Oceana urges the Cypriot Presidency of the Council of the EU to secure decades of progress on rebuilding fisheries and to pursue ocean health as a strategic pillar for EU security, climate resilience, and sustainable livelihoods.
In a press release circulated on Friday, Oceana, the largest international advocacy organisation dedicated solely to ocean conservation, calls on Cyprus to steer the Union towards an unequivocal strategic direction: a restored ocean that strengthens Europe’s security by providing food, employment, and resilience against the climate crisis.
”The first semester of 2026 will be decisive in preserving effective fisheries legislation and in drafting a coherent framework that protects the ocean and the communities that depend on it”, the press release says.
Vera Coelho, Oceana’s Executive Director and Vice President in Europe, said that Cyprus is on the frontline of the devastation caused by climate change and by the depletion of fish stocks in the Mediterranean.
”As an island nation and the home country of the European Commissioner for Fisheries and Oceans, Costas Kadis, Cyprus has the opportunity and the responsibility to set the tone for the next decade of ocean policy”, she said.
She noted also that it is crucial that this Presidency safeguards the benefits of ocean recovery, achieved after decades of hard work, and now threatened by the so-called ‘simplification’ agenda of industrial lobbies.
Oceana underlines that other initiatives, such as the development of the EU Ocean Act, the publication of a 2040 vision for EU fisheries, the achievement of internationally agreed marine protection targets, and the fight against illegal fishing, will remain at the top of the EU ocean agenda in 2026.