marine protected areas (MPAs)

MPs call for bottom trawling ban

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/mps-call-bottom-trawling-ban

 Activists from Ocean Rebellion with a large sculptural bottom trawling fishing boat on the banks of the river Clyde, as Glasgow prepared for the Cop26 summit, October 30, 2021

MPs have called on the government to ban damaging activities like bottom-trawling, dredging and mining in protected English waters.

The practices are still permitted across Britain’s 178 marine protected areas (MPAs), but spurred-on by footage from Sir David Attenborough’s new film on oceans showing the heavy metal chains of a bottom trawl net scooping up species indiscriminately, calls for bans have intensified ahead of next week’s UN ocean conference in Nice, France.

Now the cross-party Environmental Audit Committee (EAC) has added its voice to the chorus for action, slamming the government’s “failure to effectively manage gaps in the network of marine protected areas” by allowing these damaging activities to take place, despite Labour water minister Emma Hardy recently telling the committee they were “committed” to ending the practices in MPAs.

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David Attenborough’s Ocean reveals how bottom trawling is hurting sealife in horrifying detail

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Treaty to protect seas short on support ahead of UN ocean summit

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https://www.climatechangenews.com/2025/06/05/treaty-to-protect-seas-short-on-support-ahead-of-un-ocean-conference/

A hammerhead shark swims close to Wolf Island at Galapagos Marine Reserve August 19, 2013. Picture taken August 19, 2013. REUTERS/Jorge Silva (ECUADOR – Tags: ENVIRONMENT SOCIETY ANIMALS TRAVEL)

Once the High Seas Treaty enters into force, experts say it will boost the health of oceans and their role in tackling climate change

As governments head to a major UN ocean conference next week, the race is on to get enough countries to ratify an international treaty seen as crucial to meeting a goal of protecting 30% of the world’s seas by 2030 so that it can take effect within two years of its adoption in 2023.

So far, of the 60 states needed for that to happen, only 29 have ratified the agreement, known as the High Seas Treaty but formally titled Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ). The treaty aims to create rules for establishing marine protected areas (MPAs) in international waters.

Establishing those MPAs is seen as key to conserving 30% of the world’s land and sea ecosystems by the end of this decade, as countries pledged to do at talks in Montreal in 2022. Experts say MPAs can also help oceans recover their ability to store planet-heating carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from the atmosphere, which has been weakening in the past two decades.

According to the UN, the world’s ocean absorbs 30% of all CO2 emissions and captures 90% of the excess heat generated by these emissions, serving as a vital buffer against the impacts of climate change. However, rising greenhouse gas emissions have affected the health of the ocean by warming and acidifying seawater – in turn harming biodiversity and and reducing the ocean’s ability to absorb CO2. 

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Article continues at https://www.climatechangenews.com/2025/06/05/treaty-to-protect-seas-short-on-support-ahead-of-un-ocean-conference/

Continue ReadingTreaty to protect seas short on support ahead of UN ocean summit