The International Maritime Organisation (IMO) has taken steps to further regulate garbage from ships by agreeing to a set of proposed drafted amendments to existing regulations – Once adopted, strong enforcement will be crucial.
Ministers attending next week’s high level meeting of the OSPAR Commission in Norway will be asked by Seas At Risk, KIMO International and other environmental NGOs to support a manifesto calling for urgent action to deal with marine “garbage patches” and the build up of marine litter in the North-East Atlantic.
A new report by Seas At Risk highlights a number of ways that fisheries across Europe can reduce their greenhouse gas emissions while simultaneously reducing their damaging impact on the marine environment.
In next week’s meeting between the European Union’s fisheries ministers in Vigo, Spain, Seas At Risk and the Fisheries Secretariat have urged the ministers involved to support a ‘root and branch” reform of the CFP.
A joint project between Seas At Risk and member organisation Stichting De Noordzee has culminated in a new brochure detailing the escalating problem of marine litter - which is now available online.
A new Seas At Risk report assessing the potential of the shipping industry to cut its GHG emissions has concluded that if the main fleet sectors make full use of existing fleet overcapacity they could reduce emissions by as much as a third.
A report published by the coalition group OCEAN2012 - of whom Seas At Risk are a founding member – has documented an array of case studies illustrating how Europe’s fisheries might be managed to become more environmentally and socially sustainable.
“Market failures” have been blamed for putting off a more carbon efficient shipping sector as experts suggest an emissions trading scheme is ripe for shipping, a European Commission funded report has said.
After lengthy and difficult discussions, the Council reached agreement on fishing opportunities for 2010 on 15 December.
In a press conference, Sweden's Minister for Agriculture Erlandsson and Fisheries Commissioner Borg welcomed the agreement declaring it as an important step towards sustainable fisheries within the EU. Erlandsson stressed that the Commission Proposal had been based on scientific advice, whilst Borg clarified that the proposal also tried to lessen the short-term burden on the catching sector.
The EU Fisheries Ministers failed to reach any agreement on a new technical measures regulation at their November meeting.
The Secretary General of the International Maritime Organisation last week described the impacts of climate change as an “Orwellian” prospect, but failed to convince developing nations of the need for IMO action on greenhouse gas emissions from ships.
Bottom trawl fishing on the high seas is the most immediate and widespread threat to the unique and vulnerable biodiversity of the deep sea in international waters. For this reason Seas At Risk and many scientists, NGOs, and national authorities have been calling for the United Nations to establish a moratorium or temporary prohibition to provide protection for unique and largely unknown deep water areas of high biodiversity, e.g., seamounts, until effective and legally-binding measures can be put in place.
Santa Barbara, 14th February 2008. A global map of total human impact on the oceans shows that no area of the ocean is unaffected and over 40% experiences high levels of human influence.
Brussels, 19th December 2007. Political short-termism triumphed again last night when the Fisheries Council continued its annual tradition of ignoring scientific advice and authorising continued over-fishing.
Since the adoption of the Commission’s first communication on maritime safety - "A Common Policy on Safe Seas" - which in 1993 aimed at ensuring that all ships flying under the flag of an EU Member State or entering an EU port comply with international safety standards, the European Community has constantly developed and intensified its maritime safety policy.
Brussels, 27th October 2007. The European Commission proposal for a Regulation to end destructive fishing practices in certain unregulated areas of the high seas and the related Communication are a welcome first step towards the protection of deep sea biodiversity and the strengthening of deep sea fisheries management.
Brussels, 10th October 2007. Yesterday the European Parliament continued its defence of a strong Marine Strategy Directive; today the Commission published a Communication on an EU maritime policy promoting exactly the kind of maritime industry development the environmental consequences of which the Directive is intended to combat.
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