The European Commission announced on Thursday it will restrict access to 87 vulnerable marine ecosystems in the north-east Atlantic coasts of France, Ireland, Portugal and Spain for deep-sea bottom fisheries. “The total closure area corresponds to 16,419 km2 reserved for the protection of vulnerable marine ecosystems below 400 meters,” said environment commissioner Virginijus Sinkevičius. Fishing below a depth of 800 meters in the north-east Atlantic was banned in 2016.
