Photograph by NOAA
Varadero, Cuba—The 38th Annual Meeting of the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization (NAFO) concluded today in Varadero, Cuba. This year, expectations were high that NAFO Contracting Parties would take further measures to protect elements of the marine ecosystem and vulnerable sharks and skates, and environmentalists at the Ecology Action Centre, who attended as the only civil society observers, are pleased to see that some of these measures will be moving forward.
This year saw the long-awaited completion of NAFO’s impact assessment of bottom fisheries on vulnerable marine ecosystems such as corals, sponges and seapens. Among its findings, the assessment concluded that 84% of known concentrations of seapen areas remain open to bottom trawling. After much deliberation over the past week, an additional closure was agreed in order to protect vulnerable seapen communities, however this closure is only until 2018 when it will be reviewed.