بيئة أبوظبي وسيلة إعلامية غير ربحية مسؤولية مجتمعية تملكها مجموعة نايا للتميز
By Med Mosaic, an emerging collective of Med-based marine journalists and Arab women media.
Special report from UNOC3
The Mediterranean Sea, a historically significant body of water once synonymous with rich ecological and cultural heritage, including a legacy of generational fisherfolk stewardship, is increasingly defined by overexploitation and destructive industrial fishing. Growing geopolitical instability risks pushing environmental concerns further down the agenda, particularly in the MENA region, where the impacts are most acute. Unless urgent commitments are upheld by all Mediterranean governments to strengthen conservation within the next five years, the sea’s totemic legacy risks morphing into a vestige of its underwater marine heritage.
Just weeks after the UN Ocean Conference (UNOC3) ended in a crescendo of ship horns echoing across Nice’s glamorous Vieux Port, a succession of impassioned declarations made about the dire state of the oceans are no longer headline news and the attention of the 60 world leaders in attendance moved on to other global summits.
The challenges facing the Mediterranean however, as the fastest-warming sea on Earth home to 11% of global marine biodiversity, remain omnipresent. Commonly described as simultaneously being one of the most overexploited, difficult, densely fished and under-protected marine ecosystems in the world, the growing amount of unfavourable accolades reflects how Mare Nostrum is facing the biggest human-generated complex ecological challenge of its iconic history.
A dedicated Mediterranean Day during UNOC3 attempted to unpack some of the challenges and recent regional collaborative efforts aimed at disentangling its deeply intertwined stressors. “We must protect the ocean because the ocean is protecting us,” said Rémi Parmentier, co-founder of Greenpeace and founder of the Varda Group and more recently chairman of the “Let’s Be Nice to the Med” campaign. With Parmentier’s recent passing, shortly after the meeting’s conclusion, his final words about the Med Sea are likely to remain as part of his powerful legacy rooted in decades of tireless ocean advocacy, in addition to his call to “break the silos,” a phrase he echoed repeatedly during his speeches at UNOC3.
As the largest ocean summit ever held—bringing together more than 15,000 international participants—the outcme of this third edition of UNOC is likely to draw from the momentum it generated at this critical halfway point toward achieving global ocean conservation targets by 2030.
A key focus centred on advancing the pillars of ambitious, good ocean governance, particularly the goal of protecting 30% of the world’s marine areas by 2030, commonly known as the “30×30” target. A deceivingly simple target hiding a complex application in practise, requiring not only sustained political will both regionally and domestically, but also more widespread endorsement from the fishing industry.
At the heart of the emerging foundational structure post UNOC3 is a seemingly fragile non-binding political declaration signed by 170 countries, excluding one the world’s most powerful political players: the United States. By opting out of sending an official delegation to the conference, the U.S signalled a notable shift from its past leadership in international ocean policy, creating a vacuum that is now more likely to be filled through collective regional and sub-regional government action.
Among the more concrete announcements, the European Commission pledged €1 billion for ocean conservation, Spain announced €8.5 million towards the Blue Mediterranean Partnership. The finance sector also pledged targeting funding, with France’s development bank (AFD) and the World Bank mobilising to provide €2 million to extend coastal ecosystem preservation efforts across North Africa, with a focus on strengthening marine protected area management through 2029.
Protecting the Sea That Protects Us
Caught between temporarily soothing rhetoric, scattered new funding, and its enduring hard realities, the Med Sea continues to remain suspended in a very strange and unchartered liminal space within the closing walls of its overlapping stressors.
In particular, two key legal gaps continue to fuel the region’s crisis of overfishing and stalled marine conservation. First, only 0.04% of the Mediterranean Sea benefits from full marine protection, making it one of the least safeguarded marine ecosystems in the world. Second, the General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean (GFCM) remains one of the few fisheries management organisations not requiring all industrial fishing vessels to be tracked at sea by a permanent identification number—a tool already used globally to enhance vessel traceability and enforcement.
While notable conservation successes such as the 84,000 km² Pelagos Sanctuary established in the early 2000’s between France, Italy, and Monaco are often hailed as a regional benchmark of best practise, decades later, the sanctuary remains an iconic exception, or rather the conservation anomaly of the Mediterranean. Even France, co-host of this year’s UNOC3, falls short when it comes to establishing enforceable marine protections with the data speaking for itself: less than 4% of France’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) under any form of protection and only 0.005% of its entire mainland waters benefitS from full protection.
