Today is a really exciting day for us. In 2008, OSPAR developed a list of Threatened and/or Declining Species and Habitats. The list is unfortunately vague in many habitat definitions, which prevents a common and clear understanding of where they occur. Because the information that was used to define these habitats was gathered years ago, … Read more
We estimate that since the beginning of the 21st century, 70 million tonnes of fish have been caught and afterwards discarded dead, 110,000 hectares of sea-grass meadows that were home to thousands of organisms have been destroyed and 99% of the species in danger of extinction still lack conservation plans. The oceans are taking a … Read more
The first decade of the 21st century has been a devastating period for the oceans. Oceana warns that unless immediate action is taken, the damage will become irreversible. The international marine conservation organization estimates that since the beginning of the 21st century, 70 million tonnes of fish have been caught and afterwards discarded dead, 110,000 … Read more
The Biodiversity Summit in Japan is kicking off week 2 and we thought we’d give you a recap with some highlights and news stories from last week. The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity released a report highlighted the enourmous (but necessary) cost of altering the global economy to put value on forests, reefs and other … Read more
The Census of Marine Life, the results of which were presented this week, was an incredible effort that took 2700 scientists from 80 nations over ten years (and 9000 days at sea!) to complete. This project, which also included the participation of more than 600 institutions, including the World Register of Marine Species, is one … Read more
It has been a busy few days for us at OSPAR. So far the meetings we’ve assisted have been incredibly interesting, but the entire process is exhausting and rather intense: we’ve been getting back to our hotel at around 23h and waking up very early in the morning to prepare for meetings. The delegates look … Read more
Today marks the beginning of the OSPAR Commission meeting in Bergen, Norway. In case you are wondering what this actually is, we thought we’d give you a bit of background on the Commission and what it is that they do. OSPAR is the result of the 1992 unification of two international Conventions related to the … Read more
The international marine conservation organization’s research catamaran, the Oceana Ranger, in collaboration with Fundación Biodiversidad, has just finished an expedition in Palma de Mallorca. The odyssey lasted almost three months, of which the last two weeks were spent in the Balearic Islands. Oceana has discovered many of the most threatened ecosystems of the Mediterranean among … Read more
A collaboration agreement that was establishment through the Research and Projects Department of the Fundación Biodiversidad has given Oceana the opportunity to demonstrate new criteria in support of the selection of marine habitats of interest to the European Community. The context of the project is included within our mission and exclusive dedication to researching, protecting … Read more
Red calcareous algae have been widely studied in the shallow waters of the Western Mediterranean (Ballesteros, 2006), but there is very little information about their distribution and function in deep areas. Two main infralittoral and circalittoral ecosystems created by calcareous red algae have been mentioned: maërl and coralligenous beds (Pérès & Picard, 1964; Picard, 1965). … 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.
Oceana in Europe gratefully acknowledges EU funding support.
