European Union failing threatened mediterranean sharks

Oceana, the international marine conservation organisation, denounces the European Commission for blocking efforts to protect threatened and endangered sharks and rays in the Mediterranean Sea, under the Barcelona Convention. The protection of ten species of sharks and rays is one of the key issues for discussion at the biennial meeting of the Convention, which begins today in Paris. Non-EU nations within the Convention have already expressed their support for protecting these species.

The potential inclusion of these fish on a list of strictly protected species hinges on the EU’s vote. Yet, despite having had months to do so, the European Commission has not yet adopted a common position on the issue with European Member States. Meanwhile, in 2009, EU Member States together accounted for the highest level of reported shark catches globally (16%), which were caught in European, high seas, and third-country waters.

“After delaying this decision twice already, because they wanted more time for ‘internal discussions’, it is inexcusable that the European Commission could not manage to resolve its bureaucratic issues in time for this critical meeting,” said Ricardo Aguilar, Research Director for Oceana in Europe. “The Commission says “we need to protect sharks” but when it comes to the Mediterranean, their actions indicate the opposite, even going so far as to warn against protecting threatened species at a recent meeting on Mediterranean sharks[i].”

The Mediterranean is the region of greatest risk globally to sharks and rays, with 41% of species considered threatened, compared to 17% globally. Of the ten species under consideration at this week’s meeting, some have undergone severe population declines, including porbeagles, shortfin makos, and hammerheads, whose Mediterranean populations have been reduced by up to 99.9% during the 20^th Century. Others, such as the sandy skate, Maltese skate, and common guitarfish, have vanished from some areas where they were once common. All of the species are threatened by overfishing, despite already being included on a list of species whose capture must be regulated for conservation reasons.

“It is incomprehensible that the European Commission has taken so long to resolve its position on such a clear-cut issue: highly threatened sharks and rays are being fished, and urgently require greater protection,” added Dr. Allison Perry, marine wildlife scientist with Oceana in Europe. “The EU has a responsibility – under both European law and as a signatory to the Barcelona Convention – to take precautionary measures to ensure their conservation. There is still a window of opportunity in Paris, and we trust that EU Member States and the Commission will coordinate a swift decision to grant these species the protection they deserve.”

The 17th Meeting of the Contracting Parties to the Barcelona Convention gathers policymakers from 21 Mediterranean nations and the European Union, to discuss the environmental health of the Mediterranean Sea and to decide matters related to its protection. In addition to shark and ray conservation, important issues to be discussed this week include the protection of marine areas in the open sea, and pollution resulting from offshore drilling.

Fact sheet: Barcelona Convention. The necessity of Annex II protection for threatened sharks & rays

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[i] General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean, 12-16 December 2011: “The DG-MARE representative warned that RAC/SPA should not take IUCN advice automatically because too many species of great commercial value would be included in Appendix II.” (page 12; full report here)

http://oceana.org/en/eu/media-reports/press-releases/european-union-failing-threatened-mediterranean-sharks

Oceana Pushes to Protect 3,500 Km2 of the Baltic Sea

Crucial elements of the Baltic Sea's threatened marine biodiversity are completely unprotected

Oceana, the largest international marine conservation organisation has recently published a report on biodiversity and marine habitats, proposing nine areas totalling 3,500 km2 for inclusion in the current network of Marine Protected Areas (MPA) in the Baltic Sea. These areas, in Sweden, Finland and Denmark, identified during Oceana's extensive two month research expedition in the spring of 2011, all have specifically important biodiversity that must be protected from human activities, for the Baltic Sea to recover from its current critical state.

The nine proposed areas include offshore waters and host habitats, communities and species that are not sufficiently covered by the current network of MPAs. Some of the habitats documented by Oceana have not been described in the Baltic Sea before such as sponge aggregations and special types of coral gardens in the Kattegat and in the Sound. These habitats and communities are vulnerable to many human activities and in particular to bottom trawling.

"Biodiversity in the Baltic Sea is under enormous stress from pollution and destructive fisheries and the removal of sediments by dredging. The new areas proposed by Oceana represent elements of this biodiversity that are currently unprotected," says Niklas Zennström, Entrepreneur and founder of Zennstöm Philantrophies, one of the funders of Oceana's Baltic Sea project.

"Coupled with effective management of human activities, the establishment of MPAs is an important mechanism to support a healthier marine environment and as a consequence sustainable fisheries", added Anne Schroeer, Oceana Baltic Sea Project Manager.

Currently, 12 per cent of the Baltic Sea is covered by MPAs. To safeguard biodiversity, a minimum of 30 per cent of the Baltic Sea should be effectively protected. This means that besides legal protection, the areas must also be properly managed.. Many of these habitats can only recover with the immediate adoption of protective measures, which would benefit not only the benthic communities inside protected areas but also commercial fisheries with enhanced fish stocks.

http://www.prnewswire.co.uk/cgi/news/release?id=343538

Oceana calls for the expansion of three marine protected areas to protect vital undersea forests

The organization has documented the existence of deep-sea laminarians near Alboran, Columbretes and Cabrera islands in Western Mediterranean.


