22/09/2005 - EU fisheries
ministers have agreed to ban trawling on the
sea bed around Madeira, the Azores and Canary
Islands to save their unique coral reefs from
destruction.
The cold-water coral reefs around these islands
- territories of Spain and Portugal - have
been in danger of this damaging fishing practice
since 1 August 2004, when the EU's fishing
fleet gained access to Azorean waters between
100 and 200 nautical miles.
Averaging 3000m in depth, the waters around
the Azores contain underwater mountains (called
seamounts), cold-water coral reefs, and hydrothermal
vents that are being proposed as candidates
for World Heritage Park status. These features
are rare in European waters, support a diverse
range of marine life, and are especially vulnerable
to intensive fishing practises like bottom
trawling. The deep-water commercial fish species
found here are long-lived and slow to reproduce.
"The decision to ban bottom trawling
around these islands is great news for the
sensitive deep-water habitats found there,"
says Stephan Lutter from WWF's North-East
Atlantic Marine Programme. "WWF has been
campaigning for more than two years to protect
the unique ecosystems in these waters, such
as cold water coral reefs and seamount habitats,
which would be rapidly destroyed if bottom
trawling were allowed."
For generations, the people of the Azores
have fished the area without depleting stocks
or damaging the environment by using small
vessels and traditional fishing methods, including
special hooks to reduce bycatch of turtles
and a ban on trawling in deep-water fisheries.
However, in November 2003 the Council of
European Fisheries Ministers agreed that the
EU's fishing fleet could access Azorean waters
between 100 and 200 nautical miles, without
first agreeing limits on their activity and
fishing gear. Such an opening would inevitably
lead to a large increase of fishing activity
in the region. Worryingly, the formerly prohibited,
and extremely damaging, practice of bottom
trawling was also allowed under the agreement.
The Azores, supported by Seas at Risk and
WWF, had asked the European Court of First
Instance to suspend the Council regulation.
However on 9 July 2004, the court rejected
the request. As a result, the Azorean waters
were opened to the EU fleet on 1 August 2004.
The European Commission had tabled a ban
on bottom trawling around the Azores, Madeira,
and Canary islands in February 2004.
Given the importance that damage from erosion
by bottom trawls may have for the survival
of these habitats, it is appropriate to issue
a prohibition on the use of trawls in the
areas concerned," said the text of the
EU's new regulation.
EU fisheries Ministers also agreed to ban
the use of gillnets and other entangling fishing
nets at depths greater than 200 metres in
the areas around the Azores, Madeira and Canary
Islands.
