The conservation organization Oceana and more than 50 scientists have urged the Mediterranean States to establish a management plan in the Strait of Sicily for demersal fisheries, which should be based on the best scientific advice available to help recover overexploited hake and deepwater rose shrimp (Parapenaeus longirostris) stocks.
The letter signed by scientists will be released at the 39th session of the General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean (GFCM), which began on Monday in Milan.
The contracting parties of the Commission have met throughout the week to identify management measures for the Mediterranean stocks given a complicated picture: 91 per cent of the stocks for which they are responsible are overexploited.
Within the agenda there is a plan for hake and deepwater rose shrimp demersal fisheries in the Strait of Sicily, which are severely overfished. In the case of hake, GFCM scientists have spent almost 30 years warning about the alarming situation of the stock. To this day no measures have been implemented to recover this fishery.
“Since the 80s, scientists have reported on the exploitation of hake and deepwater rose shrimp in the Strait of Sicily and solutions to recover these stocks have also been identified,” stated Lasse Gustavsson, Oceana executive director in Europe.
“It is time governments of the Mediterranean countries listened to them and defined management measures in accordance with the ‘best available scientific advice’, as they are bound in compliance with international agreements.”
In accordance with the best scientific advice, Oceana supports the inclusion of the following elements as cornerstones of a management plan for demersal fisheries in the Strait of Sicily:
Protecting juvenile specimens through restricted fishing areas or closures in key breeding areas.
Reducing hake and deepwater rose shrimp fishing immediately and substantially.
Oceana takes part in the GFCM 39th session in order to end overfishing and ensure a sustainable future for fish stocks in the Mediterranean. As a first step to achieve this, the organization develops a campaign for a management plan to be adopted in order to recover overfished stocks in the Strait of Sicily.
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