On Tuesday 16 September in Brussels, the NGO OceanCare presented Costas Kadis, European Commissioner for Fisheries and Oceans, with a petition signed by over 114,000 citizens from all over the world, calling for concrete action to conserve the oceans and an “ambitious” European Oceans Pact.
The petition includes six practical demands, such as a ban on offshore oil and gas exploration, a reduction in ship speed and strict protection of marine habitats from destructive fishing practices. The NGO recommends banning bottom trawling in marine protected areas.
When the petition was handed over, Fabienne McLellan, Chief Executive of OceanCare, symbolically presented the Commissioner with a red globe representing a wounded blue planet, calling for urgent action to tackle the marine crisis.
“After the disappointing final Declaration adopted at the Third United Nations Ocean Conference in Nice, France, in June, and as the negotiations for a global Plastics Treaty in August in Geneva collapsed, we look to the European Union to step up and reaffirm EU leadership in ocean conservation”, declared Ms McLellan (see EUROPE 13694/7, 13659/6). (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)