Oceana condemns Mediterranean countries for delaying permanent protection of age-old coral from deep-sea fishing
Press Release Date: November 8, 2024
Location: Rome
Contact:
Emily Fairless, Communications Officer | email: efairless@oceana.org | tel.: +32 478 038 490
This week, Mediterranean countries have failed to adopt permanent measures banning destructive fishing practices – like bottom trawling – over parts of the Cabliers Bank, a 400,000-year-old coral reef in the Alboran Sea. Oceana strongly criticises this decision, which leaves such a biodiversity hotspot vulnerable to fishing impacts, and weakens the prospects of establishing a Fisheries Restricted Area (FRA) around it.
The unique coral reef at Cabliers Bank shelters semi-pristine habitats and serves as a nursery area for several key commercial fish species, like Norway lobster and blackspot seabream. Despite a proposal to protect the reef at international level, Mediterranean countries, particularly Algeria, Morocco, and the European Union failed to adopt permanent measures at the General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean’s (GFCM) annual meeting.
“It is deeply disappointing that countries have failed to permanently protect parts of the deep-sea coral reefs of Cabliers Bank, despite strong scientific evidence in its favour. By failing to act, Mediterranean countries are exposing this exceptional coral to further devastation by fishing. We urge countries to respect their commitments and fully protect this unique deep-sea sanctuary in 2025,” said Helena Álvarez, Senior Marine Scientist at Oceana.
Gorgonian and sponge aggregations at Cabliers Bank coral reef
The Cabliers Bank has been extensively studied by Oceana and scientists from the Spanish National Research Council (ICM-CSIC). In 2022, both organizations jointly proposed its designation as a FRA to the GFCM. As part of this process, the ICM-CSIC led an international research expedition in March 2024, confirming the reef’s exceptional biodiversity and underscoring the need for its protection.
The FRA designation process started in 2022, under the GFCM, and led to some countries adopting temporary closures for their bottom trawlers and dredgers in 2023. In the absence of international measures, Oceana calls on Mediterranean countries to adopt national restrictions on their fleets around the Cabliers Bank.