One of the biggest impacts on shark populations is the practice of killing sharks for their fins. Researchers have estimated that up to 73 million sharks a year are being taken from the world’s oceans to meet the demands of the global fin trade (Image PEW Charitable Trust)
End Overfishing or Fishing Will be Over:
The Solution
OCEAN2012
OCEAN2012 is an alliance of over 160 organisations dedicated to putting an end to overfishing in the European Union. OCEAN2012 was initiated, and is coordinated, by the Pew Environment Group.
OCEAN2012 is working for an EU Common Fisheries Policy that:
Enshrines environmental sustainability as the over-arching principle, without which economic and social sustainability is unobtainable; ensures decisions are taken at the most appropriate levels and in a transparent way, ensuring effective participation of stakeholders; delivers sustainable fishing capacity at EU and regional level; makes access to fisheries resources conditional on environmental and social criteria; and ensures public funds are only used in a way that serves the public good and alleviates social impacts in the transition to sustainable fisheries.
A visualization of the state of Atlantic fish stocks.
Image Credit: informationisbeautiful.net
