Brussels, 26/04/2016 (Agence Europe) - European Fisheries Commissioner Karmenu Vella will present a Mediterranean strategy, on the sidelines of the Seafood fair in Brussels on Wednesday 27 April, to improve the state of fishing stocks.
Following the event, Vella will host a ministerial conference on the Mediterranean, where all Mediterranean fisheries ministers from EU and partner countries will be invited to discuss the initiative and how to take it forward. Ministers attending include those of France, Italy, Malta, Greece, Albania and Algeria.
The Commission says that fish stocks in the Mediterranean are deteriorating at an alarming rate. Some are on the verge of depletion. Some 93% of stocks assessed are overfished. The Mediterranean has between 10,000 and 12,000 marine species. “But this extraordinary biodiversity is in grave danger, threatened by pollution, climate change but, most of all overfishing”, says the Commission in a press release, warning of the danger of irreversible damage. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)