Collect half a million signatures to ensure effective and real protection of 30% of the sea Mediterrenian for the year 2030. This is the aim of the campaign launched by marine biologist Manu San Félix from the Formentera Vell Marí Association (Balearic Islands), with the aim of not only complying with UN guidelines, but also restoring local fisheries and preventing global fishing. The collapse of ecosystems.
The Mediterranean is in a critical situation and, as all scientific reports show and as everyone living in this region can directly perceive, is the fastest warming place on Earth after the Arctic. Changes are happening very quickly and the action needed to stop them requires urgency.
In addition to the heating problem, the “Mediterranean Sea” is being evaluated The sea that holds the world’s most fished, most polluted, fastest warming and invasive species records.”says Manu San Félix. On the other hand, he states, “In the face of such a serious situation, only 0.23 percent of the Mediterranean can be adequately protected.”
A total of 196 countries, coming together at the World Biodiversity Conference held in Montreal (Canada) in December 2022, agreed to protect 30% of their lands, both on land and at sea, by 2030. Spain was also one of the signatories, but “Now the challenge is to actually maintain and meet the deadline.”says the biologist and popularizer.
“It is the sea that holds the record for the world’s most fished, most polluted, fastest warming and invasive species.”
Currently Spain has an extensive network of marine protected areas, but for the most part these protections are more theoretical than real. The same thing is happening in the rest of the Mediterranean. “In 95 percent of Mediterranean marine protected areas, there is no difference in internal and external legislation,” he explains.
Therefore the campaign reserve30.org He wants 30 percent of the Mediterranean surface to be completely protected and fishing to be banned before 2030.
Benefits of fishing
“Both science and the European Community reveal through numerous studies and Benefits of non-fishing marine protected areas for fisheries”says San Félix. And he gives very clear examples:
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The number of fish in highly protected marine reserves is 570% higher than in unprotected areas.
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Following the creation of 6 Reserve areas in Gökova (Turkey), the economic income of the local fishing community increased by 400% and the number of fish per square meter increased by 10 times.
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In the world’s largest non-fishing protected area, the Papahānaumokuākea protected area in Hawaiian waters, tuna catches around the marine protected area have increased by 54% in just 5 years.
There are many precautions that need to be taken to prevent its collapse, but the most urgent is Conserve 30% of their water to prevent ecosystem collapse and encourage saving local fisheries.
Jacques-Yves Cousteau was the first to warn about the serious state of the Mediterranean during a visit to Spain in 1979: “Its waters are undergoing so great a change that in almost half a century marine life will be extinct, such as we find now.” “We have once again confirmed that the situation in the Mediterranean is worrying.”
Link to sign Supporting this petition: https://reserva30.org/
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