Cabliers Bank – a deep-sea jewel one step closer to protection

Until recently, the Cabliers Bank was a hidden jewel in the Mediterranean Sea. This underwater biodiversity treasure has survived throughout centuries, in the Alboran Sea, the westernmost part of the Mediterranean. Here, Mediterranean and Atlantic waters interact, and are very rich in nutrients. This part of the Mediterranean Sea is also one of the busiest … Read more

EU nature law could be gamechanger for marine biodiversity, but will be meaningless if fisheries not properly addressed – NGO reaction

Today, the European Commission presented its legislative proposal on nature restoration, a new law with binding targets to restore degraded land and marine ecosystems across the EU. This is a major milestone to tackle the current biodiversity and climate crises and restore a healthy relationship between people and nature. We welcome the long-awaited publication of … Read more

Oceana expedition to Alboran Sea uncovers underwater oasis and ‘wasteland’

Gathered data will also support advocacy efforts to ban bottom trawling in European Marine Protected Areas Single-use plastics, abandoned fishing gear, and untreated waste most common pollutants found in seven-day expedition Madrid – Oceana concluded its expedition to the Alboran Sea (South of Spain), where the organisation gathered first-hand evidence of plastic pollution and bottom … Read more

EU makes poor progress on milestones to deliver a healthy ocean by 2030

Yesterday at an EU Ocean Week event, 6 NGOs published their assessment of the EU’s progress to secure a healthy ocean by 2030 – the goal set by the Blue Manifesto(1). The analysis reveals that the EU made little progress in the last year to achieve the necessary targets outlined in the Blue Manifesto(2). Out … Read more

UK Government set to license over 1,000 EU and UK fishing vessels permitting continued bottom trawling in UK Marine Protected Areas in 2022

Conservation charity Oceana says at the current rate of progress, it will take the Government until 2050 to ban the highly destructive fishing method  The UK Government is about to issue over 1,000 fishing licenses for EU and UK fishing vessels for 2022, permitting them to bottom trawl in UK Marine Protected Areas (MPAs). This is in … Read more

Paper Parks in Spain – Bottom trawling inside marine protected areas

Summary Spain has an extensive network of marine protected areas covering more than 13% of its marine surface area. These areas have been designated to protect very rich and varied biodiversity, but their management is inadequate. In most of these areas, which form part of the Natura 2000 network, the status of the habitats and … Read more

Was Article 11 of the CFP doomed to fail?

Executive Summary The EU has set out strong objectives for marine protection in its waters. This began with the adoption of the Habitats Directive in 1992 and has been continually re-emphasised in later policy outlines, the latest being the 2030 Biodiversity Strategy which sets a target of protecting 30% of the marine habitat with 10% … Read more

Closing 70% of Europe’s seas to bottom trawling: little loss to fishing sector but huge environmental gains

Advice by the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) released today shows that reducing bottom-trawling efforts by 26% could result in protecting 70% of Europe’s Atlantic sea area with small impact on the fishing sector, while delivering huge benefits to the marine environment. These include restoring biodiversity and mitigating climate change. Nicolas … Read more

Overfishing rate back on the rise after a decade of recovery

Brussels. The rate of overfishing has increased in European waters, according to today’s report  by the European Commission on the state of play of the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP). Oceana deplores this confirmation that the EU is moving further away from its legal commitment to exploit all harvested fish populations sustainably. To add to this, … Read more