Science Based Quotas
Oceana campaigns for science-based catch limits to prevent overfishing and ensure ocean abundance
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Protecting Ocean Habitats
Oceana seeks to protect areas essential to restoring the ocean's abundance and biodiversity.
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Ending the Shark Fin Trade
Congress Must Pass the Shark Fin Sales Elimination Act
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Bycatch
Oceana works to reduce the accidental catch of non-target fish and wildlife in commercial fishing
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Responsible Fishing
Oceana runs campaigns to win policy change proven to increase abundance and biodiversity with a three-part strategy that includes: stopping overfishing through the establishment of science-based catch limits, reducing bycatch, or the incidental catch of non-targeted animals, and protecting important marine habitat.
Victories
March 9, 2023
Deep-Sea Corals and Seafloor Habitats Protected in U.S. Pacific Waters
In the United States, the Pacific Fishery Management Council voted to reopen more than 4,500 square miles of Southern California ocean waters to recreational and non-trawl commercial gear used to catch groundfish while also permanently protecting more than 600 square miles of habitat including almost half of the area’s known deep-sea corals. These areas include coral and sponge ecosystems discovered by Oceana during a 2016 scientific expedition. The entire area remains closed to bottom trawling. This victory is a win-win for fishing communities and ocean biodiversity and is the result of a unique collaboration between recreational and commercial fishermen, Oceana, and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife who worked together to design the new conservation areas. The council also voted to protect five ecologically important areas off the Oregon coast from all forms of fishing gear used to catch groundfish and known to harm seafloor habitats, including bottom longlines and pots. These five areas, which total 182 square miles, are already protected from bottom trawling, and will now receive an additional layer of protection with this action.
January 18, 2023
Chile Rejects Dominga Mining Project, Protects Marine Life
Following campaigning by Oceana and its allies, Chile’s Ministers Committee unanimously rejected the Dominga port mining project, which threatened one of the world’s largest biodiversity hotspots, the Humboldt Archipelago. The project would encroach on an important feeding area for species including blue whales, fin whales, sea lions, bottle-nosed dolphins, sea otters, and sea birds, many of which are classified as endangered or vulnerable by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). This area is also home to the majority of the world’s vulnerable Humboldt penguin population. Dominga would put the area’s ecosystems and economic activities, including tourism and artisanal fishing, at risk. The Ministers Committee previously rejected the Dominga project in 2017. Yet again, the company behind Dominga, Andes Iron, says it will appeal the decision. Oceana is campaigning for the creation of a marine protected area to prohibit all future industrial projects in this area.
December 23, 2022
Shark Fin Trade Banned in the United States
The United States Congress passed a law to ban the buying and selling of shark fins, following significant campaigning by Oceana and our allies. This victory officially removes the U.S. from the unsustainable global shark fin trade, where fins from as many as 73 million sharks end up each year. Just as rhino and elephant populations have declined due to the demand for their horns and tusks, the shark fin trade is jeopardizing the continued survival of many shark species. Global oceanic shark and ray populations have declined by more than 70% over the last 50 years, with overfishing as the primary cause. Oceanic whitetip sharks, great hammerheads, and scalloped hammerheads have declined globally to critically endangered levels according to the IUCN. The demand for shark fins incentivizes overfishing and shark finning, which the U.S. has banned for years, the cruel and wasteful practice of removing a shark’s fins at sea and throwing its body back overboard where it drowns, starves to death, or is eaten alive by other fish. By making it illegal to buy or sell shark fins in the U.S., Oceana and our allies helped bring the world one step closer to ending the devastating global shark fin trade.
December 28, 2022
United States Protects Whales, Dolphins, Sea Turtles from Deadly Drift Gillnets
Following campaigning by Oceana and our allies, the United States will end the use of the large-mesh drift gillnets in its federal waters. These are mile-long, nearly invisible nets set overnight to capture swordfish. In the U.S., large mesh drift gillnets are currently only in use off the coast of California, where they entangle, injure, and kill thousands of other ocean animals each year including whales, dolphins, sea lions, endangered sea turtles, sharks, and other important fish species. This victory follows the completion of a multi-year voluntary transition program in California to compensate swordfish drift gillnet fishermen for turning in their permits and nets. The program, which was partially funded by Oceana, also incentivizes the use of more selective gear, such as deep-set buoy gear, to catch swordfish. As a result, roughly 50 miles of large-mesh drift gillnets have now been removed permanently from the ocean. The new law aligns state and federal policy to ban the use of this indiscriminate gear in all U.S. waters, and all remaining federal permits will be phased out over the next five years.
U.S. State of Maine’s Coastal Waters Temporarily Protected from Monster Fish Farm
Following campaigning by Oceana and our allies, the U.S. state of Maine’s coastal waters were protected from a monster fish farm proposal. Maine’s government rejected the Norwegian-based company American Aquafarms’ permit, halting construction for at least a few years. The proposal, located in Frenchman Bay near the shoreline of Acadia National Park, would be the largest ocean-pen salmon farm in North America. If built, it would pollute Maine’s pristine waters and marine ecosystem with more than 4 billion gallons of untreated wastewater every day. This area draws in millions of tourists each year, generating hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue for the state annually. The proposed fish farm would threaten the economy and those who rely on the bay for food, jobs, and a cherished way of life. Oceana is continuing to campaign for permanent protection for Frenchman Bay and Maine’s coastal waters.
Take Action
USE YOUR VOICE TO SAVE THOUSANDS OF SEA TURTLES
Thousands of sea turtles die in shrimp fishing nets in the Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic Ocean each year.
TELL YOUR REP: VOTE FOR HEALTHY, ABUNDANT OCEANS
There is a bill in the U.S. House of Representatives that would undermine and undo years of successful work to manage the health of America’s fisheries.
TELL CONGRESS: BAN THE TRADE OF SHARK FINS IN THE U.S.
Fins from up to 73 million sharks end up in the global fin trade every year.
News & Reports
Press Releases
December 15, 2022
Senate Passes Historic Legislation Banning the U.S. Shark Fin Trade
December 8, 2022
Reports
September, 2017
Exploring the Living Seafloor: Southern California Expedition
Around the Web
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