Friday, December 14, 2012

Days to Save our Seas!


Overfishing is killing our seas, but in just 4 days, a crucial EU vote could stop the devastation. The outcome is on a knife edge, and a key UK MEP could mean the difference between life or death for our seas – so OCEAN2012 are urging him to get off the fence!

On Tuesday, the EU Parliament's fisheries committee will vote on a new policy to have fishing targets set by scientists, not Spanish super-trawlers -- a vital solution to end overfishing. All that is needed to win is a simple majority, and right now it is close to that, with German and French MEPs signaling their support. But the Spanish fishing lobby is powerful, and supported by other Mediterranean countries, so they could succeed in sinking the deal. The balance of power rests with one key MEP -- Struan Stevenson, the UK member of the committee -- who’s yet to decide how to cast his vote, and so OCEAN2012 are urging people to take action. They said;

"For too long, we’ve treated these vast bodies of water as indestructible -- vacuuming up fish, dumping our dangerous waste, and assuming that there are no consequences to our actions. But now we can turn the tide -- MEPs aren’t used to public pressure, so our outcry can persuade Mr Stevenson to be an ocean saviour. Sign the urgent petition and call on Struan Stevenson to secure a deal that saves our seas! Once we reach 20,000 signers, we’ll deliver the petition to Mr. Stevenson in Brussels."

Photo courtesy of Ocean2012