June 27, 2014
Will Europe Follow in President Obama’s Footsteps to Create Marine Protected Areas?
Earlier this month, President Obama announced his intentions to expand protection for the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument, as well as his commitment to fight seafood fraud and illegal fishing. Like Oceana in North America, Oceana in Europe campaigns for the establishment and expansion of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) throughout the Baltic and elsewhere in the EU. This blog takes a look at MPA progress in Europe, and it first appeared on Oceana in Europe’s blog.
“I’m going to use my authority to protect some of our nation’s most precious marine landscapes”, announced President Obama during the international summit “Our Ocean,” which took place last week at the U.S. State Department. The White House’s decision is one of the biggest concrete steps that the U.S. government is taking in the fight to protect the oceans, and it was made in conjunction with an initiative to combat seafood fraud and illegal fishing in American territory.
The proposed Marine Protected Areas (MPAs), a 2 million square kilometer extension to the existing Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument, will become both the world’s largest MPA and largest no-take area in the world (off limits to commercial fishing, energy explorations, and drilling).
America’s exceptional announcement sets quite a challenge for those of us across the ocean. The question is, can the EU follow in Obama’s footsteps?
Unlike the U.S., Europe does not possess vast MPAs, mostly because remote and uninhabited areas are rarer in EU waters where commercial activities tend to be more intense, as is the case in the North Sea for instance. However, the right political leadership could greatly improve the situation in most of Europe’s seas.
In 2011, Oceana launched Oceana MedNet, the first comprehensive proposal for a network of MPAs in the Mediterranean, which identifies 100 suggested new sites that would cover 12 percent of the Mediterranean Sea. Several of the habitats located in the proposed coverage area include seamounts and deep-water canyons, which are of high importance to marine species.
Oceana’s recent study on Protected Areas in the Baltic Sea, revealed a severe lack of adequate fisheries regulations within the MPAs. However, the report suggests a lot can be achieved in Europe with proper management practices that prevent the creation of “virtual reserves.”
Although the OSPAR Commission has taken steps to protect High Sea MPAs, the Arctic region is still largely neglected, allowing irresponsible industrial fishing, shipping, and oil and gas exploration to develop. Placing maritime policy high on the EU agenda is a fundamental prerequisite to assuring real progress in marine conservation in Europe.
Will the new European Commissioner for the Environment meet the challenge?