A variety of species rely on these habitats, which are often unprotected because they occur far from the coast.


Oceana has proposed the expansion of three protected areas in Spanish Mediterranean to include deeper waters so as to safeguard laminarian forests, which are essential marine habitats due to their associated biodiversity. The initiative was presented today in Tunisia during the 4th Symposium on Marine Vegetation held within the framework of the United Nations Mediterranean Action Plan[1].

The proposal urges protection for deep-sea laminarian forests from the Laminaria and Phylliariopsis genera, present on sea floors that are located outside the current limits of Cabrera National Park and the marine reserves of Alboran Island and the Columbretes Islands. One of these deep-sea species, Laminaria rodriguezii, is endemic to the Mediterranean and is currently endangered. Oceana identified this species during a recent expedition outside the limits of the protected area of Columbretes and Cabrera.

Laminarians are brown algae that can grow to be very long, measuring over four meters in Spanish waters including the Mediterranean, Atlantic and Cantabrian, and up to 30 meters in other seas around the world. These algae can occur at a wide variety of depths, although they need light to photosynthesize: from the coastline –in the intertidal zone, as it occurs in the Cantabrian- to deeper areas up to 100 meters from the surface. Oceana used divers and an ROV (undersea robot) to film and photograph these plants.

The habitats created by laminarians are especially important because they form veritable undersea forests that shelter a wide variety of marine species, from small invertebrates and other algae that develop among and on their stipes and blades, to molluscs, echinoderms, crustaceans, sharks, rays and other fish, even cetaceans. All of these organisms depend on these habitats at some point in their life cycles. However, laminarians receive different levels of protection and one species (Saccorhiza polyschides) has yet to be included in any protection convention.

Marine protected areas, have generally been designed and designated for coastal areas, protecting shallow ecosystems while ignoring important deep-sea habitats. Thus, these habitats have been forgotten by protection measures for the marine environment.

http://eu.oceana.org/en/eu/media-reports/press-releases/oceana-calls-for-the-expansion-of-three-marine-protected-areas-to-protect-vital-undersea-forests

Oceana calls for the expansion of three marine protected areas to protect vital undersea forests

The organization has documented the existence of deep-sea laminarians near Alboran, Columbretes and Cabrera islands in Western Mediterranean.


A variety of species rely on these habitats, which are often unprotected because they occur far from the coast.


Oceana has proposed the expansion of three protected areas in Spanish Mediterranean to include deeper waters so as to safeguard laminarian forests, which are essential marine habitats due to their associated biodiversity. The initiative was presented today in Tunisia during the 4th Symposium on Marine Vegetation held within the framework of the United Nations Mediterranean Action Plan[1].

The proposal urges protection for deep-sea laminarian forests from the Laminaria and Phylliariopsis genera, present on sea floors that are located outside the current limits of Cabrera National Park and the marine reserves of Alboran Island and the Columbretes Islands. One of these deep-sea species, Laminaria rodriguezii, is endemic to the Mediterranean and is currently endangered. Oceana identified this species during a recent expedition outside the limits of the protected area of Columbretes and Cabrera.

Laminarians are brown algae that can grow to be very long, measuring over four meters in Spanish waters including the Mediterranean, Atlantic and Cantabrian, and up to 30 meters in other seas around the world. These algae can occur at a wide variety of depths, although they need light to photosynthesize: from the coastline –in the intertidal zone, as it occurs in the Cantabrian- to deeper areas up to 100 meters from the surface. Oceana used divers and an ROV (undersea robot) to film and photograph these plants.

The habitats created by laminarians are especially important because they form veritable undersea forests that shelter a wide variety of marine species, from small invertebrates and other algae that develop among and on their stipes and blades, to molluscs, echinoderms, crustaceans, sharks, rays and other fish, even cetaceans. All of these organisms depend on these habitats at some point in their life cycles. However, laminarians receive different levels of protection and one species (Saccorhiza polyschides) has yet to be included in any protection convention.

Marine protected areas, have generally been designed and designated for coastal areas, protecting shallow ecosystems while ignoring important deep-sea habitats. Thus, these habitats have been forgotten by protection measures for the marine environment.

http://eu.oceana.org/en/eu/media-reports/press-releases/oceana-calls-for-the-expansion-of-three-marine-protected-areas-to-protect-vital-undersea-forests

Atlantic Ocean migratory sharks not covered by fisheries management

OCEANA, the world’s largest international ocean conservation organization, released a new report today that estimates that more than 1.3 million highly migratory sharks were caught in the Atlantic Ocean during 2008, without international fisheries management.


This estimate demonstrates the need for protections of highly migratory sharks at the 17th Special Meeting of the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT), currently underway in Paris, France.

“Sharks are the elephant in the room,” said Rebecca Greenberg, marine scientist at Oceana. “Too many sharks are being caught in the Atlantic Ocean for ICCAT to pretend there is not a problem. Many shark populations are in much worse shape than other fish species already managed by ICCAT.”

