Ocean conference raises over €8billion for marine protection
A global conference organised by the European Union aimed at better protecting marine life has raised more than $7 billion.
The Our Ocean conference was held in Malta over the past two days. The EU committed €550 million to improve marine governance. Representatives from businesses, 112 countries and others pushed the total up to the unprecedented level.
The Our Ocean conference has accumulated some €8.7 billion euros since it started in 2014 but the 2017 commitments exceeded expectations.
The conference focuses on funding and leading projects as varied at combating plastics pollution to countering illegal fishing and looking at the effects of climate change.
A number of pledges were made during the conference, including by Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, who said that, by 2019, Malta commits to recover 70% of plastic bottles generated on the island.
Oceans are our common heritage - Pope Francis
In a letter sent to the participants of the conference, Pope Francis called for a concerted effort to address the issues of human trafficking, slave labour and inhumane working conditions associated with the fishing industry and commercial shipping, the standard of living and development opportunities in coastal communities and the families of those who fish, and the situation of islands threatened by rising sea levels.
He spoke of a duty to care for the oceans and on the need for multilateral governance aimed at the pursuit of the common good and equipped to operate at the global and regional levels.
“The oceans are the common heritage of the human family,” the Pope continued. “Only with a deep sense of humility, wonder and gratitude can we rightly speak of the ocean as ‘ours’. To care for this common inheritance necessarily involves rejecting cynical or indifferent ways of acting. We cannot pretend to ignore the problems of ocean pollution resulting, for example, from plastic and microplastics that enter the food chain and cause grave consequences for the health of marine and human life. Nor can we remain indifferent before the loss of coral reefs, essential places for the survival of marine biodiversity and the health of the oceans, as we witness a marvellous marine world being transformed into an underwater cemetery, bereft of colour and life.
“There is a need for new technologies to foresee various problems involving the proper governance of the oceans, but also for a change in the way we live, and offering new models of production and consumption, in order to promote an authentic and integral human development that values good governance and embraces it responsibly.”
Government setting up marine protection unit
Speaking at the conference yesterday, Tourism Minister Konrad Mizzi announced that the government will establish a new ministerial body dedicated for the study, protection, preservation as well as the management of care, exposition and appreciation of its unique underwater cultural heritage with a budget of €1.6 million.
This body will also be responsible to manage access to underwater cultural heritage sites as well as promoting public awareness of the richness and extent of these sites as an intrinsic part of humankind’s environment.
Mizzi said that the protection of precious, previously unknown cultural resources will create new diving sites around the Maltese islands, enhance the maritime tourism product, as well as the exposure of the Maltese Islands on a global level thus fostering blue growth, whilst contributing to the achievement of ocean sustainability for the benefit of both present and future generations.
Clean-up operations
The serious problem of dumping at sea and the significant amounts of old fishing gear found at sea were highlighted over the past few days by an intensive underwater cleanup operation undertaken by a number of voluntary organisations.
Over two tonnes of marine litter were collected by NGO Healthy Seas and its partners Ghost Fishing, Sharklab Malta and Żibel.
Volunteer divers from Ghost Fishing and Maltaqua Dive Centre spent a number of hours removing marine litter, particularly what is termed as ghost nets – old fishing nets that end up tangled on rocks or on the seabed but continue catching fish nonetheless. Over 500kg of lost fishing gear were collected.
A coastal and shore cleanup was held at the same time in Balluta Bay on 1 October.
Some 50 volunteers collected 1.5 tonnes of marine litter.
The Ghost Net Exhibition was opened at the Malta National Aquarium on October 4, World Animal Day, as a tribute to all those animals who died and suffered because of lost fishing gear and ghost nets. It will be open for 3-4 weeks, and afterwards will travel to other locations in Malta.