Overfishing has severely depleted fish stocks in the Mediterranean Sea, with over 65% of stocks outside safe biological limits. Bycatch, including of non-target fish and protected species, is high at 20-70% for some fisheries. Bluefin tuna stocks have declined over 80% in 20 years. Less than 1% of the Mediterranean Sea is fully protected, far below the 20-50% recommended by scientists. The proposed solution is to establish a network of large-scale, fully protected marine reserves across Mediterranean ecosystems to conserve biodiversity and protect fish populations from overfishing and other human impacts.
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Overfishing has severely depleted fish stocks in the Mediterranean Sea, with over 65% of stocks outside safe biological limits. Bycatch, including of non-target fish and protected species, is high at 20-70% for some fisheries. Bluefin tuna stocks have declined over 80% in 20 years. Less than 1% of the Mediterranean Sea is fully protected, far below the 20-50% recommended by scientists. The proposed solution is to establish a network of large-scale, fully protected marine reserves across Mediterranean ecosystems to conserve biodiversity and protect fish populations from overfishing and other human impacts.
Overfishing has severely depleted fish stocks in the Mediterranean Sea, with over 65% of stocks outside safe biological limits. Bycatch, including of non-target fish and protected species, is high at 20-70% for some fisheries. Bluefin tuna stocks have declined over 80% in 20 years. Less than 1% of the Mediterranean Sea is fully protected, far below the 20-50% recommended by scientists. The proposed solution is to establish a network of large-scale, fully protected marine reserves across Mediterranean ecosystems to conserve biodiversity and protect fish populations from overfishing and other human impacts.
Copyright:
Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
Overfishing has severely depleted fish stocks in the Mediterranean Sea, with over 65% of stocks outside safe biological limits. Bycatch, including of non-target fish and protected species, is high at 20-70% for some fisheries. Bluefin tuna stocks have declined over 80% in 20 years. Less than 1% of the Mediterranean Sea is fully protected, far below the 20-50% recommended by scientists. The proposed solution is to establish a network of large-scale, fully protected marine reserves across Mediterranean ecosystems to conserve biodiversity and protect fish populations from overfishing and other human impacts.
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OVERFISHING IN THE
MEDITERRANEAN THE PROBLEM. Fish stock levels in the Mediterranean Sea are very low. The European Environment Agency said that over 65% of all fish stocks are living in the region that is outside the safe biological limits and some of the most important fisheries such as albacore and blue fin tuna, hake, marlin, swordfish, red mullet and sea bream - are threatened. There has also been a noticeable decline in the size and quality of the fish that has been caught nowadays, and in many areas larger and longer-lived species have disappeared all together from commercial catches. This makes the situation worse because long- term sustainability of stocks is the protection of its young, juvenile fish so that these can reach maturity and breed. As overfishing has already caught most of the larger adult fish, most of the time, the smaller fish are caught and kept – even if it is against the law to do so. By-catch is the accidental capture of non- target species from seabirds to juvenile fish, sometimes sea turtles or even sharks and dolphins. It must be immediately discarded back into the sea, even if the creature is dead or dying. The amounts of discarded animals for Mediterranean fisheries are between 20 and 70 percent. Numerous regulations have been put up to ban the use of driftnets in the Mediterranean Sea, as it results as the highest percent in by-catch, but are still widely used despite the laws and some driftnet fleets are even expanding.
In 1999 Greenpeace published a report revealing that the
amount of blue fin tuna in the Mediterranean has decreased by over 80% in the previous 20 years and government scientists warn everyone that the stock will collapse if nothing is done to prevent it. The effective management systems are simply not good enough, resulting in increased commercial pressure on our dwindling fishery resources. Of all the Mediterranean countries, Spain is the only one that started to use a National Plan of Action to overcome the problem of IUU fishing (illegal, unregulated and unreported fishing industry), although there is a lack of funding and infrastructure in international waters.
THE PROPOSED SOLUTION.
Fully protected areas cover less than 1% of the Mediterranean Sea, far from the percentage that scientists recommend which is twenty to fifty percent of the sea. Immediate action is needed to save this sea. What is needed is a network of fully protected, large-scale marine reserves to cover the range of Mediterranean marine ecosystems. Which mean national parks, but in the sea. Marine reserves are areas closed to all uses, especially fishing and mining, as well as to other activities that may harm this ecosystem. Within these areas there may be core zones where no humans are allowed in, for instance areas that act as scientific reference areas or areas where there are particularly sensitive habitats or species. Conservation is about protecting not just single species, but the full variety of species and their habitats, as well as all of the interactions between species that make up an ecosystem. This requires an approach that considers all these aspects. Marine reserves, which protect entire areas from a range of human impacts, do just this, which makes them a unique tool for conservation.
