Europe’s fishing grounds were once amongst the most productive in the world, but thirty years of the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) have resulted in serious depletion of fish populations, ecosystem degradation, and damage to species, habitats and sites. Today, 63% of the assessed stocks in the Atlantic are overfished, 82% of the assessed stocks in … Read more
Today, the European Court of Auditors (ECA) released their long-awaited analysis of the effectiveness of EU fleet management, which shows the systematic failure of fleet capacity reduction policies. Oceana is deeply concerned that even though the problematic nature of overcapacity has been recognized for over 20 years, the EU has been unable to properly address … Read more
Today, the European Commission presented its proposal for the new subsidies regulation of the European fisheries sector, the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF), which will cover subsidies from 2014 to 2020. Oceana recognizes the positive steps that the Commission has taken by removing the worst fleet capacity enhancing subsidies, such as those used for vessel modernization, … Read more
Several non-governmental organisations (NGOs) have engaged with issues surrounding fisheries subsidiesfor many years, including actively participating in discussions on EU fisheries subsidies and their reformsince the late 1990s. The reform of fisheries subsidies is also an important agenda item in the World TradeOrganization subsidy reform debate. While there have been some past successes in terms … Read more
Last week, the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) released 4 in depth articles, as part of their “Looting the Seas” project that we think are worth sharing with you. They are well researched good reads that delve deep into several real and worrying issues plaguing the European fishing sector, such as subsidies, Illegal fishing … Read more
The world’s oceans are nearing irreversible collapse. Most of the world’s fisheries are fully exploited or facing overexploitation and depletion. In Europe, the oceans are equally in crisis. Only a minority of commercially fished stocks have been assessed or are managed. Of the fish stocks that have been scientifically assessed, the majority are overfished. An … Read more
Oceana is calling for an immediate stop of all capacity enhancing fishing subsidies. Today, Oceana published a report on the true amount of subsidies provided to the fishing sector by the European Union (EU) and its Member States. The international marine conservation organization reveals that EU fisheries subsidies are more than three times greater than … Read more
This type of subsidies is aimed at reducing the costs of fishing operations and grant cash that can be used to finance fuel expenses. Oceana is extremely disappointed in the approval of this resolution, as an increase in de minimis subsidies will incentivize fuel intensive and destructive fishing practices such as bottom trawling. This resolution will … Read more
In tonight’s plenary debate of the European Parliament MEPs will discuss the rising oil price in the European fisheries sector. Several political groups have asked to increase the level of ‘de minims’ subsidies from 30.000 per firm to 60.000 euro for a three year term. These subsidies are aimed at reducing the cost of fishing … Read more
Following years of campaign work by Oceana, the United States, New Zealand, Argentina, Australia, Chile, Iceland and Norway released a joint statement that was submitted to the WTO calling for a reduction in fisheries subsidies. Read the full statement here.
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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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