The current system of fishing cannot endure, we fishing more than the fish are able to reproduce. The Mediterranean is close to collapse and threatens the destruction of the environment . The warning is given by the OCEAN2012s’ coalition (of which Legambiente take part ) together with the WWF.
The dramatic data were released few weeks ago by the Scientific, Technical and Economic Committee of European fisheries (STECF): the Mediterranean fish stocks are exploited at unsustainable levels. To avoid the environmental disaster we need to reduce by 45-51 percent in average fishing, with peaks of 90 per cent for fishing for hake in some areas.
For the Italy fthe situation is even more worrying. In the central and southern Tyrrhenian Sea, in the southern Adriatic and Ionian seas, all stocks examined are overfished. The fateful date for the future of the sea is October 23, when the European Parliament will have to decide whether, under the new European Fund for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Fund (EMFF), to restore aid to the construction of new vessels despite the serious degradation of fish stocks or increase resources to improve fisheries management through data collection, monitoring and stock recovery.
OCEAN2012 and WWF sent a letter to the Italian MEPs: ” Fisheries for the Mediterranean are close to the point of no return. Either we immediately put in place measures for the recovery of the stock or we will see shortly in an irreversible crisis of the resources of our seas and the same fishing industry. ”
(17/10/2013)