News
November 19, 2008
Certification of Baltic herring moves on
The assessment of the Western Baltic spring spawning herring fishery for a future MSC certification is now entering the information gathering phase, and meetings to that end will be held in Rostock, Germany, December 9-10. The certification body, Moody Marine Ltd, added in the announcement that “a key purpose of this stage is to collect … Continued
November 18, 2008
Extinction threats on the rise, comparison says
A comparison of the IUCN Red Lists of 1996 and 2007 show a considerable rise in the number of threatened fish species, a lecturer at a recent FishBase symposium in Stockholm said. Dr. Rainer Froese, FishBase coordinator at the University of Kiel, said there had been a 77 per cent increase in the total of … Continued
November 17, 2008
Swedish National Auditor attacks fishing subsidies
Terming it ”artificial respiration”, Sweden’s Auditor General criticises her government’s support to the fishing industry. In a new report Eva Lindström, one of three national Auditor Generals, claims that the government uses one hand to give fishermen support to continue fishing, while the other hand offers support for stopping. “In other words, tax payers get … Continued
November 15, 2008
Controls to be discussed at upcoming Council meeting
There are no decisions expected at the EU Fisheries Ministers’ Council meeting on November 18, but the member states will continue discussions on the modernisation of the control system applicable to the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP). The Commission laid forth in the preceding week a proposal for a new Council Regulation for the EU fisheries … Continued
November 14, 2008
European Commission proposes new CFP control regulation
The European Commission today proposed a new Council Regulation for the EU fisheries control system. The proposal aims at modernising the system for inspection, monitoring, control, surveillance and enforcement of the CFP. It inter alia includes harmonised inspection procedures and higher standards of control, as well as the possibility for inspections of fishing vessels to take … Continued
November 12, 2008
New study estimates gigantic costs of illegal fishing
The cost of illegal fishing to EU Member States by 2020 will be 10 billion Euros of lost catches, 8 billion Euros of lost stock value and 27,000 jobs in the fishing and processing industries, a new report says. The study, commissioned by the Pew Environment Group, added that the true costs are probably much … Continued
November 12, 2008
Swedish authority proposes halved eel catches over five years
In view of a remaining acute threat to the species, the Swedish Board of Fisheries proposes a 50 per cent reduction in eel catches by 2013. The EU Fisheries Ministers last year called for the Member States to submit national management plans for the dwindling stocks to the Commission by the end of 2008. In … Continued
November 11, 2008
Except for Sole and Hake hike, all decreases in EU proposal for 2009 quotas
Most stocks continue to be overfished, and quotas need to be reduced, the EU Commission said as the proposal for next year’s quotas for the North-East Atlantic was presented on November 10. The only increased quotas in the proposal were two stocks of sole (7 and 5 per cent) and one stock of hake (a … Continued
November 8, 2008
Better control called for in EU infringement report
There has been no real decrease in the number of serious infringements to the rules of the EU Common Fisheries Policy (CFP), the Commission said in its seventh annual report on the subject, published on November 4. Infringement report The report dealt with infringements detected in 2006 and showed a slight (1 per cent) decrease … Continued
November 6, 2008
Fines for Swedish Cod Poachers
In one of Sweden’s largest fish poaching trials ever, nine fishermen have been fined between 340-7,000 euros for passing off cod as pollack to circumvent EU quotas. Seven others were acquitted, the court finding the ships’ commanders bearing the full responsibility for some 140 illegal landings of 109 tonnes of cod in 2005. The value … Continued