Europe must turn its commitments into real change at sea by enforcing laws designed to protect the ocean, Oceana said on World Ocean Day, noting that the European Union has a larger maritime area than land territory.
In a press release, Oceana called for urgent action to restore the health and abundance of the ocean, marking this year’s UN theme for World Ocean Day, ‘Reimagine’.
The organisation said the ocean can recover if there is a fundamental shift in behaviour. Instead of increasing pressure on marine resources to make up for their decline, Oceana urged decision-makers to allow nature to rebuild what has been damaged and to effectively protect what remains in good condition for future generations.
‘Reimagining our relationship with the ocean means giving it a break – halting destruction and letting ecosystems recover,’ said Vera Coelho, Oceana’s Executive Director and Vice-President in Europe.
She added that ‘a healthy ocean is not a luxury’, but essential for people and the planet, as it provides food, sustains millions of livelihoods, supplies clean energy and protects communities from the worst impacts of climate change.
Oceana set out five urgent priorities for governments to restore the ocean’s health and abundance. These include enforcing laws aimed at protecting the ocean and ensuring sustainable human uses, effectively protecting and restoring marine habitats, keeping fishing within sustainable limits so fish populations can recover, increasing transparency at sea and ending impunity for illegal activities, and stopping pollution at its source.
According to the organisation, human pressure has pushed marine ecosystems to the brink, from depleted fish stocks to damaged habitats and rising pollution. However, it said that science-based and tested solutions already exist and have been part of legislation for years or even decades.
‘Preserving marine ecosystems and ensuring prosperous livelihoods in the long term go hand in hand. It is not a choice between the two,’ Coelho said.
She added that Europe’s challenge is no longer a lack of legislation, but implementation, ‘turning commitments into tangible change at sea’.
Coelho noted that the EU has more ocean than land, with 5.37 million square kilometres of maritime area compared with 4.22 million square kilometres of land territory, saying that the ocean must be given the attention its scale and value deserve.