European Commission decides to protect 16,000 km2 of vulnerable marine ecosystems

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Category: Pesca
Published on Monday, 03 October 2022 18:02
Written by Administrator2
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  • The EU will ban bottom fishing techniques in 87 areas in the Atlantic Ocean. The decision was welcomed by environmental NGOs.

By Martine Valo

Published on September 18, 2022 at 17h15, updated at 08h23 on September 19, 2022 

                                                        

 Fishing boat near the coast at Port-Leucate (Aude), March 3, 2022. RAYMOND ROIG / AFP

In the Atlantic Ocean, bottom-fishing trawlers will now have to avoid 87 areas forming an almost continuous line from the northwest of Ireland to the southwest coast of France, then along the coast of Spain and down to the tip of Portugal. These areas contain fragile deep-sea ecosystems – cold-water coral reefs, sea mounts and sea pens, all precious habitats for marine fauna. All fishing gear scraping the bottom of the sea – trawls, dredges, bottom-set gillnets, bottom-set longlines, pots and traps – are now prohibited. This protects 16,419 km2, or 1.16% of EU waters in the northeast Atlantic.

"We are delivering on our commitment to protect and restore marine life," said Virginijus Sinkevicius, the European commissioner for the environment, occeans and Ffsheries. He announced that this decision adopted on Thursday, September 15 will come into effect shortly, 20 days after its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.

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The 87 areas to be closed were carefully selected following advice from scientists from the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea, based on the richness and vulnerability of their ecosystems, and so as to "cause the least possible disturbance to fishing activities." They were also negotiated at length with the member states, environmental NGOs, and the fishing industry. While thanking the industry for its efforts, Mr. Sinkevičius stressed that: "Our oceans and fisheries depend on healthy marine ecosystems (...) It is our duty to our society, to future generations and especially to those whose livelihoods depend on marine resources."