On Thursday 11 January, the NGOs Seas At Risk and Oceana criticised the content of the European Parliament’s draft report on marine ecosystems “supporting destructive fishing”.
On Thursday 18 January, the European Parliament will debate and adopt the report by Niclas Herbst (EPP, German), which includes a series of amendments (https://aeur.eu/f/ach ) that will be put to the vote in plenary (see EUROPE 13325/6).
The amendments tabled by the Greens/EFA group in particular aim to support and strengthen the broad lines of the action plan proposed by the European Commission, particularly with regard to marine protected areas, reducing catches of sensitive species and the need to reduce deep-sea trawling activities.
Nicolas Fournier, Campaign Director at Oceana, believes that MEPs must significantly improve the draft report adopted by the Committee on Fisheries, which “goes against international standards on marine protected areas”.
Remi Cossetti, from Seas At Risk, is calling for the European Parliament to respect environmental objectives and make the health of marine ecosystems “the compass for future decisions on the ocean”.
The draft report criticises the parts of the action plan aimed at eliminating bottom trawling in marine protected areas by 2030. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)