Activists from the conservation group Greenpeace protested in front of the Foreign Ministry in Vienna on Thursday with a five-meter-tall dummy shark hanging upside down and handed over a petition calling for a strong accord to protect the oceans. A total of 463,300 people have signed up for it, according to the organization.
The reason for the action is the upcoming United Nations negotiations on the High Seas Protection Agreement. These take place in New York from 15 to 26 August. The conservationists called on Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg (ÖVP) to take the petition seriously and “consistently stand up for an agreement on the protection of the sea” during the negotiations.
100 million sharks die every year as bycatch
“Our oceans are in crisis: 100 million sharks die in fishing industry nets every year. All seven species of sea turtles are now in danger of extinction. 90 percent of global edible fish stocks are either under-exploited or already overfished. The brutal methods of industrial fishing must finally be stopped,” warned Lukas Meus of Greenpeace.
The SPÖ is also committed to expanding marine protection areas. Even though Austria is a landlocked country, it plays an important role in decisions, explains Petra Bayr, spokeswoman for global development, in a broadcast. “There are several international bodies and treaties dealing with the management of resources in the high seas, the overarching framework for ocean space management is the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) of 1982, also known referred to as the ‘Constitution for the Oceans.’ Austria has ratified both UNCLOS and its Ancillary Agreement and therefore has voting rights in all bodies imputable to UNCLOS.”
Source: Krone
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