May 26, 2015 — The conservation organization Oceana and more than 50 scientists have urged the Mediterranean States to establish a management plan in the Strait of Sicily for demersal fisheries, which should be based on the best scientific advice available to help recover overexploited hake and deepwater rose shrimp (Parapenaeus longirostris) stocks.
The letter signed by scientists will be released at the 39th session of the General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean (GFCM), which began on Monday in Milan.
The contracting parties of the Commission have met throughout the week to identify management measures for the Mediterranean stocks given a complicated picture: 91 per cent of the stocks for which they are responsible are overexploited.
Within the agenda there is a plan for hake and deepwater rose shrimp demersal fisheries in the Strait of Sicily, which are severely overfished. In the case of hake, GFCM scientists have spent almost 30 years warning about the alarming situation of the stock. To this day no measures have been implemented to recover this fishery.