Linking three continents and abundant in an astonishing
array of marine life, the Mediterranean Sea is an ecological
treasure chest for the planet. The wealth and beauty of the
Mediterranean faces devastating threats from overfishing, illegal
fishing, pollution and climate change. A network of marine parks
can protect the health and lives of the people and animals that live in
and depend on Our Mediterranean.
It's a bluefin tuna graveyard, white crosses float next to tuna ranch cages. We end our three month Mediterranean tour back where we started, in Spain, highlighting the desperate state of bluefin tuna stocks.
At a press conference in Beirut today, Greenpeace and the Lebanese Union of Professional Divers, screened unseen footage of an underwater oil slick in the surrounding waters of the bombed Jieh Powe Plant. The footage showed an oil slick that stretches for at least 100 meters to the West and dozens of meters to the North and South of thickness that vary from 1 to 10 cm. The investigation reveals that a substantial part of the oil spilt during the recent war is now smothering the seabed.
The Mediterranean Sea links Africa, Asia and Europe, providing 46,000 km of coastline to 19 countries. This abundant resource has supported human civilisation for thousands of years and is now under serious threat. The Mediterranean Sea needs our protection now.
The Mediterranean Seas resources are under pressure from a variety of threats. Amongst them are overfishing, drift netting, aquaculture, alien species, pollution, drilling for oil and gas, dredging, commercial shipping, climate change, tourism and population increases.
Fully protected areas cover less than one percent of the Mediterranean Sea – a far cry from the twenty to fifty percent that scientists recommend. Immediate action is needed to save the Mediterranean Sea. What is needed is a network of fully protected, large-scale marine reserves to cover the range of Mediterranean marine ecosystems – the equivalent to national parks on land.
