News

 


  1. Marine Biodiversity
  2. Overfishing
  3. Fuel Subsidies
  4. Bottom Trawling
  5. Squid Fishing
  6. Shark Finning
  7. Transshipments
  8. Slavery
  9. Seabirds

Sharks are becoming functionally extinct

Teeth are easily caught on fishing nets, and saws are routinely sold for novelty, medicine and as spurs for cockfighting

April 8th, 2021 Transparency of Transshipment: Using Satellite Data to Reveal Meet-ups on the High Seas

They present environmental protection to stop “illegal and predatory fishing” in the Argentine Sea

(07:04:2021) The court case asks the National State to take preventive measures in order to put an end to the very serious damage caused by this predatory activity, developed for years by industrial fleets.

Buenos Aires, Apr 6 (EFE) 
A non-governmental organization said on Tuesday that it filed an appeal before the Argentine Supreme Court to order the national State to adopt the necessary measures to stop “illegal and predatory” fishing in the Argentina’s exclusive economic zone in Atlantic waters.

Exclusive: U.S. urged to join South America in fighting China fishing

Mar 23, 2021 : The U.S. should consider leading a multilateral coalition with South American nations to push back against China’s illegal fishing and trade practices, a U.S. intelligence agency has recommended in a document obtained by Axios.

Why it matters: China’s illegal fishing industry is the largest in the world. Beijing has made distant-water fishing a geopolitical priority, viewing private Chinese fishing fleets as a way to extend state power far beyond its coasts.

The exotic sawfish is rapidly disappearing from the world’s oceans and is at risk of extinction, marine scientists have warned. 

An alarming new study examining sawfish records has found that these shark-like rays have been lost in half of the world’s coastal waters and are on course to be wiped out, predominantly due to overfishing.

Activists make the case that bigger is better to protect Galápagos reserve
Like a thick scarf, the Galápagos Marine Reserve encircles its namesake islands, protecting 133,000 square kilometers (51,400 square miles) of nutrient-rich ocean that supports nearly 3,000 marine species. But the…
A high seas treaty could help rebuild populations – but time is running out.
 
Oceanic sharks and rays live so far from land that the average person is unlikely to ever see them. But these species, which live in the vast open ocean, are also among the most revered, and include the great white shark and the giant manta ray. For millennia, their remoteness has allowed these species to largely avoid humans. But since the early 1950s, industrial-scale fishing fleets have been able to reach distant waters and gradually spread to exploit the entire global ocean.
 
July 12, 2021
Daniel Skerritt, University of British Columbia
 

The WTO’s negotiations, starting in 2001, to agree on regulations for fishery subsidies have finally formed a draft agreement. Fishery subsidies need to be regulated to reduce the fishing industry's impact on fish. Regulations would be a significant step towards rebuilding an abundant ocean.

 

Yellowfin Tuna 'heading for collapse' by 2026: a 20% reduction in catch would turn the tide

March 18, 2021

Katy Askew

 

Current fishing practices are causing rapid decline of yellowfin tuna populations. The species is said to be heading towards collapse by 2026. A population collapse entails a 70% reduction of population in a decade. This article calls for stricter regulations and more action to be taken on the catch of yellow fin tuna before they become extinct.

 

Bottom trawling releases as much carbon as air travel, landmark study finds

 

March 17, 2021

Karen McVeigh, 

 

A recent report conducted by Nature found that bottom trawling releases huge amounts of CO2, 1.47gigatons since 2016, due to the sediment on the ocean floor being disturbed. The article calls for the world’s governments to take action and expand the areas of the world's oceans where bottom-trawling is prohibited.

 

The Countries at the Center of the Shark Meat Trade

July 14, 2021

Martin Armstrong,

Spain and the EU are a big part of the shark meat trade. A recent report called Shark and Ray Meat Network discusses just how much shark meat is being imported and exported through Europe. This calls for a ban on shark fin and shark meat trade in Europe to halt the rapid decline of sharks in our oceans.

 

 

‘Dark’ ships off Argentina ring alarms over possible illegal fishing

June 3, 2021

Elizabeth C. Alberts.

A recent report conducted by Oceana found that foreign ships spent over 900,000 hours of fishing between January 1st 2018 and April 25th 2021. They also found that these ships, on 6,227 occasions, turned off their Automatic Identification Systems (AIS), most likely to enter Argentina’s EEZ and conduct illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing practices.

 

Argentine jiggers authorized to operate between parallels 44 and 48 South

January 18, 2022

 

The Argentine squid jigging fleet has been moved further South to the parallels 44 - 48 from 49 - 52 where they were previously permitted to fish. This comes as a result of an extremely low catch due to the Chinese squid jigging fleet taking all the catch having started fishing for squid nearly 2 months before the Argentine fleet did in December of 2021.

 

Ecuador expands protections around Galápagos, creating ‘a new highway’ for sea life

January 14, 2022

Dino Grandoni,

 

Ecuador’s recent decision to set 20,000 square miles as protected areas near the Galapagos archipelago, expands the Galapagos Marine Reserve. This is a very important development as the galapagos serve as a breeding ground for many marine species (many of which are endangered) making it a key area that needs to be protected.

 

GameChangers 2021: How IUU Fishing Plundered Latin America's Oceans

December 23, 2021

Alessandro Ford,

This article reveals how the Chinese fishing fleet among other international fisheries have plundered the South American coast of fish using illegal methods over the last years which has led to the endangerment of species putting them at risk of extinction.

 

‘Battery-hen farming of the sea’: sustainable alternatives to eating salmon

December 11, 2021

Ann Ding,

 

This article discusses the many misconceptions of aquaculture (fish farming), specifically farmed salmon and how it is not as sustainable as the fishing industry would have you believe.

 

Sawfish ‘facing extinction due to overfishing’, scientists warn

February 11, 2021

Harry Cockburn,

Recent findings of a study conducted by researchers at Simon Fraser University, in British Columbia, In Canada, found that Sawfish are disappearing from the world’s oceans largely due to Overfishing. They discuss their findings and what needs to be done to save Sawfish from Extinction.

 

Illegal overfishing by Chinese trawlers leaves Sierra Leone locals ‘starving’

February 1, 2022

Peter Yeung,

Due to overfishing on the South West coast of Africa, largely due to Chinese fishing vessels and illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing, Sierra Leone’s people are starving. With fishing being 12% of the country's economy and 80% of the population’s source of protein consumption, the rapid decrease of fish has left the people living on the coast without a secure food source.