News
March 14, 2012
Fish Fight comes to Germany
On 23rd April, the Fish Fight campaign against discards will launch in Germany with an event outside the Bundestag. A series of programmes will then be broadcast on television, highlighting the wasteful fishing practices which have led to half of all the fish caught in the North Sea being thrown back dead into the sea.
March 13, 2012
ICES takes on multispecies perspective in Baltic fisheries management
In early March this year, a group of fisheries scientists, representatives from the Baltic Sea RAC and policy makers gathered in Charlottenlund, Denmark to discuss the possibilities of instituting multispecies (ecosystems approach) based advice for the Baltic. The current workshop (WKMULTBAL) was a follow up meeting to a workshop held at ICES headquarters in December last year.
March 13, 2012
Ghost nets in the Baltic Sea
A recent documentary by Joakim Odelberg (in co-operation with Emma Watson and Peter Isaksson), funded by the BalticSea2020, strikingly illustrates the severe but often neglected problem of ghost nets in the Baltic Sea.
March 12, 2012
Damanaki seeks to rally national parliamentarians
At a Fisheries Committee meeting in the European Parliament, Commissioner Damanaki along with the rapporteurs for the four segments of the Common Fisheries Policy reform gave presentations and answered questions from delegates of national parliaments from around the EU. Damanaki gave a robust defence of the Commission's proposals for the reform, that sought to underline why their proposals should not be diluted.
March 8, 2012
Greenpeace Poland: ‘European Fisheries at a Crossroads’
Released in late February, the hot-off-the-press report, ‘European Fisheries at a Crossroads’, is an informative introduction to the current state of affairs in European and Polish fisheries. The report is concise, yet provides a lot of detail for those intereseted in fisheries.
March 2, 2012
Europêche calls for preferential access for more sustainable vessels
At a meeting in Stockholm on the external dimension of the CFP, organised by rapporteur Isabella Lövin, Javier Garat of Europêche, the largest representative of the fishing industry, called for European vessels to be given priority fishing access when the EU makes agreements with third countries.
February 16, 2012
Environment Committee rapporteur pushes to rebuild fish stocks
The rapporteur, Chris Davies/ALDE, from the Environment Committee (ENVI) in the European Parliament has published his draft opinion on the Basic Regulation for the CFP reform. A large number of amendments are suggested, with a focus on rebuilding fish stocks and improving management at the EU level.
February 15, 2012
NGOs support Commission proposals not to finance engine modernisation
In the proposals for the European and Maritime Fisheries Fund (EMFF), the Commission has recommended legislation to end subsidies for the replacement and upgrade of vessels engines. A coalition of NGOs has published a position paper supporting the move.
February 14, 2012
Let’s give our fish some love!
John Rankin, one of the most celebrated fashion photographers in the UK, found a way to give a sexy flare to fisheries. He called it ‘Fish Love’.
January 31, 2012
BALTFISH forum – regionalisation in action
During the first BALTFISH Forum under its Finnish Presidency, a thoughtful discussion took place on key areas of the CFP reform. Regionalisation, the proposed discard ban, TFCs and the long-term management plan for salmon were the focus of the meeting. All of the director generals from the eight EU Baltic States participated, along with representatives from other regional actors such as the BS RAC, HELCOM and NGOs.