Overview

• The Greek government has designated two new national marine parks in the Ionian Sea and southern Aegean with an immediate prohibition on bottom trawling.
• Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis says the parks will be among the Mediterranean’s largest and will help Greece reach its goal of protecting 30 percent of its waters by 2030 ahead of schedule.
• Athens has pledged to ban bottom trawling in all its marine protected areas by 2030, making Greece the first European country to adopt this measure.
• WWF Greece has criticized delays in completing the necessary scientific studies and decrees for dozens of other proposed zones, warning that protections could remain “on paper” without swift implementation.
• Turkey has called for cooperative management of the Aegean’s semi-enclosed waters and said it will soon announce its own maritime conservation initiatives.