Oceana is urging the EU to announce “concrete proposals to overcome the severe overfishing that is threatening the short-term future of Mediterranean fisheries”.
The organisation says that 96% of assessed stocks exploited exclusively by the EU are overfished - in some cases up to 14 times over sustainable levels – and is calling for immediate action, including emergency closures for stocks where fishing mortality is so high that it cannot be returned to a sustainable state in the short term, such as certain hake stocks.
“The European Commission and EU member states have the duty and power to take action now and end overfishing by 2020,” says Lasse Gustavsson, executive director of Oceana in Europe. “Otherwise, closing all fishing activities in the Mediterranean will be the only option left to save marine resources and even to fulfil the law.”
Oceana says that whereas EU-managed Atlantic stocks have shown signs of recovery over the last 10 years thanks to scientific advice and a reduction in fishing catches, the Mediterranean Sea has gone from bad to worse. It says that important EU stocks such as blackbellied angler, blue whiting and red mullet, are fished over 10 times more than what is considered sustainable in some areas, and Mediterranean hake currently has the most alarming overexploitation status ever recorded, being fished up to 14 times over sustainable levels.
Oceana is attending the high-level seminar about the state of Mediterranean fish stocks (9-10 February in Catania, Italy), organised by the European Commission (EC) and the Mediterranean Advisory Council (MEDAC).
