01 Mar 2007 - Rabat, Morocco – King Mohammed VI of Morocco
has signed an agreement that will help phase out the destructive
use of driftnets in his country’s waters, which are known
to cause the accidental death or injury of many marine species.
Under the new EU-Morocco Fisheries Partnership Agreement,
119 European vessels, mostly Spanish, will be allowed to
fish in Moroccan waters in exchange for an annual €36 million
compensation package. A portion of this compensation, as
requested by WWF, will fund the phasing out of Morocco’s
driftnet fleet, the largest of its kind in the Mediterranean.
“This agreement is a major step forward in making fishing
methods more sustainable in the Mediterranean,” said Dr
Sergi Tudela, Head of Fisheries at WWF Mediterranean.
“We have been crying out for driftnets to be banned in
the Mediterranean for years, so this concrete development
is most welcome.”
Stretching up to 14km in length, driftnets are fishing
nets that drift with the tide or current (and are buoyed
by floats or attached to a boat). This indiscriminate and
wasteful fishing method is estimated to kill around 3,600
dolphins and 23,000 sharks per year in the south-western
part of the Mediterranean Sea alone.
Driftnets, though illegal, are still widely used across
the Mediterranean. The EU banned driftnet fishing in 2002,
and the International Commission for the Conservation of
Atlantic Tunas followed suit in the Mediterranean in 2003
with pressure from WWF. The General Fisheries Commission
for the Mediterranean also banned driftnets in the Mediterranean
at the start of 2005.
A recent WWF study revealed that at least 177 fishing boats
were illegally using driftnets up to 14km long in the Alboran
Sea between Morocco and Spain to target swordfish.
“With most of the catch from the Moroccan driftnet fleet
in the Mediterranean destined for European markets, the
EU must step up and take responsibility by effectively monitoring
the phase-out of driftnets in Morocco,” added Tudela.
Gemma Parkes, Communications Officer
WWF Mediterranean
+ More
WWF launches marine protection campaign in the Southern
Ocean
01 Mar 2007 - Southern Ocean, Antarctica – With the official
launch of the International Polar Year today, WWF is looking
to stop unsustainable fishing, marine pollution and climate
change in the Southern Ocean.
In particular, the global conservation organization wants
to create a network of marine protected areas in the southern
waters by 2012, including the Ross Sea near Antarctica.
The Ross Sea is a physically and ecologically unique part
of the Southern Ocean and home to many species including
the colossal squid, the world’s largest invertebrate.
“An ecologically coherent network of protected areas in
the Southern Ocean will protect habitats and wildlife,”
said Constance Johnson, Director of WWF’s Antarctic and
Southern Oceans Programme.
“It will increase the ocean’s resilience to climate change
by lowering stress on the system, and enhance fisheries
management by protecting spawning and nursery areas and
providing refuges for exploited species.”
According to scientists, parts of the Antarctic Peninsula
are among the fastest-warming regions on the planet. The
UN’s Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change recently
warned that sea ice would shrink in both poles by the end
of the century.
“The climate of the Ross Sea is changing, although not
necessarily in the same manner as areas like the West Antarctic
Peninsula,” added Johnson.
“The potential impact of these changes is poorly known,
but should the trend continue, significant changes to the
ecology of the Ross Sea can be expected.”
Following two recent shipping incidents in Antarctic waters,
one of which resulted in an oil spill in the pristine waters
off Deception Island, WWF will lobby for better protection
of the Southern Ocean at the next Antarctic Treaty Consultative
meeting, to be held from 30 April 30 to 11 May 2007 in New
Delhi, India.
“If we want the biodiversity of the Antarctic continent
and Southern Ocean to survive increasing levels of exploitation
and the impacts of climate change, action must be taken
during this International Polar Year,” Johnson said.
END NOTES:
• The International Polar Year (IPY) is a worldwide scientific
programme focused on the Arctic and the Antarctic. It involves
over 200 projects, with thousands of scientists from over
60 nations examining a wide range of physical, biological
and social research topics. Many of the projects will give
top priority to the study of climate change. The IPY programme
is organized by the International Council for Science and
the World Meteorological Organization and will run from
March 2007 through March 2009.
• Previous IPYs (1882–83, 1932–33 and 1957–58), which are
also known as the International Geophysical Year, each produced
major increases in the understanding of the Earth’s system.
• The Antarctic Treaty was signed in Washington on 1 December
1959 by the 12 countries whose scientists had been active
in and around Antarctica during the third IPY (1957–58).
The treaty came into effect on 23 June 1961 and now has
46 parties in total: Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium,
Belarus, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia,
Cuba, Czech Republic, Denmark, Ecuador, Estonia, Finland,
France, Germany, Greece, Guatemala, Hungary, India, Italy,
Japan, Korea DPRK, Korea ROK, Netherlands, New Zealand,
Norway, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Poland, Romania, Russia,
Slovakia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey,
Ukraine, United States, United Kingdom, Uruguay and Venezuela.
Charlie Stevens, Press Officer
WWF-Australia
