News
October 8, 2012
The Baltic Sea – a model for Low Impact Fisheries?
On 26-27 September, The Fisheries Secretariat (FISH) held a conference in Gdynia, Poland, looking at what further actions are needed in order to minimise the environmental impacts caused by fishing in the Baltic Sea. Solutions were discussed between stakeholders to facilitate the transition to low impact fishing, to pave the way for the Baltic to become a model region for low impact fishing practices.
October 5, 2012
European deep sea fisheries catching up to 3.5 times their allocated quotas – study says
A recent study published in Ocean and Coastal management reveals that on average the European fishing fleet catches up to 3.5 times more deep sea fish than the allocated quotas. In some between ten and twenty-eight times more fish is caught than what is allocated by the quotas. Deep Sea species, such as orange roughy, are often slow growing and long lived and are therefore very sensitive to overfishing.
October 5, 2012
BalticSTERN seminar: Public is willing to pay for a healthier Baltic Sea
The Baltic Sea provides a number of ecosystem services to the inhabitants of the region. Hitherto, economic models have tended not to place economic values on them though. BalticSTERN work to integrate these values as well as public opinion into their analyses. With regard to fisheries, their research indicates that low fishing mortalities will generate the highest long-term profitability as well as being best for the long-term resilience of the ecosystem.
October 4, 2012
Study produced analysing global unassessed fisheries
A recent study, led by Christopher Costello, has attempted to provide insight into the status of “unassessed” fisheries from across the globe. By compiling the available data for such stocks, which comprise 80% of the world’s fisheries, the paper underlines the precarious state of the world’s fisheries and the benefits of rebuilding fish populations.
September 21, 2012
Fisheries Committee delays key vote
The Rodust (S&D, DE) report on the proposed basic regulation on the CFP – a fundamental part of the reform – has attracted over 2,500 amendments. It was up for vote in the Fisheries Committee on 9 October, but this has now been delayed until 28 November. In turn, the mid-November Plenary vote will also be postponed.
September 17, 2012
Models are not religion – it´s ok to cheat
Dr Christensen, the lead developer of the Ecopath with Ecosim approach and software, widely used throughout the world for ecosystem-based management of marine systems, held a seminar at the Swedish Royal Academy of Science last Friday.
September 13, 2012
European Parliament plenary undermines efforts to rebuild fish stocks
In this week’s European Parliament plenary, several votes that will shape the future of fisheries management took place. The first reading of the Common Market Organisation (CMO) has been completed and voted through by the Parliament, along with the overarching communication of the Common Fisheries Policy.
September 3, 2012
What lies ahead – Baltic Sea Future Scenarios
Last week WWF Sweden hosted its annual Baltic Sea Seminar, held for the tenth consecutive year, as an important part of the Baltic Sea Festival. During the seminar WWF launched the report, “Counter Currents”, which presents a range of possible futures for the Baltic Sea leading up to the year 2030.
August 29, 2012
BALTFISH continues to evolve under its third presidency
The first BALTFISH meeting to take place under the Estonian presidency took place in Tallinn yesterday. There was also a technical working group focused on implementation of the discard ban, which will most likely come into force in 2014 as well as discussions centred upon TACs and quotas for 2013 and the multispecies management plan for the Baltic.
August 23, 2012
Commission film on TFCs brings discard ban into the spotlight
With their film released over the summer, the Commission have given a final show of support for TFCs and put them in the CFP reform spotlight just months before the European Parliament plenary votes on the Basic Regulation package. Despite being rejected by both the Council and the ENVI committee in the Parliament, Commissioner Damanaki has continued to be a strong proponent of the system.