The suspension of certain fisheries controls on the high seas during lockdown will compromise the protection of marine species in the future. In an attempt to protect fishing crew and coastal communities during COVID-19, there has been widespread relaxation of important monitoring and surveillance measures in fisheries around the world. WWF and 19 other organizations have written to regional fishing management bodies to ask them to consider alternatives to observers such as electronic monitoring. Environmental organizations have fought hard for years to win the measures which are being set back by the pandemic, says Marcel Kroese, the global tuna lead at the WWF.
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