In the Libyan coastal city of Sirte, Mokhtar al-Rammash prepares to take his beat-up plastic boat out on another fishing trip. Untangling his worn and fraying nets, he points to the .
“These nets now catch only plastic,” he said. “It feels like we’re cleaning the sea instead of earning a living from it.”
, which according to the United Nations enters the Mediterranean Sea at a rate of 730 tons a day, is not his only concern. After decades of fishing the waters that connect southern Europe and North Africa, he said industrial trawlers that “take everything, even the small, juvenile fish,” are sweeping the sea “clean every day.”
Added to that, he said sewage released by towns near the Libyan capital, Tripoli, is killing fish and sponge populations, while coastal reclamation is disturbing breeding grounds for certain species.
“What’s happening here isn’t normal,” said al-Rammash, adding that it sometimes feels as if has no sea on the doorstep. “We have one of the longest coastlines in the region, yet we import fish from abroad.”
Al-Rammash said he and other fishermen hope the Libyan Environment Ministry will take action to protect the sea and what he describes as “a continuous destruction” of their only source of income. “We’ve sent letters and demands, but no one replies.”
Shared struggles
Along the coast near the Egyptian city of Alexandria, Haj Abdel Nabi sits on the dock inspecting his own nets. Now in his 60s, he recalls a time when the sea provided a rich catch.
“In the past, we used to come back with 100 kilograms of fish, but today we get only 10 and sometimes, we return with nothing at all,” he said.
He also said the trawlers are at least partly to blame, with a single vessel hauling “more than all the local fishermen combined.” Like al-Rammash, he said he has taken his concerns to the municipality and the Environment Ministry, but so far he has not received a reply.
Environmental reports from , which shares a coastline with Libya and Egypt, have shown ongoing depletion of species such as pilchard, which is important for the country’s fishing industry.
Algerian authorities told DW that 1,300 tons of “sardine seeds” — juvenile fish which are smaller than 11 centimeters (4.3 inches) in length — are caught annually, often illegally. Researchers warn that catching juvenile fish undermines populations and disrupts the marine food chain.
What are the solutions?
As local fishers like Mokhtar al-Rammash and Haj Abdel Nabi feel the combined weight of the problems facing the Mediterranean, has presented a national plan to improve its coastal environment.
The plan, presented at a conference in July, would to restore two coastal lakes and build around 70 kilometers (about 43 miles) of shoreline protection in the form of sand dune dikes. Cairo is also aiming to reduce plastic use through extended producer responsibility that would impose fees on manufacturers and importers of plastic bags.
Environment Minister Yasmine Fouad also announced initiatives to provide additional income for fishermen, involving them in marine waste collection and recycling, as well as monitoring water quality for pollution.
“Protecting the Mediterranean is no longer an environmental choice. It’s a social and economic necessity,” she said.
. Scientific studies show that oceans have absorbed about 90% of the excess heat generated by human activity since the Industrial Revolution in the 19th century, placing additional stress on fragile marine ecosystems. And experts say that increasing temperatures, declining rainfall and sea-level rise are .
Are global ocean protection commitments enough?
Algeria recently announced a project that would digitize fishing activity monitoring and connect its ports to electronic tracking systems in cooperation with the Union for the Mediterranean, a 43-state intergovernmental organization.
In June, 55 countries signed the High Seas Treaty, which aims to protect 30% of the world’s oceans by 2030. This milestone in global ocean governance — which among other things will create protected areas and regulate activities such as fishing, shipping and — will come into effect once 60 countries have ratified it. This could happen by the end of the year.
June also saw 170 countries come together in France to announce the Nice Ocean Action Plan. It calls for involving fishers in environmental data collection, banning deep-sea fishing in fragile ecosystems and supporting blue economy projects as a path to sustainable development.
European countries have pledged to invest €1 billion (about $1.2 billion) in ocean protection initiatives over the coming years. This includes support for countries in the , stricter marine conservation, and advanced in the Mediterranean.
But those who live from the sea are not all convinced by protection promises. “It’s hard to believe when some of the biggest funders are also the world’s worst polluters,” Samir Sheikh al-Zaghnani, a former Tunisian captain and now independent environmental activist, told DW.
Fishermen like al-Rammash would like to be more directly involved in protecting the waters around them. “We know the sea, and we can protect it, but we don’t have the tools,” he said. “If they keep giving us promises while giving others the nets, there’ll be nothing left for us.”
This article was originally written in Arabic. It was produced as part of the 2025 UN Ocean Conference Fellowship organized by Internews’ Earth Journalism Network
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