Marine Protected Areas Archives

Fishing intensity in Mediterranean Natura 2000: How monitoring can support management & conservation

The increasing availability of detailed fisheries data, including logbooks and monitoring systems, enables the analysis of the relationships between fishing activities, their intensity and their potential environmental impacts at an unprecedented level of detail. In particular, from tracking data of fishing vessels, it is possible to derive information about the behavior of coastal fisheries and … Read more

Oceana Wins Protection for Essential Fish Habitats in the Strait of Sicily

Following campaigning by Oceana, three Fisheries Restricted Areas were created by the General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean (GFCM) in the Strait of Sicily, protecting 1,493 square km between Italy, Malta and Tunisia from bottom trawling and preserving nursery areas. By preserving these areas, essential fish habitats for commercial fisheries stocks, a key step has … Read more

Oceana releases a video about the marine diversity of the Cabrera National Park on its 25th anniversary

Oceana joins in the celebrations of the 25th anniversary of the Cabrera Archipelago Maritime-Terrestrial National Park by releasing a video showing the extraordinary marine wealth of the national park and its surroundings. The presentation of the video comes two days after the meeting between Oceana and the Balearic Regional Government in which the latter announced … Read more

Marine Protected Areas

Banning bottom trawling in Europe’s marine protected areas An area one third of Europe’s continent is impacted by trawling in European waters every year. Bottom-towed gear is widely used in the EU, including inside marine protected areas, with some studies indicating a higher intensity of trawling inside than outside designated areas. Indeed, a … Read more

2016 Key Priorities. 18th Session of the GFCM Scientific Advisory Committee (SAC)

Despite being the oldest RFMO operating worldwide, GFCM assessments continuously depict an alarming picture of Mediterranean stocks which suggests a lack of effective and enforced fisheries management. Oceana calls upon the 18th session of the SAC to apply the best available scientific advice to halt overfishing and the continuing deterioration of fishing resources and the … Read more

Global Fishing Watch Enables Clear View of Fishing in Marine Protected Areas

WASHINGTON – Today, Oceana released a new report highlighting the ability of Global Fishing Watch to provide a clear view of fishing activity in marine protected areas (MPAs) around the world. Specifically, the report shows that Global Fishing Watch can monitor the success or failure of policies aimed at controlling fishing activity in protected areas. … Read more

Oceana calls on Denmark and Sweden to take concrete steps to protect the Sound

Oceana urges the Danish and Swedish governments to jointly manage and protect the Sound from damaging human activities that are causing the decline of key marine habitats such as horse mussel beds and Haploops communities. The exceptional value of this shared strait underscores the need for cooperative management, so that economic activities go hand in … Read more

Oceana proposal for a Marine Protected Area. The Sound – 2016

The Sound is located between Sweden and Denmark, and forms, together with Little Belt and Great Belt, a connection between the brackish Baltic Sea and the saltier North Sea via Kattegat and Skagerrak. In 1932, a bottom trawling ban was established in the Sound because of heavy traffic in the narrow strait. The ban, which … Read more

Oceana fears current marine protected areas in the Baltic Sea will not deliver real conservation

Today, the European Environment Agency (EEA) published its Marine Protected Areas in Europe’s Seas report. Oceana welcomes the release of this research, the first ever assessment of the entire EU network of marine protected areas (MPAs), which shows that the Baltic Sea is only one of three European regions (along with the Greater North Sea … Read more

Oceana fears current marine protected areas in Europe will not deliver real conservation

Today, the European Environment Agency (EEA) published its Marine Protected Areas in Europe’s Seas report, which shows that only 5.9% of the EU marine surface is protected, not even close to the 10% that governments have committed to protect. Oceana welcomes the release of this research, the first ever assessment of the entire EU network … Read more