WWF Urges Total Ban on Mediterranean Driftnets

GLAND, Switzerland, November 20, 2003 (ENS) - Mediterranean dolphins are dying by the thousands in enormous nets set for swordfish by the 177 boats of the Moroccan driftnet fleet, new reseach conducted by WWF has found.

Published Thursday, the WWF report, "Biodiversity impact of the Moroccan driftnet fleet in the Alboran Sea," shows that between 3,000 and 4,000 striped and short-beaked common dolphins are caught every year in the Alboran Sea of the southwestern Mediterranean. This is more than 10 percent of the area's dolphin population.

The Mediterranean subpopulation of short-beaked common dolphin, Delphinus delphis, was listed as endangered for the first time on Tuesday on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.

Short-beaked common dolphins jump in tandem in the Mediterranean Sea. (Photo courtesy IUCN)

"The evidence we have gathered on the Moroccan fleet brings us to think that illegal driftnet fishing currently happening in the whole Mediterranean results in a massive slaughter of vulnerable species," said Paolo Guglielmi, head of the Marine Unit at WWF's Mediterranean Programme.

Driftnets are called walls of death because they capture all living creatures in their path. Each net could be anywhere from seven to 14 kilometers (4.3 to 6.2 miles) long.

The European Union ban on driftnet fishing has been in place from January 1, 2002, and the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution which banned driftnet fishing on the high seas from January 1, 1993, but illegal driftnets are still killing vulnerable dolphins, sharks and turtles.

Thousands more dolphins are dying in driftnets in the western Mediterranean, according to WWF. Some 13,000 dolphins are estimated to be caught around the Straits of Gibraltar and in neighboring zones.

Dolphin carcass washed ashore in Cala Iris, 60 kilometers (40 miles) west of Al Hoceima, Morocco (Photo © AZIR courtesy WWF)

The Italian driftnet fleet had about 700 boats in the early 1990s. Italy received subsidies from the European Union for restructuring the fleet, but there are still up to 100 non-compliant boats, WWF has found.

France, with 75 non-compliant boats, and Turkey, which has 100 non-compliant boats, also have sizeable driftnet fleets.

Sharks, whose numbers are in decline worldwide, are also dying in Moroccan driftnets. According to the WWF report, about 23,000 sharks are captured annually by the Moroccan driftnet fleet in the Alboran Sea, and another 77,500 are caught in neighboring areas.

Endangered loggerhead turtles are among the species drowning in Moroccan driftnet fisheries.

The conservation organization released its report in advance of a diplomatic conference on Mediterranean fisheries, to be held in Venice next week. The conference includes countries that are Parties to the General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean.

The Venice Ministerial Conference dedicated to Mediterranean Fishing, scheduled for November 25-26, will explore the "specific political stances" of each country, according to Aldo Di Biagio, head of the Department of International Relations in Italy's Ministry of Agricultural and Forestry Policy.

Italy is hosting the ministerial conference in its role as Presidency of the European Union through December 31.

The objective of the consultation is to establish the multilateral management of fishing resources, "in order to allow for a long-term, lasting exploitation of these resources and, in particular, of highly migratory trans-zone stock as well as other shared fisheries stock," Di Biagio said.

Driftnets are not on the diplomats' conference agenda, but the WWF is urging all countries that participate in the General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean, particularly those in North Africa, to introduce "urgent" legislation banning these nets.

European Fisheries Commissioner Franz Fischler (Photo courtesy EU)

"Clearly the time has come for decisive multilateral action in this domain," Fischler said today. "We must not squander this opportunity to agree on concrete action that will deliver sustainable fisheries in the Mediterranean by developing conservation measures and ensuring the means to enforce them.”

WWF is calling on the European Union to monitor and prosecute all the fleets of its member states using driftnets.

Dr. Simon Cripps, director of WWF's Endangered Seas Programme, says, "The only valid way to prevent the massacre of dolphins, sharks, and other marine species caused by these driftnet fleets in the Mediterranean is to make it a driftnet free sea by enforcing a total ban on all the driftnet fisheries in the region."

Cripps says it is up to the EU to help all Mediterranean countries convert their driftnet fleets to less destructive fishing practices.

The Venice Conference will build on the foundations laid by two previous conferences on Mediterranean fisheries - in Crete in 1994, and in Venice in 1996. Participant countries at both meetings agreed that progress could only be achieved through multilateral cooperation and action.

The General Commission for Fisheries in the Mediterranean is handicapped because no agreement has been reached yet on granting it the financial and personnel resources to make it effective as a fisheries management tool.