WWF warns: Import fish and rare species on tourist menus - urgently protect the Mediterranean Sea as a "biodiversity hotspot".

Crystal-clear water, white sandy beaches and Mediterranean cuisine - this is how the Mediterranean attracts holidaymakers from all over the world - especially from Austria. However, very few people know that their “favourite sea” is a true hotspot of biodiversity and that the fish menu can contribute to its destruction: “One in ten marine creatures known worldwide can be found in the Mediterranean, 28 percent live nowhere else on earth. These include eight whale species, dolphins and porpoises, hawksbill and green sea turtles and around 80 shark and ray species. We have to protect this natural jewel much better,” demands Simone Niedermüller, marine expert at WWF Austria. Because 20 percent of around 6.000 species examined in the Mediterranean Sea are endangered - including the great white shark, the blue and angel shark, devil and eagle rays as well as sperm and fin whales. The population of marine mammals in the Mediterranean has fallen particularly sharply in the past 50 years – by 41 percent. Overfishing and the cutting up of migration routes – so-called “blue corridors” – are the main causes, alongside noise pollution and pollution. Last but not least, the inland sea suffers from the very high level of tourism: "There is an urgent need for more awareness of the effects of our holiday activities and our consumption so that we can continue to enjoy the diversity of this region for a long time to come," says Niedermüller.

Shark instead of swordfish and turtles as bycatch

No other sea suffers from overfishing as badly as the Mediterranean. The high fish consumption at holiday destinations cannot be covered sustainably or regionally, especially in the high season. “So supposedly local, fresh catches often come from farms or the Far East. In addition, many endangered species such as sharks or rays end up hidden on the menu,” warns Simone Niedermüller from WWF Austria. One of the most common seafood scams in Italy is shark sold as swordfish – and shark species in the Mediterranean are drastically overfished. On the other hand, “Shark Burger” is advertised quite bluntly – as discovered in Croatia. Even if the range of fish dishes is large, the environmental protection organization therefore recommends increasingly resorting to vegetarian alternatives, which are just as traditional in the Mediterranean countries: "Paella does not always have to be with shrimp and vegetarian pasta can also taste excellent - there is a lot of traditional dishes that don't have any Mediterranean destruction attached to them,” says Niedermüller.

Plastic pollution in the Mediterranean is also mainly due to heavy tourism: “Tourism is increasing the pressure on the Mediterranean. Municipal waste disposal cannot keep up with the seasonally increasing amount of waste. During the holiday season with more than 300 million travelers, the waste load in the coastal regions increases by up to 40 percent,” says Niedermüller. The equivalent of 33.800 plastic bottles per minute end up in the inland sea – five kilograms of plastic waste accumulate per kilometer of coast every day.