News
October 20, 2010
Anglers’ letter: Salmon returns down 50 percent in a year
Two organisations representing more than 100,000 anglers in Sweden and Finland have written to the EU Commission voicing “deep concern” over the “greatly lowered” number of spawning wild salmon returning to their rivers this summer. The letter, from the Swedish National Sport Fishing Association, the Finnish Federation for Recreational Fishing and a regional organisation of … Continued
October 19, 2010
Damanaki details CFP reform, gets tough on shark preservation
Speaking to the European Parliament Fisheries Committee, Commissioner Maria Damanaki presented details in next year’s CFP work programme, but also took the opportunity to come out in strong support of strengthening the EU ban on some shark fishing practices. Asserting that she aims to present a Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) reform package to be adopted … Continued
October 19, 2010
Hong Kong clamps down on trawling
Setting an example for EU member states managing sensitive marine ecosystems, Hong Kong has taken the first steps towards a total ban on all trawl fishing. In his policy address for 2010-2011, Hong Kong Chief Executive Donald Tsang noted that “in recent years, Hong Kong’s marine environment has been affected by pollution and capture fisheries, … Continued
October 19, 2010
European Greens give the case for fisheries reform
The Baltic network of the European Greens has issued a statement calling for NGO help in lobbying decision-makers and raising public awareness around marine issues. The Baltic Green Network published its statement on Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) Reform at a European Green Party (EGP) Council meeting in October. In order to increase public awareness of … Continued
October 19, 2010
European anglers call for better salmon management
With the decision on Baltic Sea quotas coming up at the October Council meeting, European anglers call on the Member States and the Commission to ensure more precautionary management of wild salmon stocks. Following their annual General Assembly in Helsinki on 28 August, the European Anglers Alliance has adopted a resolution on Baltic wild salmon … Continued
October 14, 2010
Change in herring advice does not affect COM proposal
ICES revises advice for western Baltic herring after calculation error – up from -36 to -11 percent. The stock, however, is at an all time low and the revision of the advice will not result in any changes in the Commission proposal. ICES was forced to admit changes in its advice for fishing limits in … Continued
October 7, 2010
Environmentalists storm over COM deep-sea quota pitch
The EU Commission’s proposal for deep-sea TACs for 2011-2012 contained no raises, but environmentalists immediately condemned it for being far from enough. A press release from the Commission said that “no increases” in Total Allowable Catches (TACs) had been “granted” in EU waters and the North-East Atlantic “until positive trends in the abundance of deep-sea … Continued
October 5, 2010
North Sea Ministers denouncing discards
Making ”The Ardoe Declaration” an instant fisheries-policies household word, four North Sea Fisheries ministers have come out strongly in a commitment to reduce discards. The ministers from Great Britain, Denmark and Norway met at Ardoe House in Aberdeen in early October, hosted by Scotland’s Fisheries Secretary Richard Lochhead. They were joined by Fisheries Commissioner Maria … Continued
September 30, 2010
‘Slavery’ uncovered aboard squalid trawlers
In that day’s most viewed website story from the British broadsheet The Guardian, human rights abuses on trawlers off West Africa were dramatically documented. While the study “All at Sea”, produced by the Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF), initially intended to focus on IUU (Illegal, unreported, unregulated) catches and overfishing, the “slavery” which they uncovered also … Continued
September 30, 2010
Trawling in the deep: New study reveals the scars
A recent study concludes that the physical damage wrought by bottom trawling has been significantly greater than that from other human activities combined – oil and gas exploration, waste disposal, and the laying of submarine communication cables. The study published in the PLoS One journal, an online science publication, investigated the impact of bottom trawling … Continued