Tasks onboard a trawler of the EU. (Photo: CE- Pesca y Asuntos Marítimos)

EU’s new proposal proves unhelpful to save Mediterranean, Oceana states

Oceana calls on the EU to increase the trawling ban to a depth of 150 metres all year round as the only way to reverse the alarming state of the heavily overfished sea.

According to the NGO, the multi-annual management plan proposed for fish stocks in the Western Mediterranean Sea, which has been recentlly presented by the European Commission (EC) and which was discussed on Monday by the EU’s Agriculture and Fisheries Council, is not enough to address the trawling issue, which is the main threat faced by the ecosystem and artisanal fishing.

In this regard, Oceana points out that the Commission’s proposal intends to ensure the recovery of crucial species, such as hake, mullet and shrimp, is a direct follow-up to the #MedFish4Ever ministerial Declaration from 2017.

Oceana urges the EU to increase the trawling ban from the current depth of 50 metres to a depth of 150 metres all year round, instead of a depth of 100 metres for only 3 months out of the year (May 1 to July 31). In its view, in addition to ensuring preferential access for low- impact fisheries, this measure would ensure the protection of sensitive habitats, such as maërl and coralligenous, and essential areas for juveniles, which are fundamental for fish stock recovery.

"The proposed plan allows for the most destructive fishing gears in the Mediterranean to continue operating on the same fishing grounds as low- impact small scale fisheries, which are socially and economically significant for local communities,” warns Lasse Gustavsson, executive director of Oceana in Europe.

“Furthermore, the plan is perpetuating a fisheries management system that has demonstrated to be a complete failure: based on control of fishing effort – i.e. days at sea—instead of catch limits that have proved to recover stocks in other European waters," he adds.

Oceana stressed that the Mediterranean Sea is in a critical situation, as more than 90 per cent of the fishing stocks are currently overfished and some of them at high risk of complete collapse.

The organisation considers that the EC, the European Parliament and Council of the EU are responsible for adopting a plan that establishes new and better management in the Mediterranean Sea in order to achieve the Common Fisheries Policy’s legal commitment to end overfishing by 2020.

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