“President Macron promised action on bottom trawling in marine protected areas but delivered only artificial limits and empty words. That’s not leadership — that’s evasion,” says Alexandra Cousteau, ocean advocate, Senior Advisor to Oceana.
Despite its recent leadership role at UNOC3, France is seemingly grappling with significant hurdles in ushering in a new era of meaningful marine conservation whilst appeasing fishermen voicing strong opposition to restrictions imposed in protected waters. Designated Fishing Restricted Areas such as the Gulf of Lion, located some 150km from the conference venue, continues to suffer from sporadic enforcement and ongoing illegal or unregulated bottom trawling according to NGO reports.
Indeed, determining the true representational voice of the Med Sea is subjective when alternatives to fishing are limited and future prospects are shaped by climate change, food insecurity, emerging technologies and growing financial insecurity.
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The data however requires less discernment. A closer look at mapping data highlights the demarcation of fully protected no-fishing zones as both extremely limited and unevenly distributed. Commonly referred to in almost military-like language as strict no-take zones, these span only 0.04% within a coastline stretching approximately 46,000 kilometres primarily clustered in the northwestern coast. In contrast, southern and eastern Mediterranean countries including Tunisia, Algeria, Libya, and Morocco have little to no strictly protected zones in their waters.
“Strict protection—where no fishing or extraction is allowed—is still the exception in the Med,” confirms Pablo Rodríguez Ros, 30×30 Mediterranean Program Lead, Med Sea Aliance, “and until that changes, biodiversity loss will continue.”
The Mediterranean’s Blind Spot in Illegal Fishing Enforcement
The Mediterranean as a whole continues to fall behind, not only in increasing spatial protection coverage but also in enforcing measures on industrial fishing vessels by mandating the use of permanent fishing vessel identification numbers which make it easier to track vessels and prevent them from hiding behind name or flag changes.
While the Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific Oceans already require all vessels over 12 meters to carry identification numbers, the Mediterranean is still lagging behind. It has yet to gain sufficient support from member states to mandate their use—even for industrial fishing vessels over 15 meters. In this context, consensus-based regional decision-making is one of the hurdles when trying to implement region-wide reform.
In addition to calling on the General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean to adopt stronger rules to track industrial fishing boats, Oceana also called on EU Member States to declare their ownership of vessels flagged to non-EU countries: “we really want the General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean to make this information public,” urges Vanya Vulperhorst, Illegal Fishing and Transparency Campaign Director at Oceana.
In recent years, the GFCM took steps to strengthen mandating controls at sea, most notably through a serious and increasingly proactive Compliance Committee, alongside a system that allows for penalties. Despite the launch in 2024 of an enhanced regional training for fisheries inspectors using drones and monitoring systems, most governments continue to face contrasting disparities in sustained funding, vessel capacity, and legal consistency. Globally, enforcement of regulations at sea or in ports continues to be one of the most challenging aspects in fisheries control.
Still, meeting the scale of the challenges facing the Mediterranean Sea will require stronger, more coordinated political will to improve transparency and strengthen regional cooperation. “Our study has shown that out of the 19,000 vessels on the GFCM’s Authorized Vessel List, only about 600 included beneficial ownership data,” says the Oceana spokesperson.
In a separate development, one that may become increasingly relevant for the Mediterranean, a legal case brought by ClientEarth against Spain in April 2025 focusing on illegal fishing off the coast of West Africa, could have ripple effects beyond the Atlantic. The landmark case spotlights Spain and other EU member states to enforce stricter ownership transparency and may set a precedent for requiring full disclosure of beneficial ownership in the future.
Civil Society, States, and the Struggle to Save the Med
The hard truths about the state of the Med Sea are both uncomfortable and shocking.
“Most of the Mediterranean Sea fish stocks are overfished, iconic species such as the sawfish or hammerhead sharks have disappeared or are about to, pressure from tourism and maritime transport is on the rise, and its waters warm twice faster than the rest of the global ocean. Mass mortality of corals and gorgonians is happening before our eyes,” says Aniol Esteban, Director of the Marilles Foundation, a marine conservation organisation based in the Balearic Islands focused on protecting and restoring marine ecosystems in the western Mediterranean.
“Recent reports indicate that only 8.8% of Mediterranean waters are designated as protected – far from the 30% protection target – and many of these areas exist only on paper,” continues Esteban signalling the quiet cynicism surrounding marine protections that exist more on paper than in reality.
Like many ocean advocates, Esteban believes the solution lies in creating a network of effectively managed Marine Protected Areas and boosting the current, meagre 0.04% of fully protected waters to a far more meaningful 10%.
