Oak Foundation’s European Marine Programme Goals
To ensure that European Fishing fleet practices, in both European waters and abroad, become sustainable and reflect the intent of the European Common Fisheries policy by 2015.
In Europe we support policy, consumer education, and research activities that:
- Reduce and eliminate bycatch and destructive fishing practices
- Stop over-fishing by European vessels through ecosystem-based management both in Europe and abroad
- Eliminate harmful subsidies
European Marine Programme Grants (2008)
-
Fisheries Secretariat
To build the capacity of Polish environmental NGOs while working to ensure the reduction of illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing in that country. The Secretariat will work with various stakeholders in Poland, supporting environmental NGOs to maximise the potential of their various approaches and networks, and to develop a contextual understanding of the issue. The project will address the lack of public awareness around fisheries and conservation; the current non-inclusive and non-transparent political climate in Poland; and the low capacity and limited experience of Polish NGOs in working on fisheries issues. (Over three years)
-
Global Footprint Network
To improve the methodologies and data used in calculating the ecological footprint of global fisheries. The ecological footprint assessment can only produce credible results if the approach used for the calculations is robust and relevant. Currently, one of the weaker elements of the present ecological footprint calculations is that of fisheries. The lack of a credible methodology is due to the inherent challenges and complexities of fisheries science which has resulted in this gap in the footprint assessment.
-
NAUSICAA Centre National de la Mer
To implement sustainable seafood campaigns in three aquariums in Italy, Spain and France. The combined number of visitors to the three aquariums is 2.5 million annually. This provides an audience receptive to the promotion of sustainable seafood and to the plight of fisheries in Europe. These countries have some of the least developed sustainable seafood markets in Europe. The aquariums will not only promote this campaign but will also mobilise their networks to present it in their regions through schools, the Internet and the media. (Over two years)
-
Oceana, Inc.
To achieve policy changes in Europe that will, firstly, protect essential ocean habitat from destruction by bottom trawlers (by establishing specific areas off-limits to trawling); secondly, reduce bycatch and discards, including those from indiscriminate forms of fishing such as drift-netting; and thirdly, establish protections for sharks – which have seen their populations decline drastically in recent years – from overfishing and from the increasingly common practice of “finning,” and which receive almost no protection from the EU or its member states. (Over three years)
-
Pew Charitable Trusts
To lay the foundations to reform the European Common Fisheries Policy (CFP), which is scheduled for review in 2012. The project seeks, among other things, to build support among key constituencies to increase public accountability on fisheries policy issues in order to increase pressure on decision makers to take more environmentally sustainable decisions; and to establish environmental sustainability as the overarching principle for the reformed CFP, without which economic and social sustainability are not attainable. (Over two years)
-
WWF Schweiz
To reduce the number of endangered fish species consumed while increasing the number of sustainable species consumed in Switzerland. This will be achieved through working directly with seafood retailers, processors, producers and consumers to change the species they target, supply and purchase. These goals are to be reached through a three-year project using the legally binding business platform WWF Seafood Group. (Over three years)