06 Aug 2024
A Private Members Bill to regulate and limit bottom trawling in MPAs, introduced by Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick, has had its first reading in the House of Lords. As currently drafted it states that the regulations must prohibit bottom trawling in MPAs. These are defined as including Marine Conservation Zones, Nature Conservation Marine Protected Areas, […]
15 Jul 2024
The European Parliamentary Research Service has released a comprehensive study titled “Exploring the viability of innovative fishing technologies as an alternative to bottom trawling in European marine protected areas.” Fisheries in Europe’s marine environment use different types of mobile and static fishing gears that come into contact with the seabed, including mobile bottom-contacting gears (MBCGs) […]
06 May 2024
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DAERA) has published a consultation on the review of Northern Ireland’s Marine Protected Areas strategy. Since the publication and implementation of the original Marine Protected Area (MPA) Strategy in 2014, several key strategic policy drivers have been developed at global, UK and Northern Ireland levels relating to […]
06 May 2024
To coincide with the Our Ocean conference, a new report, co-authored by Marine Conservation Society, Seas At Risk and Oceana, shows that in the seven countries analysed, 4.4 million hours of apparent bottom trawling was allowed in MPAs between 2015-2023 – equivalent to more than 500 years’ worth of trawling. Using data compiled by Global Fishing Watch, the breadth and […]
23 Apr 2024
Greece aims to be the ‘first in Europe’ to ban bottom trawling in marine protected areas as part of 21 initiatives worth 780 million euros. Greece has the longest Mediterranean coastline and plans to create two marine parks, one in the Ionian Sea and one in the Aegean Sea, along with efforts to tackle coastal […]
20 Mar 2024
The UK’s marine protected areas (MPAs) were exposed to over 33,000 hours of suspected bottom trawling in 2023, according to new analysis from Oceana UK. The environment group used analysis of satellite data from Global Fishing Watch to show that over 100,000 hours of apparent industrial fishing took place within the UK’s offshore MPAs in 2023 […]
12 Mar 2024
Protected areas are set to cover one-third of oceans by 2030 yet rigorous empirical estimates of the relative performance of different marine protected area (MPA) types are few, so states a new study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). The study compares the benefits from no-take vs. multiple-use MPAs, providing insights […]
27 Feb 2024
An investment of €233m to fund 12 European environmental and climate projects was announced by the European Commission on 22 February 2024. As part of the EU’s long-term LIFE programme, Ireland is to receive €15.14m of funding to expand and enforce a network of marine protected areas (MPAs) with its waters. The 12 Europe-wide strategic […]
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