ZAGREB, 7 July 2022 - Croatian MEP Valter Flego asked the European Commission on Wednesday to deal with the protection of the Adriatic as soon and as seriously as possible, saying this burning issue is not sufficiently in focus.
Speaking at a plenary on the EU's biodiversity protection ambitions, the IDS/Renew MEP said that when biodiversity was discussed, soil, forests and air were mentioned, but not the sea.
He said that for those living in the Mediterranean, the sea was as crucial as the air and the earth, telling Environment, Oceans and Fisheries Commissioner Virginijus Sinkevičius that the EU must deal more, and more seriously, with biodiversity protection in the Adriatic.
Flego said this issue should be raised at the COP 15 summit, the UN biodiversity conference due to take place in Canada at the end of the year.
He said the Adriatic Sea's biodiversity was changing, with new, dangerous fish species appearing because of sea warming.
Yesterday, large quantities of dead fish surfaced near a beach in Stobreč, Croatia. It is assumed they died because of the sea's higher temperature and a lack of oxygen.
Sinkevičius agred with Flego, saying that oceans and seas would be pushed into COP 15 documents as much as possible.
He said the climate change pressure on oceans was big and that combating climate change would not be possible without the CO2 coming from the oceans. It is therefore necessary to better protect marine resources, he added.
He said the realisation of those objectives required unity.
