In October 2018, EU fisheries ministers are scheduled to agree on fishing opportunities in the Baltic Sea for 2019. The following text outlines the joint NGO recommendations on Baltic Sea fishing opportunities for 2019 in the context of EU fisheries legislation, scientific advice on catch limits and the sharing of stocks with third countries. Click … Read more
In November 2018 EU fisheries ministers will decide on fishing limits for 2019 and 2020 for certain deepsea fish stocks. This will be the final November Council meeting where fisheries ministers have the opportunity to end overfishing of deep-sea species by 2020, as is legally required by the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP)1 . The vulnerable … Read more
There are only 18 months left to achieve the 2020 deadline to stop overfishing. However, despite the progress made in reducing fishing pressure in the Atlantic waters and adjacent seas during the recent decade, the Scientific, Technical and Economic Committee for Fisheries has confirmed repeatedly that the improvements achieved so far are insufficient to meet the … Read more
The North Sea is one of the best-studied marine areas in the world, yet serious gaps remain in the knowledge -and therefore also in the protection- of its benthic biodiversity. Although the current network of marine protected areas (MPAs) covers roughly 22% of the North Sea, most of the MPAs are designed to target only … Read more
Artemisina Vosmaer, 1885 is a poecilosclerid microcionoid sponge genus with 20 valid species, seven of which have been recorded in the Atlantic Ocean. The present study describes Artemisina sponge grounds in Iberia Peninsula. A. transiens is a sponge described in 1890 by Topsent in Galicia (Spain); A. hispanica was also collected in the north of … Read more
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 Natura 2000 network of protected areas aims to ensure the long term survival of Europe’s most valuable and threatened habitats and species, on landand at sea, through sustainable ecological and economical management. This is in view that marine habitats are vulnerable to human influences, and require protection in order to safeguard the biodiversity they … Read more
Guidelines to control or mitigate the risk of insuring vessels and companies associated with illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing Illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing—also known as pirate fishing—is an unresolved and internationally pervasive problem, costing the global economy tens of billions of USD dollars annually.1 Those that participate in IUU fishing break or … Read more
Monitor, control and surveillance are crucial to ensure proper fisheries management and to rebuild stocks, in particular in the Mediterranean Sea, where 80% of the stocks are considered to be outside biologically safe limits. The General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean (GFCM) has taken significant steps in the last years towards reversing this situation, including … Read more
The Commission’s proposal is a first step in the right direction to tackle the long-lasting overfishing situation in the Mediterranean Sea and realise the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP)’s objectives of achieving Maximum Sustainable Yield (MSY) by 2020 and minimize fisheries impacts on the ecosystems. However, the WMedMAP is clearly insufficient as it stands to reverse … Read more
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