On the occasion of the UN Ocean Conference in Lisbon, Federal Environment Minister Steffi Lemke is also travelling to Lisbon. Her appeal: "If we do not stop the destruction of the oceans, we threaten not only wonderful natural treasures, but also our own livelihoods. Marine conservation helps us in the fight against the climate crisis, the pollution crisis, and species extinction." Yet what does this marine conservation with the ambitious "30 by 30" goal look like in reality - 30% of global oceans protected by 2030, as pledged by many countries, including Germany? On our first "Global Fishing Watch" map, we see the marine protected areas existing in Germany (marked in green): marine conservation with protected areas in Germany permits fishing, sand extraction, shipping, and even tunnel construction: the tunnel of the same name to Denmark is being built straight through the "Fehmarnbelt" marine protected area directly off the island of Fehmarn. De facto, there is not a single so-called "no-take" zone in the North Sea and Baltic Sea—that is, an area in which actually not a single fish may be caught, and therefore true protection without human exploitation. But it gets worse, as can be seen on the second map: every single one of these many white dots on the map represents fishing activities, exemplarily over the period from May to October 2020. Particularly in the North Sea, one of the most destructive fishing methods is excessively practised: bottom trawling. With bycatches of up to 90%, permanent destructive scraping of the seabed, and the deliberate release of plastic through dolly ropes (wear-resistant chafing protection made of polyethylene), it is partly responsible for the destruction and species extinction in the North Sea.
The ministerial press release on the UN Ocean Conference states confidently: "Healthy oceans are vital for us humans. That is why we must move from words to action and give marine conservation a much higher priority." The current reality in the sea on our doorstep: overfishing, unsustainable fisheries, shipping traffic, eutrophication, construction projects, and protected areas that exist only on paper—the situation is more than bleak. We therefore take Federal Environment Minister Steffi Lemke at her word and call on her to put things in order on our own doorstep and finally implement effective marine protection in the North Sea and Baltic Sea. Further background: https://www.zeit.de/news/2022-06/27/un-ozeankonferenz-startet-mit-emotionalen-appellen
