IUU Fishing: Achievements
For years, Oceana has been reporting the use of illegal driftnets in the Mediterranean. Thanks to the organisation’s work, drift nets have been eliminated in the French fleet and the European Commission has had to take measures against Italian drift netters.
The European Commission, and in particular Spain, collaborates with Morocco to convert the Moroccan driftnetter fleet to other, more sustainable gear. This process, followed closely by Oceana, ends on 1 January 2011.
By using an ROV, Oceana has detected and reported the existence of trawling marks in areas protected against this gear due to its capacity to destruct seabeds, which proves the lack of measures to control this fleet even though most of the vessels are equipped with “blue boxes” that monitor their location.
Oceana has repeatedly reported the company Vidal Armadores for its illegal activities and has forced the Spanish government to establish measures and take action to prevent the company from carrying out these illicit fishing activities.
