The overfishing of many species in EU waters continues, putting the commitments of the EU’s reformed Common Fisheries Policy in jeopardy unless this practice is ended. Yet when the EU Council meets to set annual quota limits, the powerful commercial fishing industry lobbies successfully for catch limits set far higher than the scientific advice. The power of this short-termist lobbying threatens the sustainability of many fish stocks, and the long-term viability of fishing livelihoods.
In 2016, the European Parliament and the Council adopted a new deep-sea regulation, bringing outdated EU legislation in line with international agreements and scientific developments. To ensure that the new objectives are being achieved as foreseen, Seas At Risk and allied NGOs have written to Commissioner Vella, calling for an effective implementation of the deep sea regulation, to protect deep-sea ecosystems from the harmful impacts of deep-sea fishing.
Seven European environmental NGOs are challenging the European Council, Parliament and Commission to practice what they preach and implement greener public procurement in their own buildings by phasing out single use plastics.
Ocean acidification could cause an annual damage to the European shellfish production of €0.9 billion by 2100, according to a recent study.
In its first meeting in Madrid on 14th February, the working group on finfish of the Aquaculture Advisory Council elected its chair and vice-chair (Javier Ojeda (APROMAR) and Phil Brook (CiWF) respectively) and established four sub-working groups to discuss fish feed as well as animal health law, animal welfare, and Blue Growth/ a level playing field.
The European Parliament has agreed to support a proposal from its own Environment Committee to include shipping in the EU’s greenhouse gas emissions trading scheme (ETS).
Member states have put in place over 200 marine monitoring programmes across the EU to measure the quality of the marine environment and to evaluate the effectiveness of the policy measures that they are taking to improve it. However, an evaluation by the European Commission shows that those data collection efforts fail to cover some key problems, such as marine litter and noise pollution.
This week, the European Parliament’s Environment Committee voted on a set of amendments to waste legislation that is being revised to bring about a circular economy in Europe. Overall the amendments strengthened the initial Commission proposals.
The European Commission’s newly released Roadmap for the EU Strategy on Plastics in a Circular Economy fails to get to the root of the problem of plastics, according to the #BreakFreeFromPlastic Movement.
In this letter CAN Europe, Seas At Risk, Transport & Environment, Carbon Market Watch and the Aviation Environment Federation urge the European Commission to ensure the aviation and maritime sectors reduce emissions in line with the temperature goals of the Paris Agreement.
The Clean Shipping Coalition (CSC), a group of NGOs with observer status at the UN’s International Maritime Organisation (IMO), have heavily criticised comments by the head of the IMO warning the EU against taking action to address increasing GHG emissions from ships.
In a welcome development the Environment Committee of the European Parliament agreed to support the inclusion of shipping in a revised EU greenhouse gas emissions trading scheme (ETS). Under the proposal shipping would be included in the ETS from 2023 if the International Maritime Organisation fails to establish a global measure by the deadline they agreed earlier this year.
Seas At Risk welcomes the adoption by the European Parliament of the deep sea regulation, which includes a ban on bottom trawling below 800 metres in EU waters and the obligation to close areas to bottom trawling below 400 metres where vulnerable marine ecosystems are present or likely to occur.
Following a three year long process the Advisory Council on Aquaculture is finally established, and can start its work on shaping European aquaculture. Seas At Risk aims to encourage the development of an environmentally responsible aquaculture sector, minimising its environmental impact.
The German Federation for Environment and Nature Conservation (BUND), member of Seas At Risk, called for a ban on deep sea mining together with several other German NGOs (PowerShift, Fair Oceans, Brot für die Welt, MISEREOR, Stiftung Asienhaus, Forum Umwelt und Entwicklung).
The Blue Eco Forum organised by ENT Foundation, Seas At Risk member, together with Coastal & Marine Union and eco-union, took place end of November at the Maritime Museum of Barcelona. About 350 people attended the event and participated in plenary debates, workshops and exhibitions which counted on the presence of experts and key stakeholders from the Euro-Mediterranean political, economic and social world.
The answer is provided by two parallel studies carried out by Legambiente, Seas At Risk Member. The analysis of the types of plastic sampled during the 2016 summer campaigns looked at the types of waste collected, their chemical characterisation and possible solutions for stopping the leakage.
Brussels - The EU’s Fisheries Council went on until the early morning today to agree on the North Sea and North-East Atlantic quotas for 2017. Once again Ministers failed to end overfishing. The agreed catch limits for several stocks for 2017, including cod in the Celtic Sea, Southern hake, and sole in the Bay of Biscay, are higher than the maximum sustainable yield levels recommended by scientist. This, despite Ministers’ commitments to end overfishing for all stocks by 2020 at the latest, as agreed under the Common Fisheries Policy.
London, 18 November 2016 - The annual meeting of the North East Atlantic Fisheries Commission closed today without agreement regarding management of the deep-sea fish orange roughy. The Commission also agreed on total allowable catches of 7,500 tonnes for redfish in the Irminger Sea. These decisions leave both vulnerable species subject to overfishing, despite clear scientific advice to not allow any direct fishing for them.
Brussels 15.11.2016: Seas at Risk, The DSCC and Bloom are disappointed by the decisions on fishing limits for deep-sea fish stocks taken by the Fisheries’ Council of Ministers yesterday evening. Ministers did reduce the total allowable catch for most of the deep-sea stocks but this decision will not stop overfishing. Most of the quotas are set well above the levels recommended by the scientific community to achieve sustainable fishing and will consequently allow continued overfishing of vulnerable deep-sea species.
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