Time is ticking. Chances of achieving biologically diverse, clean and healthy seas by 2020 - as required by the Marine Directive - are decreasing every day if urgent action is not taken. Measures proposed by Member States to achieve this noble commitment are too weak and lacking in ambition to achieve it. Meanwhile our seas face increasing pressure. Action is necessary, now!
With this purpose Seas At Risk, with the help of its members and other allied NGOs, is running a campaign to engage European citizens and send a message to the Ministers across Europe that we want them to take all necessary measures to have our seas back in good environmental status within the 2020 deadline. The campaign consists of a petition, a video animation and a social media campaign using the #emojiocean hashtag. Seas At Risk aims at collecting as many signatures as possible before the Environment and Fisheries Ministers meetings which are to be held mid-December. The petition will be closed on 19th December and the result of the petition will be communicated to all EU Environment and Fisheries Ministers.
With only a couple years left to act, the challenges are getting bigger every day and our marine ecosystems continue to suffer:
- Over 40% of fish stocks in the North-East Atlantic are still overfished, meanwhile tens of millions of them are discarded, reaching 90% in some species
- We only have 9% of seas in Marine Protected Areas around Europe and not 30% as recommended by scientists. In addition, most of the existing protected areas are “paper parks”, which means protection only exists on paper but it’s not ensured by management measures.
- 100,000 tonnes of marine litter enter the ocean from European coastal regions per year. 799 different species have been found to suffer from ingestion or entanglement including fish, dolphin, whale and bird species around the EU.
To have biologically diverse, clean and healthy seas by 2020 Seas At Risk needs the contribution of whoever loves the sea.
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