Ecobreves – MEXICO: A Call to Protect Marine Species

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MEXICO CITY, Feb 22 2010 (IPS) - Eight marine species native to Mexico are in danger of overexploitation for commercial ends, denounced the environmental group Greenpeace in its “Red List of Fish and Shellfish.” Eight marine species native to Mexico are in danger of overexploitation for commercial ends, denounced the environmental group Greenpeace in its “Red List of Fish and Shellfish.”

“The fishing policy has led many fisheries to unsustainable levels. The bans have not worked because they are based on political criteria and not on biological factors,” Alejandro Olivera, oceans and coast campaign coordinator for Greenpeace Mexico, told Tierramérica ahead of the Lent season of the Roman Catholic calendar, when fish consumption skyrockets.

The list includes the red snapper (Lutjanus peru), Pacific sardines (Sardinops caeruleus), red grouper (Epinephelus morio), and flathead mullet (Mugil cephalus), as well as several species of shrimp, shark, manta rays and tuna.

Greenpeace is calling for updating the National Fisheries Charter, whose latest edition is from 2006, and for establishing protected marine areas.