Thonaille: The use of driftnets by the French fleet in the Mediterranean 2007

This report aims to present objective and verifiable facts concerning the French fleet’s use of driftnets in the Mediterranean: the legal framework, number of vessels and characteristics of the fishery. The main objective is to provide interested stakeholders with a detailed overview of the state of the more than 92 vessels based in French Mediterranean ports that continue to use this illegal fishing gear, in order to prove that this fleet has no justifiable reason to be exempt from the ban on the use driftnets.

Italian driftnets: illegal fishing continues

The report provides a comprehensive overview of the use of driftnets in Italy, investigates the causes of the persistence of this illegal gear, analyses the possible failures in management and proposes recommendations, not only for the complete elimination of this fishing gear, but also as a contribution to the development of future management measures to be adopted within the Community fisheries policy framework.

Fishy Business

How EU shark fleets escape regulation and undermine shark conservation around the world.

Treated as trash

Sharks are accidentally caught in many and very different gillnet, purse seine, longline and trawl fisheries, and from small artisanal boats to giant industrial vessels. This report focuses on a few examples to show the dimension of the problem.

The corals of the Mediterranean

Occupying 1.1% of the surface of the world's oceans and 0.3% of all salt water, the Mediterranean no longer shelters the great coral reefs that thrived 60 million yeras ago. This is due to millennia of climactic and oceanographic changes. However, even today this sea harbors a spectacular array of corals, including some which are not found anywhere else.

More than 200 species of coral (from a total of 5,600 species which have been described worldwide, 500 of which are in Europe) live in the Mediterranean. Some of the species living there are endemic, while others have a subtropical origin from the warmer waters of the Atlantic. Still others are more common in arctic zones, while some are found every where.

Hunted for fins

Sharks are vulnerable species. In general, they grow slowly, mature late and produce few young over a long lifetime. Their populations typically increase at extremely low rates, leaving them exceptionally vulnerable to overexploitation and slow to recover from depletion. According to the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, about one-third of European shark and ray populations assessed are considered “threatened.”

The European Union includes some of the most important shark fishing nations in the world. In 2005, EU countries caught nearly 100,000 metric tons of elasmobranches (including sharks, rays and sawfish). Spain took the largest share at around 39 per cent of the EU total, followed by France (22 per cent), Portugal (16 per cent) the UK (11 per cent).

Habitats in Danger

A collaboration agreement that was establishment through the Research and Projects Department of the Fundación Biodiversidad has given Oceana the opportunity to demonstrate new criteria in support of the selection of marine habitats of interest to the European Community. The context of the project is included within our mission and exclusive dedication to researching, protecting and recuperating the oceans through investigation and scientific work, with a focus on biodiversity, the environment and sustainable marine development.

As part of a general diagnosis, the most environmentally important habitats have been identified in this report according to their unique qualities and biological and biogeographical interest. The following chapters detail research results and include proposals for representative types of natural habitats of interest to the European Community. Although the process of obtaining the data has been long and laborious, we have attempted to include extensive lists of taxonomic classifications that describe the communities associated with the identified habitats. Obviously, the lack of consistent data means priorities should be established, as a point of departure, for the development and implementation of action plans for the protection of these habitats.

The use of driftnets by the Moroccan fleet

Driftnets have been condemned by the international community and banned by various countries and different international organisations. This fishery, however, still continues in various countries around the world, causing the accidental capture and death of a large number of cetaceans, sea turtles, elasmobranchs and birds.

Furthermore, the Moroccan ports of Tangiers, Nador and Alhucemas were inspected in order to evaluate the size of the fleet. The Moroccan driftnet fleet fishing in the Straits of Gibraltar and the Alboran Sea is estimated at 150 vessels, although this number may increase considerably according to the season.

"Thonaille": the use of driftnets by the French fleet in the Mediterranean

Oceana proposes various measures to be adopted within the framework of the Mediterranean Regulation and the driftnet definition Regulation, reflecting the organisation's position concerning the use of driftnets, in order to contribute to the definitive elimination of this fishing gear in both European and Mediterranean waters.

Italian driftnetters 2006: The OCEANA report

Shark alert: Revealing Europe's impact on shark populations

Deep Sea Life: On The Edge Of The Abyss

The deep sea is no longer unspoiledwilderness. The damaging effectsof human activities from bottomtrawling to pollution can now beseen in every ocean.

Read our "Deep Sea Life" report!

The Seamounts of the Gorringe Bank

A seamount is regarded as a geological elevation that reaches a minimum of 1,000 metres in height and can consist of very different physical, geological and chemical properties. The seamounts of the Gorringe Bank were discovered in 1875 by the American exploration vessel USS Gettysburg.>>

Sea turtles on the hook

One of the greatest threats to the threatened and endangered sea turtles that migrate across the Atlantic and into the Mediterranean each year are the hooks of longline fishing boats...>>>

The EU fleet and chronic hydrocarbon contamination

Almost 40% of the vessels flying the flags of one of the European Union states have shown deficiencies or committed violations of the MARPOL convention for the prevention of pollution from ships in the last four years, and this figure rises to 75% if we include all types of deficiencies...>>>

The death of cetaceans through the use of LFA sonar in naval military maneuvers

The appearance this summer of several cetaceans stranded on the coasts of the Canary Islands and the Azores while naval manoeuvres were being carried out has reopened the debate on the impact on cetaceans of sonar and other acoustic pollution arising from these exercises... >>>

The other side of oil slicks

The aim of this report is to emphasise the great volume of hydrocarbons that continue to be dumped in European seas, as well as the lack of infrastructure and legislative measures to prevent it. In addition, the report examines the current situation of compliance with international and European legislation, and puts forward proposals to address existing flaws... >>>

European trawlers are destroying the oceans

Among its almost 100,000 fishing vessels, the EU is home to a particularly damaging fleet: the 15,000 trawlers that operate in European waters, which are overexploiting marine resources and irreversibly damaging some of the most productive and biodiverse ecosystems on the planet... >>>

Oceans in danger

Humankind has been using the oceans for aeons, but not until recently have our activities become a real threat. Pollution, over-fishing, mining, the destruction of the oceans' richest areas, coastal crowding and the altering of the oceans' temperature and chemical composition are leaving a mark that is difficult to erase... >>>