BRUSSELS – A new report released today by OCEAN2012 and Meridian Prime highlights environmental and social criteria that are successfully employed in allocating access to fisheries resources. The report, Environmental and Social Criteria for Allocating Access to Fisheries Resources, offers case studies from ten different fisheries in Europe and around the world to show how reform of the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) could be modelled.

(Brussels) – Vera Coelho, from Seas At Risk and OCEAN2012, issued the following statement responding to the vote in the European Parliament today on the reform of the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP). "A majority of members failed to acknowledge the established connection between fisheries subsidies and overfishing.”

(Brussels) – Uta Bellion, director of the Pew Environment Group’s European Marine Programme and OCEAN2012 co-ordinator, issued the following statement responding to the European Parliament’s Fisheries Committee’s vote on an own initiative report on reform of the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP). “Today the Fisheries Committee missed an opportunity to demonstrate clear support for an effective reform of the Common Fisheries Policy ensuring healthy fish stocks and vibrant coastal communities.”

Letter from 31 NGOs calling on French President Nicolas Sarkozy to support the listing of bluefin tuna on CITES Appendix I.

Fisheries management in the EU must improve if we are to keep stocks at a sustainable level, says Uta Bellion, Director of the Pew Environment Group's European Marine Programme in this opinion editorial, published in the Parliament Magazine, November 16 2009.

WWF, Birdlife International and OCEAN2012 call on EU Member States at the Environment Council on October 21 to ask the European Commission to present, as a matter of urgency, a roadmap for the reform, sector by sector, of subsidies that have environmentally harmful effects with the aim of their removal.

European Union countries are failing in the promise to make the common fisheries policy more transparent, claims a new report from FishSubsidy.org. With the policy undergoing a fundamental review, the report -"Slipping through the net: How EU countries evade new budget transparency rules", by investigative journalist Brigitte Alfter - provides a timely overview of access to information about EU fish subsidies and illustrates how weakness in the legal framework for transparency and bureaucratic obfuscation by member states are making it harder for EU citizens to know how their money is being spent.

(Brussels) - OCEAN2012, a new coalition dedicated to transforming European fisheries policy to prevent over-fishing and enhance human well-being was launched yesterday. OCEAN2012 was founded by the Coalition for Fair Fisheries Arrangements, the Fisheries Secretariat, nef (new economics foundation), the Pew Environment Group and Seas At Risk.