News
October 2, 2009
Ministers, Commissioner set sight on discard ban
In a joint declaration in Stockholm, eight Baltic Sea fisheries ministers and Commissioner Joe Borg have announced plans to develop a road map for a ban on discards. The road map, to be worked out in 2010, would aim at banning discards in the Baltic cod fishery, a measure that has been in force for … Continued
October 2, 2009
EP Fisheries Committee reacts to Guinea violence
Reacting to renewed violence in the African state of Guinea, the EU Parliament Fisheries Committee has rejected a draft fisheries agreement between the Union and Guinea. The agreement would had provided €450,000 a year in EU funding to develop Guinea’s fisheries sector, and meanwhile allow EU boats to fish in Guinean waters. The vote took … Continued
October 1, 2009
Transparency made opaque
An EU initiative to create more transparency in the handing out of fisheries subsidies has rather resulted in more obscurity, a new report says. The report for FishSubsidy.org, a British NGO dedicated to obtaining and publishing data on EU funding, was authored by investigative journalist Brigitte Alfter, a co-founder of FishSubsidy.org. Headlined “Slipping through the net: … Continued
October 1, 2009
No October, November eel on Dutch sandwiches
A two-month moratorium on eel fishing in Holland took force on October 1, making Dutch professional fishermen publicly predict their soon demise. The European Union has set a goal of a 40 per cent escapement, and the member states were two years ago asked to submit national recovery plans to that end to the Commission … Continued
September 30, 2009
Regionalisation – but how?
Some 150 stakeholders, civil servants, scientists and politicians listened, learned and debated regionalisation – one of the perhaps most popular, but complex aspects of the upcoming CFP reform. The high-level conference, organised by FISH, Pew Environment Group and the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) as a joint OCEAN2012 and WWF event, in order to … Continued
September 30, 2009
WWF protests possible weakening of Control Proposal
The proposed EU Control Regulation, still subject to last-minute debate and last-second changes, has led the WWF to issue an angry letter to both ministers and attachés. The World Wide Fund for Nature says some of the most important control priorities are now running the risk of being scrapped from the final proposal, which the … Continued
September 24, 2009
ITQs, VQSs making Danish fishery float
Just a few years ago, Danish fishermen faced the situation of being the biggest EU exporter of fish and seafood, and still running a far from profitable business. Overcapacity was the biggest problem, and transferable rights have been the solution, Danish experts now say, looking at a balanced situation. With an overcapacity of 30 percent … Continued
September 23, 2009
Unprecedented global industry summit on marine environment
For the first time in history, cross-sectorial private industry interests will gather next year for a World Summit on how to address ocean environmental challenges. For the first time in history, cross-sectorial private industry interests will gather next year for a World Summit on how to address ocean environmental challenges. The meeting on “Corporate Ocean … Continued
September 17, 2009
UK outlines priorities for CFP reform
At a breakfast meeting this morning, the environment secretary Hilary Benn and the fisheries minister Huw Irranca-Davies outlined UK priorities for the upcoming reform of the EU Common Fisheries Policy. A wide range of stakeholders had gathered at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) this morning to hear the UK Secretary of … Continued
September 17, 2009
Small-scale website
A new website has been launched to put the lights on small-scale fisheries in view of the upcoming EU Common Fisheries Policy reform. The responsible organisation is The International Collective in Support of Fishworkers (ICSF), an international non-governmental outfit that works towards the establishment of equitable, gender-just, self-reliant and sustainable fisheries, particularly in the small-scale, … Continued