Working on fisheries bycatch can be a pretty gruesome task. Bycatch is responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of whales, dolphins and porpoises (collectively known as cetaceans) as well as countless other protected species every year – and entanglement in fishing gear is deeply traumatic for every individual experiencing it. Once an animal […]
Hundreds of thousands of dolphins, porpoises and whales (collectively known as cetaceans) are bycaught in fishing gear every year and tens of thousands die in European waters. This has been happening for decades. Governments have been slow to act, to understand bycatch impacts and, more critically, to prevent bycatch from happening despite stringent laws in […]
The 78th meeting of the Standing Committee (SC78) of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) kicked off in Geneva, Switzerland, on Monday. This is the body that considers compliance, implementation and enforcement matters, providing guidance to the CITES Secretariat and Parties through recommendations and preparing draft decisions for […]
The decision by a United States court to grant a preliminary injunction for some fish imports from New Zealand confirms that not enough has been done by the latter to protect critically endangered Māui dolphins from entanglement in fishing gear. EIA most recently made an intervention at the International Whaling Commission (IWC), asking the New […]
The vaquita, with fewer than 30 of the tiny porpoises left alive – plummeting from 600 in less than two decades – is the most endangered animal on the planet. Found only in Mexico’s Upper Gulf of California, the vaquita’s survival depends on the urgent removal of all illegal gillnets from their marine habitat
Two-thirds of the globe lie under water and the future of our planet is inexorably tied to what happens at sea. With today’s UN World Environment Day themed around Beat Plastic Pollution, it’s worth taking a moment to reflect on why we need a healthy ocean