Illegal fishing: The great threat to Latin America s marine sanctuaries mongabay.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from mongabay.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
How technology can help us achieve at least 30% ocean protection (commentary)
by Simon Cripps on 3 March 2021
A growing number of countries are pledging to protect and conserve at least 30 percent of the ocean by 2030.
Securing such a vast area requires new cutting-edge technology to monitor illegal activities and movements of species. Luckily, this field has been developing fast with new inventions and tech collaborations.
The goal can be achieved by combining data from a range of sources, connecting the data to existing systems that rangers use, and engaging the people, communities, and sectors that work closely with the sea.
This article is a commentary and the views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily Mongabay.
Greenpeace activists have built a new underwater boulder barrier in a protected area of the English Channel to stop a hugely harmful fishing practice.
In total 18 boulders, each weighing about three tonnes and carrying the name of a celebrity endorser, were dropped this week from the Greenpeace ship Esperanza in the Offshore Brighton marine protected area (MPA).
Collectively the boulders have closed off nearly 55 square nautical miles of Offshore Brighton MPA – one fifth of the site s total area – from bottom trawling.
The contentious fishing practice – which Greenpeace equates to driving a bulldozer across national parks on land – involves heavy nets being dragged across seabeds to collect fish and shellfish.
This follows Greenpeace’s Dogger Bank boulder barrier and will close 55 square nautical miles of Offshore Brighton, one fifth of its total area, to destructive bottom trawling. Celebrities including Thandie Newton, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, Paloma Faith, Bella Ramsey, Mark Rylance, Jarvis Cocker and Ranulph Fiennes have signed their names to boulders [1].
Images of today’s action are available here.
In response to Greenpeace’s Dogger Bank boulder barrier, the UK government announced new bylaws which would totally close the Dogger Bank and South Dorset protected areas, and partially close two other protected areas, to bottom trawling [2]. This piecemeal approach would still leave 97% of UK offshore protected areas, 74 out of 76, fully or partially open to bottom trawling [3].
How new technology is helping to identify human rights abuses in the seafood industry thecounter.org - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from thecounter.org Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.