13/09/2022 (Agence Europe) – More than 200 scientists from Europe and around the world called on Monday 12 September for a ban on all destructive fishing methods and industrial activities in marine protected areas (MPAs). According to a statement by these experts, the EU currently has less than 1% of true MPAs, which means that “more than 99% of the EU’s continental waters are not adequately protected from high-impact activities such as industrial extraction or bottom trawling”. They call on the EU to immediately ban these fishing techniques in MPAs. Bottom trawling is practised in 59% of EU MPAs, which “ironically depletes vulnerable species within them even faster than in adjacent unprotected areas”, they warn. Link to the statement: https://aeur.eu/f/31n (LC)