Under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), 72 shark species are listed as “highly migratory” and are therefore designated as requiring management by international bodies. 21 of these species were reported to be caught in ICCAT waters in 2008, representing a catch of more than 65,000 tonnes. Based on the average weight of each species caught, Oceana estimates this to be more than 1.3 million highly migratory sharks. Of these 21 species, three quarters are classified as threatened with extinction in parts of the Atlantic Ocean, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Yet sharks remain all but unmanaged by ICCAT, with the exception of a weak finning ban and a prohibition on retaining bigeye thresher sharks.

Furthermore, Oceana believes 1.3 million sharks is a gross underestimate of the true mortality. In 2008, 11 out of the 48 countries that participate in ICCAT did not report any shark catches and current shark catch data in ICCAT is generally acknowledged to be inadequate at best. In fact, scientific estimates based on Hong Kong shark fin trade data have shown that real shark catches in the Atlantic may be more than three times higher than what is reported to ICCAT.

“Sharks are virtually unmanaged at the international level,” said Elizabeth Griffin Wilson, marine scientist and fisheries campaign manager at Oceana. “ICCAT has a responsibility to protect sharks. It is time to protect our ocean’s top predators.”

Many highly migratory shark populations in the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea are significantly overexploited. For example, the North Atlantic population of oceanic whitetips has declined by an estimated 70 percent and hammerheads have declined by more than 99 percent in the Mediterranean. Despite this unacceptable situation, managers have all but ignored their responsibilities to protect sharks.

Oceana is calling on ICCAT to implement the following protections for sharks:

•Prohibit the capture of endangered and vulnerable species, including hammerhead, oceanic whitetip, common thresher and porbeagle sharks;
•Establish science-based, precautionary catch limits for other commonly caught species in ICCAT fisheries, especially for at-risk shortfin mako sharks; and
•Improve the ICCAT shark finning ban by requiring sharks to be landed whole, with their fins still naturally attached

For more information about ICCAT and sharks, and for downloadable images, please visit www.oceana.org/ICCAT.

http://www.fishnewseu.com/latest-news/world/4743-atlantic-ocean-migratory-sharks-not-covered-by-fisheries-management.html

Atlantic Ocean migratory sharks not covered by fisheries management

OCEANA, the world’s largest international ocean conservation organization, released a new report today that estimates that more than 1.3 million highly migratory sharks were caught in the Atlantic Ocean during 2008, without international fisheries management.


This estimate demonstrates the need for protections of highly migratory sharks at the 17th Special Meeting of the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT), currently underway in Paris, France.

“Sharks are the elephant in the room,” said Rebecca Greenberg, marine scientist at Oceana. “Too many sharks are being caught in the Atlantic Ocean for ICCAT to pretend there is not a problem. Many shark populations are in much worse shape than other fish species already managed by ICCAT.”

Under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), 72 shark species are listed as “highly migratory” and are therefore designated as requiring management by international bodies. 21 of these species were reported to be caught in ICCAT waters in 2008, representing a catch of more than 65,000 tonnes. Based on the average weight of each species caught, Oceana estimates this to be more than 1.3 million highly migratory sharks. Of these 21 species, three quarters are classified as threatened with extinction in parts of the Atlantic Ocean, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Yet sharks remain all but unmanaged by ICCAT, with the exception of a weak finning ban and a prohibition on retaining bigeye thresher sharks.

Furthermore, Oceana believes 1.3 million sharks is a gross underestimate of the true mortality. In 2008, 11 out of the 48 countries that participate in ICCAT did not report any shark catches and current shark catch data in ICCAT is generally acknowledged to be inadequate at best. In fact, scientific estimates based on Hong Kong shark fin trade data have shown that real shark catches in the Atlantic may be more than three times higher than what is reported to ICCAT.

“Sharks are virtually unmanaged at the international level,” said Elizabeth Griffin Wilson, marine scientist and fisheries campaign manager at Oceana. “ICCAT has a responsibility to protect sharks. It is time to protect our ocean’s top predators.”

Many highly migratory shark populations in the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea are significantly overexploited. For example, the North Atlantic population of oceanic whitetips has declined by an estimated 70 percent and hammerheads have declined by more than 99 percent in the Mediterranean. Despite this unacceptable situation, managers have all but ignored their responsibilities to protect sharks.

Oceana is calling on ICCAT to implement the following protections for sharks:

•Prohibit the capture of endangered and vulnerable species, including hammerhead, oceanic whitetip, common thresher and porbeagle sharks;
•Establish science-based, precautionary catch limits for other commonly caught species in ICCAT fisheries, especially for at-risk shortfin mako sharks; and
•Improve the ICCAT shark finning ban by requiring sharks to be landed whole, with their fins still naturally attached

For more information about ICCAT and sharks, and for downloadable images, please visit www.oceana.org/ICCAT.

http://www.fishnewseu.com/latest-news/world/4743-atlantic-ocean-migratory-sharks-not-covered-by-fisheries-management.html