News

April 8, 2014

Fisheries Fund deal approved by the Fisheries Committee

A little over a week before the expected vote in the European Parliament on the new European Fisheries and Maritime Fund, the Fisheries Committee approved the deal struck on 28 January.


April 7, 2014

EU task force finally agrees on way forward for multiannual management plans

Last week the Inter-institutional Task Force set up to resolve the long-standing deadlock on multiannual management plans for fish stocks came to an agreement on the way forward.


April 1, 2014

Consultation on the second draft of the new de minimis Regulation

The European Commission public consultation on the Commission services second draft of the new de minimis Regulation.


March 27, 2014

New report proposes MPAs in the Baltic Sea

Oceana has since 2010 conducted three expeditions in the Baltic Sea and Kattegat area and have, based on the finding of these expeditions, proposed 13 marine protected areas (MPAs) in the Baltic Sea and the Kattegat.


March 21, 2014

Marine spatial planning – stakeholder dialogue meeting

The Swedish Agency for Marine and Water Management (SwAM) hosted a national stakeholder meeting yesterday to discuss and collect input from stakeholders on SwAMs recently released draft report on marine spatial planning for Swedish waters. More work is needed how to integrate the marine spatial planning with other directives and policies already in place.


March 20, 2014

Discard ban, omnibus and technical measures focus at Inter-ACs meeting

Some of the key issues discussed when representatives of the (Regional) Advisory Councils met with the Commission where the landing obligation, the omnibus regulation and the consultation on a new technical measures framework. It became clear that there is a widespread disappointment with the omnibus proposal among stakeholders.


March 15, 2014

US government about to allow sesmic airguns in the North Atlantic Ocean

Marine mammals, including the endangered North Atlantic right whale, use sound for navigation, communication as well as locate food – seismic blasts caused by the airguns may disrupt these behaviours and possibly deafen these animals.


March 14, 2014

CCB report on MSFD shows poor coordination between Baltic Sea member states

Earlier this morning Coalition Clean Baltic (CCB) launched a detailed report where they reviewd the Baltic Sea EU member states work on implementing the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD).


March 13, 2014

New EU directive on maritime spatial planning

Last week the Permanent Representatives Committee approved a draft directive establishing a framework for maritime spatial planning, which is aimed at contributing to sustainable growth of maritime economies and the sustainable development of marine areas.


March 10, 2014

EU Member States far from reaching HOPE goals

The HOPE conference aimed to discuss, based on Article 12, the progress made since the adoption of the MSFD. The conclusions from the review is clear - there is a lack of common understanding of what GES really is about, poor level of implementation together with targets that often are weak and non-measurable. Despite Article 12 clear message only a hand full of speakers brought it up as if they been asked not to touch upon these failures.