*[Enwl-eng] Swimming to protect our oceans

[ENWL]

Hi,

It was 7 am on a Saturday on a beach in Marseille just over a week ago. I 
was both excited and a little nervous. In about an hour, people would be 
diving into the sea to demand that we stop destructive fishing and ban 
bottom trawling in protected areas, but would people come?

Would the EU Oceans Commissioner listen to this urgent demand from those 
diving and also from 150,000 of us from across Europe? [1]


What a relief as the first people started arriving and getting ready to dive 
into the sea. The media started setting themselves up. It was happening!


Photo: Théo Giacometti /Our Fish
After a year and a half of COVID restrictions, it was a joy to speak to 
WeMove Europe members. Laurent told me about his experience as a sailor, 
having to make his way around massive abandoned nets from trawlers that were 
so big that it was incredibly tricky not to get caught up in them. He had 
seen the damage first-hand and wanted action.


Our Campaigns Director, Mika Leandro, speaking to WeMove Europe member, 
Laurent, who has had first-hand experience dealing with the destruction 
caused by bottom-trawling
Virginijus Sinkevičius, the Commissioner for the Environment, Oceans and 
Fishing stepped onto the beach in his suit.


Commissioner Virginijus Sinkevičius, speaking with our partners Vera Coelho 
and Maya Gabeira from Oceana, and Mike Walker from Our Fish
He listened to Maya Gabeira, a world champion big wave surfer, who rides 20m 
high waves and knows the power of the ocean.


Photo: Théo Giacometti /Our Fish
She talked about how much we need the oceans and all the life down there we 
can’t see. But bottom trawling in European waters impacts an area as big as 
one-third of Europe every year. It leaves nothing but wasteland where there 
once was a thriving ecosystem of corals, fish and underwater mammals. [2]

Maya mentioned the latest science that shows bottom trawling releases as 
much carbon as air travel. [3]

The Commissioner acknowledged that what Maya has said is all true, but that 
economics and livelihoods need to be taken into account. Yet he also said 
that it’s hard to ignore the crowd and the discussion on banning bottom 
trawling has to happen. He then gave a countdown and we ran into the sea.


Watch the Facebook live video here
We know he is under a lot of pressure from the industrial fishing lobby. So, 
that’s why we made sure he was receiving thousands of tweets and emails from 
all over Europe calling for the ban at the same time as we were on the 
beach.

The story got some great press coverage in many languages and across the 
whole of Europe. [4] We know this helps put pressure on decision-makers.


And we’re not going to stop anytime soon. With our partners Oceana, Seas At 
Risk and Our Fish we’re planning a big action in Brussels in December to 
ensure the Commission includes a ban on bottom trawling as part of the EU 
action plan for the ocean, expected next year. [5] Together, we already 
helped get the EU Parliament on board, now let’s work together to get the 
Commission to follow through.

Thank you for being part of this WeMove Europe community and everything you 
do.


Mika (Bordeaux), Giulio (Rome), Alex (Barcelona) and the whole WeMove Europe 
team



References:
[1] https://act.wemove.eu/campaigns/bottom-trawling
[2] 
https://europe.oceana.org/en/press-center/press-releases/oceana-urges-bold-action-ban-bottom-trawling-europes-protected-areas
[3] 
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/mar/17/trawling-for-fish-releases-as-much-carbon-as-air-travel-report-finds-climate-crisis
https://our.fish/publications/briefing-paper-ending-overfishing-is-climate-action/
[4] Media articles:
In French
https://www.bfmtv.com/marseille/bain-de-mer-a-marseille-pour-alerter-sur-l-impact-climatique-du-chalutage-de-fond_AD-202109040141.html
https://www.rfi.fr/es/sociedad/20210904-campeona-brasile%C3%B1a-de-surf-se-ba%C3%B1a-con-ong-en-francia-contra-la-pesca-de-arrastre
https://www.sciencesetavenir.fr/nature-environnement/bain-de-mer-a-marseille-pour-alerter-sur-l-impact-climatique-du-chalutage-de-fond_157285
https://www.msn.com/fr-xl/actualite/technologie-et-sciences/bain-de-mer-%C3%A0-marseille-pour-alerter-sur-l-impact-climatique-du-chalutage-de-fond/ar-AAO5Feb?li=BBKNXVj
https://www.ouest-france.fr/mer/salon-nautique-de-paris/peche-un-rapport-denonce-un-chalutage-intensif-dans-les-aires-marines-protegees-8e2f2990-0e37-11ec-8af2-d250ac520fa1
In Spanish
https://es.noticias.yahoo.com/campeona-brasile%C3%B1a-surf-ba%C3%B1a-ong-095855471.html
In Italian
https://it.euronews.com/2021/09/04/tonno-salvo-squalo-no-la-nuova-lista-rossa-delle-specie-a-rischio
In Portuguese
https://pt.euronews.com/2021/09/04/quase-30-das-especies-do-planeta-ameacadas
In Albanian
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=n-76Ru9dXzM
[5] 
https://ec.europa.eu/info/law/better-regulation/have-your-say/initiatives/12953-Action-plan-to-conserve-fisheries-resources-and-protect-marine-ecosystems_en



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From: Mika Leandro - WeMove Europe
Sent: Monday, September 13, 2021 3:04 PM
Subject: Swimming to protect our oceans

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