02/12/2021 (Agence Europe) – A report published by the NGO Oceana on Thursday, 2 December, reveals that trawling in Spain’s marine protected areas (MPAs) is very widespread, “which has a significant impact on the theoretically protected seabed”. The organisation analysed “apparent” trawling activity in 2020 in 218 MPAs in the Natura 2000 network. A total of 73,100 hours of trawling took place in 45 MPAs, including areas officially designated as such in 2015 whose management plans are expected to be approved by the end of 2021. Oceana calls for adequate management measures for fishing activities in MPAs to be implemented and proposes an immediate ban on bottom dredging and trawling in all protected areas—current or future. Link to the report (in Spanish): https://bit.ly/3DjelOy (LC)