number of scientific recommendations, many of which have been repeatedly ignored for years, … Read more

Oceans in danger

Some 3.6 billion years ago, life on Earth was born in the oceans. Since then, their size and composition, as well as the organisms living in them, have continued to change and evolve. Today, millions of species and numerous ecosystems inhabit the oceans, from coastal areas to abysses more than 11,000 metres deep. Within their … Read more

European trawlers are destroying the oceans

Nearly 100,000 vessels make up the European Union fishing fleet. This includes boats that fish both in EU waters (the domestic fleet), in the waters of other countries and in international waters (the deep-sea fleet). In addition, there is an unknown number of vessels belonging to other European countries that are not members of the … Read more

Halting IUU fishing: enforcing international fisheries agreements

The world’s fisheries are in crisis.   Experts report that 75% are significantly depleted, overexploited or fully exploited.  Behind these statistics are the stories of countless families whose livelihoods have been destroyed as the once-bountiful resources of the oceans have dwindled.  Governments generally recognise that there is little time left to act decisively to reverse the … Read more