The European Commission (EC) this Thursday close to bottom fishing (such as trawling) A total of 87 sensitive community water areas in the northeast Atlantic. This is a measure taken to protect the threatened biodiversity of the seabed and to secure fisheries resources.
Brussels said in a statement that “for its purpose, protect nature and restore biodiversityAs outlined in the European Green Deal and the strategy in favor of biodiversity, the Commission has taken measures to close 87 sensitive areas in Northeast Atlantic Community waters to all infrastructure access”.
According to Efe’s report, the Community Manager emphasized that the measure protects 57 sensitive ecosystems in deep waters and tries to “disturb fishing activities as little as possible”.
He also pointed out that the decision to close 87 sites was made based on deep water access regulations and the opinions of scientists from the International Council for Marine Exploration (ICES).
The enclosed area covers an area of ​​16,419 km2 and is reserved for the protection of sensitive marine ecosystems between 400 and 800 meters deep.It represents 1.16% of community waters in the Northeast Atlantic.
Closures affect bottom fishing vessels, i.e. bottom trawlers, dredgers, bottom gillnets, bottom longlines, pots or traps.
The Commission assured that the measure was drawn up after “continuing in-depth consultations with Member States and affected parties over the past two years, particularly with the fisheries sector and NGOs”.
Protests from Spain and Ireland
Spain has already expressed its concerns about the measure and with Ireland in June voted against the Commission’s DG Fisheries proposal to veto bottom fishing to protect marine ecosystems in 94 regions of the North Atlantic. .
Following the ban on the under-800m bottom trawler introduced in 2016, the closures additional protection to help restore fragile marine ecosystemslike cold-water coral reefs, seamounts and deep-sea faults,” according to Brussels.
The implementing law adopted this Thursday will enter into force twenty days after its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union and will immediately apply to all ships of EU Member States and third countries operating in Community waters.
bottom fishing, especially trawling, activity very harmful to the natural resources of the seafloor, given that it destroys everything in its path and also does not distinguish between the species it captures. It has long been sought to be banned by environmental organizations and experts, but this demand has been met with opposition from the industry.
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Environment department contact address:[email protected]
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Source: Informacion
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