Large numbers of sharks and rays, including some critically endangered species, are being illegally caught on a regular basis in the Mediterranean Sea, according to evidence obtained by the WWF, with the NGO saying that these activities are proof of E.U. member states’ failure to enforce and comply with fisheries legislation for the sustainable management of the sea.
WWF explained that the citizen scientist initiative known as the MECO Project (Mediterranean Elasmobranch Citizen Observations) has shared dozens of social media photos and videos taken in the last few years in 11 Mediterranean countries, over half of which are E.U. member states. It said that activities caught on camera include illegal landings of endangered giant devil rays in Spain, while white, mako and smooth hammerhead sharks are ending up on markets in Italy and France, despite being critically endangered.
In total, WWF has received around 60 pieces of evidence posted to social media showing illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing (IUU) of sharks and rays in the Mediterranean countries.
While cases date back to 2008, over 40 are from 2019 and 2020, it said.
Revealing the scale of the problem on the eve of this year’s Shark Awareness Day (14 July), WWF is calling on the European Parliament Fisheries Committee to support increased transparency and traceability of fisheries activities when voting on the revised E.U. fisheries control regulation later this year.
The E.U. must ensure its seafood supply chain is sustainable and stand by international commitments to safeguard a healthy ocean, it said.
"There is a tragedy unfolding in our ocean because E.U. fishing rules are not being applied properly – these awful images are merely our most recent glimpse of it,” WWF’s Head of Ocean Policy Antonia Leroy said. “The extinction of even one of these predators from our seas would be an unprecedented loss for the whole marine ecosystem, in turn jeopardising the E.U.’s EUR 8 billion (USD 9 billion) fisheries industry and the livelihoods of fishers playing by the rules. The revision of the Control Regulation is a critical opportunity to mend the holes in the net which allow such illicit activities to persist.”
WWF said that the Mediterranean is a “biodiversity hotspot” for sharks and rays, with over 80 different species counted in its waters, but that more than half of them are threatened and some face the real possibility of extinction.
Photo courtesy of Facebook via WWF