With decades of experience, Esteban witnessed the evolution of conservation efforts in the Med, noting that 2025 is a turning point: “Civil society organisations are now better organised in alliances and coalitions which coordinate efforts to restore fish stocks, improve and expand marine protected areas and fill the Med back with life.”
One such coalition is the Med Sea Alliance (MSA), a network of more than 70 NGOs spearheading unified action grounded in the best available science as essential to driving informed decision-making, whilst advocating the critical role of marine protected areas. With fewer than five years remaining to meet global 2030 targets, the Alliance stresses that “urgent action is no longer optional—it’s essential.”
“We’ve strengthened regional collaboration,” notes Pablo Rodríguez Ros, 30×30 Mediterranean Program Lead, Med Sea Aliance, highlighting the growing momentum behind cross-border cooperation in the Mediterranean as one of the regions’ growing success stories, despite the conservation hurdles.
“The real challenge is not technical,” explains Ros, referencing an archive full of non-binding Mediterranean declarations, “it’s political.”
“Fragmented governance, insufficient funding, and weak enforcement of existing Marine Protected Areas,” elaborates Ros, “are still major obstacles holding back real change.” Despite decades of declarations, a glossy but fragile veneer of commitment masks inconsistent political will and deep disparities in available funding.
Following UNOC3, policymakers across the Mediterranean are likely to face pressure to move beyond symbolic designations. Spain offers a promising example. With over 21% of its national waters and more than 30% of its Mediterranean waters under protection, it has committed to finalising management plans for half its remaining MPAs within 12 months.
“Spain is showing that hitting protection targets is possible—but only if you follow through with proper governance and management,” adds Ros when asked about replicable stewardship in the region.
While Spain has sown the seeds of conservation leadership within its own waters, the principality of Monaco emerges as a key regional player, convening stakeholders since 2006 and catalysing MPA efforts through its annual Monaco Ocean Week, which has become a masterclass in sleek, 21st-century ocean diplomacy.
“Efforts to protect the Mediterranean Sea have grown, but not fast enough. Urgent action is needed at all levels,” said H.S.H. Prince Albert II of Monaco during the “Our Ocean” plenary in Athens.
The recently launched “Let’s Be Nice to the Med” coalition, up until recently chaired by Remi Parmentier, brings together NGOs, scientists, and regional leaders, many of whom trace their collaboration back to both Monaco’s long-standing conservation role and the Forum Mondial de la Mer, Bizerte, an annual platform for Mediterranean dialogue led by Pascal Lamy since its inception in 2018.
“Decades of change in the Mediterranean have taught us that cooperation is not optional—it’s survival,” says conservationist Puri Canals who spoke during the launch of the campaign at UNOC3. “Hope for the future lies in local knowledge, youth energy, and policy coherence,” adds Tunisian youth leader Rabeb Aloui, during an event which culminated in the endorsement of the “Protection Principle” by 110 organisations.
Governments also mobilised to enhance regional collaboration, as ministers adopted the “Declaration of the Ministers of the Mediterranean,” at UNOC3 “in order to further position the Mediterranean as a spearhead of integrated ocean governance.”
As demonstrated at UNOC3, a renewed and increasingly coordinated civil society movement, alongside government-led pledges is driving progress across the Mediterranean. Yet the question remains: what more is needed to transform political promises into lasting action—and how can industries be brought meaningfully into the process to accelerate change? With just five years left to meet 2030 targets, and in a region grappling with geopolitical instability and eroding international norms globally, the urgency for cooperation is genuinely pressing.
The darker takeaway from UNOC3 is uncomfortable: unless states urgently tighten controls on industrial fishing vessels and increase marine protection, momentum for change in the Mediterranean, like other seas and oceans, risks stalling. Most delegates agree that the fishing sector is essential to gaining support for the Mediterranean to meet its 30×30 goals, yet their voices at UNOC3 where not sufficiently represented.
“The real test is not what we said here in Nice,” says Li Junhua, the United Nations Under Secretary General for Economic and Social Affairs and chair of UNOC3, “but what we do next.”
Mediterranean stakeholders are no longer waiting for the next steps, they are in it. What happens now, and over the coming year in particular, will show whether pledges made in Nice truly mark a turning point for the Med Sea or if it will remain trapped in its current cycle of overlapping stressors.
French Ambassador Olivier Poivre d’Arvor, special envoy for ocean affairs, put it bluntly: “If we are not nice to the Ocean, the Ocean will not be nicer to us.”
