News
March 15, 2011
Mackerel talks at halt, but maybe moving
The latest round of talks in the ongoing mackerel conflict ended no deal and Scottish interests calling for the EU to impose "meaningful sanctions", while the Icelandic chief negotiator claimed his country was willing to be “more flexible”, and the head of the Norwegian delegation said that “things are moving”.
March 15, 2011
EU rules may threaten “rotten” fish industry
A revoked exemption from EU dioxin rules would have hard repercussions on fisheries along Sweden’s northern coast and threaten its traditional fermented herring (surströmming) industry, a government study shows.
March 10, 2011
Level of Russian catches now back to the USSR
For the first time Russian fisheries are reporting catches on the same level as when the Federation was part of the Soviet Union 20 years ago.
March 9, 2011
MEPs gather around radical CFP reform
Members of the European Parliament representing 14 nations and all the major political alliances have formed ”Fish For the Future”, a cross-party campaign group to promote radical CFP reform.
March 9, 2011
Latin American fishing in dire straits
Both Argentina and Peru have been hard hit by apparent effects of overfishing, while Chilean seafood exports suffers from unfavourable exchange rates.
March 9, 2011
Russian pollock goes sustainable
The WWF has welcomed further steps along the road to MSC certification by Russian Alaska pollock catchers, the world’s second largest fishery.
March 8, 2011
Poll shows Japanese consumer awareness
Consumers in Japan, the world’s biggest seafood market, want both sustainably caught and clearly labelled fish products, a poll commissioned by Greenpeace shows. More than half of survey respondents said they would like to see labels on seafood products indicating that they were caught using sustainable methods, while less than 20 percent of them said … Continued
March 8, 2011
…and Brits, Dutch, follow suit
Recent surveys in both the UK and the Netherlands highlight sharp increases in consumer spending on sustainable seafood, despite almost no rise at all in overall household expenditures during tough financial times. Independent research shows a 154 percent increase in consumer spending on sustainable seafood in the UK, and a 50 percent increase in the … Continued
March 3, 2011
Ministers discussed discards, Damanaki considering ban
Describing earlier efforts to reduce discards as ”treating a serious illness with aspirin”, Commissioner Maria Damanaki opened a recent meeting on the subject with EU fisheries ministers, MEPs and other high-level decision-makers. In a key-note speech to the closed-door meeting in Brussels on 1 March, Damanaki pointed out that the Union is doing much worse … Continued
March 3, 2011
Official cat is more sustainable
Larry the Cat, the Prime Minister’s resident rat-catcher and First Pet at No 10 Downing Street, is likely to eat more sustainable fish than his master, British environmentalists acidly point out. Describing the British Government’s fish buying standards as “an embarrassing failure”, several NGOs remark in a letter to PM David Cameron that leading pet … Continued