For Shark Awareness Day (July 14^th) , Greenpeace UK and Greenpeace Spain have highlighted their report ‘Hooked on sharks – The EU fishing fleets fuelling the global shark trade’

In the report, the evolution of the North Atlantic shark fishery is covered and the downward trajectory of shark populations and the consequent impacts on ocean health.

The report proposes recommendations “that will turn the tide, focusing on the responsibility of the EU to adopt more progressive policy positions in relevant multilateral fora and leading the way in ocean protection”.​​

Some of the main findings of the quoted from the Greenpeace UK website  and report are:

• EU distant water fleets from Portugal and Spain are deliberately targeting juvenile (baby) shark breeding grounds.
• The EU, along with the Spanish and Portuguese governments, have both consistently resisted attempts to improve the management of this fishery because of lobbying by their respective fishing industries, despite claiming to be global ocean champions on the world stage.
• The solution is a Global Ocean Treaty to fix the broken system of global ocean management. A treaty must be finalised at the UN in August of this year, or it will be impossible to protect 30% of our planet’s oceans by 2030.

The news piece and the full report can be read here.