News
August 18, 2009
MSY not good enough, says “CSI for Overfishing”
A global study holds forth the US, New Zealand and Iceland as good fish stock managers, but adds that more than half of the assessed stocks worldwide still need rebuilding. The study, published in July in the Science magazine, is a joint effort that includes Boris Worm of Dalhousie University in Canada, a controversial marine … Continued
July 25, 2009
FISH looking for new staff member
Because of new project funding and a shifting of responsibilities within the Fisheries Secretariat, we are now searching for a new member of staff. FISH is looking to recruit a new team member to assist with our ongoing policy work. The successful candidate will take part in our work on “greening” international fisheries policy, with … Continued
July 23, 2009
Advice process, Commission “generalisations” questioned at Brussels seminar
Many doubts were vented over the process leading to the setting of TACs as the Commission arranged a one-day July seminar for scientists, bureaucrats, stakeholders and politicians in Brussels. After presentations by scientists of assessment methods and states of stocks in EU waters region by region, discussions continued, dominated by industry representatives claiming that scientific … Continued
July 21, 2009
Trade union says more could be taken from recovering cod stock
A Canadian fisheries workers trade union is protesting that their government is not answering to hopeful signs of recovery for the earlier collapsed cod stock off Labrador and Newfoundland. The cod stocks off Eastern Canada and Northeastern USA, formerly some of the world’s biggest, collapsed in the early 1990’s and showed few signs of recovery … Continued
July 21, 2009
Returning Spanish Chair
Carmen Fraga Estévez of Spain returned as chairperson of the Fisheries Committee in the European Parliament for the next two-and-a-half years. Ms. Fraga Estévez, a MP for the Partido Popular since 1994, held the chair between 1997-99, and was Secretary-General for Maritime Fisheries 2002-2004. The elected vice chairs were Struan Stevenson of the United Kingdom, … Continued
July 16, 2009
Still too little done about EU overcapacity, study shows
EU member states are not fulfilling their obligations to report on the reduction of fleet overcapacity in fisheries, and the Commission is not doing enough to enforce those obligations, a recent study shows. The evaluation by the independent Institute for European Environmental Policy (IEEP), for the Pew Environment group, is based on the 2007 member … Continued
July 14, 2009
Better control will not mean expensive imported fish
A study commissioned by the EU Commission shows that the financial impact on exports from developing nations to the Union from stricter IUU control will be very light indeed – a 0.26 percent price increase. The study, conducted by consultants Megapesca Lda from Portugal and Oceanic Développement from France, analyses in depth the impacts in … Continued
July 4, 2009
WWF, Fishermen and Minister in joint appeal for change
In an unusual move, the Swedish WWF Secretary-General, the president of the Swedish Fishermen’s Federation and the country’s Minister of Fisheries have published a joint letter calling for “regionalisation” of EU decision-making. Referring to Sweden’s four-day old role as EU President, Lasse Gustavson of the WWF, Henrik Svenberg of the SFR, and Agriculture and Fisheries … Continued
July 4, 2009
Bottom trawling condemned in new report
A new report from the Swedish Society for Nature Conservation (SNF) compares bottom trawling to “cutting down the forest in order to hunt for deer”. The report, a compilation of earlier scientific studies, described the negative environmental effects of the practice, both for marine eco-systems and for the environment as a whole: trawling is one … Continued
July 4, 2009
End of the line for politicians and bureaucrats
Although not yet premiered in movie houses, Greenpeace arranged a private pre-screening at this years’ Almedalen Week for an audience of political and government decision-makers. Almedalen is on the island of Gotland, suitably right in the middle of the recently threatened but now hopefully recovering East Baltic cod stock. “The End of the Line – … Continued