The continuous deterioration of the fisheries in the North-East Atlantic demonstrates the European’s Union’s resounding failure to manage these fisheries over decades. While the assessment that ICES made in 2003 of the majority of commercial species caught by European fleets was already pessimistic, the panorama represented by the latest report in 2004 is even worse, … Read more
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
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
The serious environmental impact on European waters caused by oil tanker accidents such as the Prestige, Erika, Aegean Sea, Haven, Braer, Betelgeuse, Sea Empress, Amoco Cadiz, Torrey Canyon, Urquiola, etc., bears witness to the situation of hazardous merchandise transportation by sea. Europe depends on this form of trade route for 70% of her imports, which … Read more
Almost 40% of the vessels flying the flags of one of the European Union states have shown deficiencies or committed violations of the MARPOL convention for the prevention of pollution from ships in the last four years, and this figure rises to 75% if we include all types of deficiencies. During this period of time, … Read more
There are eight species of sea turtle, five of which can be found in the North Atlantic; and, of these, two are regularly caught as accidental catches by longliner fleets: the leatherback turtle (Dermochelys coriacea) and, above all, the loggerhead sea turtle (Caretta caretta). Less frequently, the hawksbill sea turtle (Eretmochelys imbricata) and the Kemp’s … Read more
At a meeting in June 1998, the European Union’s Council of Fisheries’ Ministers passed a Regulation aimed at prohibiting the use of driftnets for part of the European fleet; a regulation that was to come into force on 1 January 2002. At that time, some 670 Italian, 70 French and about 30 British and Irish … Read more
A seamount is a regarded as a geological elevation that reaches a minimum of 1,000 metres in height and can consist of very different physical, geological and chemical properties. Therefore, seamounts can only exist where there are sea beds more than one kilometre deep, or, which is one and the same thing, over 60%-62% of … 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
The deep sea is the last great frontier on Earth. For hundreds of years people have pondered, debated and explored the vast depths of the oceans, yet our knowledge of them barely skims the surface. Remarkably, though it is the largest ecosystem on Earth, we have better maps of Mars than we do of our … 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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