As a special feature in the new “Ocean on Google Earth” Internet program, users can check the sustainability of fish stocks. A map layer, based on information from the Marine Conservation Society (MCS), shows where in the world some of the most sustainably-sourced kinds of fish come from, and, accordingly, which fish available to consumers can … Continued
The fishing capacity for Swedish cod fishers in the Kattegat and Skagerrak and the North Sea, will be reduced by up to 25 per cent, after a new effort-management system was introduced on Feb.1. The new system, implemented under the EU Cod Recovery Plan approved by the Council last November, is based on the “kilowatt-days” … Continued
Steadily improving, but still far from perfect – that is how the EU Commission marks the member states’ annual reports on their efforts to balance fleet capacity and available fishing opportunities. The first reports submitted covered the year 2003, and in its recently published annual compilation, of reports covering 2007, the Commission concluded that the … Continued
Aiming at a 20 per cent reduction in catches, Sweden implemented new rules for eel fishing on Feb.1. The rules, varying from water to water, are included in the national management plan called for in a EU Council Regulation in 2007. The national plans were to be submitted to the Commission by the end of … Continued
Much remains to be done as regards management and control of fisheries in the Baltic, national audit institutions in the concerned states conclude in a joint report. The audit of environmental monitoring and fisheries management/control in the Baltic Sea was conducted last year by the supreme audit institutions of Sweden, Finland, Russia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, … Continued
In a draft ”non-paper” the EU Commission has outlined possible new approaches to stock management/TACs when there is scientific uncertainty in the stock assessment process. In a policy statement last year the Commission set out its approach to setting TACs in such cases, proposing as its aim to “set the TAC according to STECF advice … Continued
A wider scope for eco-labelling should include the carbon footprint of fishing practices and the use of toxic pollutants, a new study shows. The study by three Swedish and Danish researchers, commissioned by the EU Commission, compared eco-labelling systems used for licensing by four different bodies: ‘The Dolphin Safe Tuna’ – introduced as a ‘single … Continued
A more than 75 per cent decrease in illegal fishing has contributed to the number of cod ready to spawn in the Barents Sea now being the most favourable in decades, estimates from the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) show. The Council estimates that illegal outtakes have shrunk from 166,000 tons … Continued
A U.S. government agency has identified six nations, including France and Italy, as practising IUU fishing, a process that may finally lead to denied entry into U.S. ports and prohibited imports of fish products from that nation. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said in a first-ever report to the US Congress that fishing … Continued
Six Swedish trawler owners have been granted 4.9 million euros in subsidies for scrapping their vessels, enabling Sweden almost at once to live up to its national goal of reducing the fleet trawling for cod in the Baltic by ten percent by 2010. The decision by the Swedish Board of Fisheries gives the owners six … Continued