Towards a Mediterranean network of EFH

One of the aspects behind the critical situation of Mediterranean stocks is the high exploitation rate of juveniles in many demersal fi sheries. The fisheries management in place today has brought most of assessed stocks outside safe biological limits (FAO, 2017) and some of them face a high risk of biological collapse, such ascommercially-important hake … Read more

Joint NGO priorities on the Multi-annual Plan for Western Waters

We call on MEPs to support the Commission’s proposal to: Ensure that exploitation of living marine biological resources restores and maintains populations of harvested species above levels which can produce the Maximum SustainableYield (MSY) (Articles 3.1, 7.1 and 7.2); Contribute to the elimination of discards by avoiding and reducing, as far as possible, unwanted catches … Read more

Joint NGO recommendations on Baltic Sea fishing opportunities for 2019

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

NGO Recommendations for Deep-Sea Fishing Limits 2019–2020

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

Filling gaps in knowledge of North Sea benthic biodiversity

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

Western Mediterranean: Overfishing crisis: act now, or lose it forever

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

Risk assessment and control of IUU fishing for the marine insurance industry

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