News
May 28, 2010
Baltic Cod is still going stronger
A continued rather remarkable comeback for the once troubled Eastern cod stock, and another slight improvement for its Western cousins, stood out as positive highlights as the ICES Advice for the 2011 Baltic Sea TACs were made public on May 28. Moving over to MSY For the Eastern cod stock, one of the largest in … Continued
May 28, 2010
Reactions: “Goes to show we were right …”
”Long-term management based on science will produce results – as opposed to the quota haggling of before”, was WWF-Sweden’s reaction to the improved situation for the Baltic cod, highlighted in today’s ICES advice for next year’s TACs in the Baltic Sea. “The recovery for the Baltic eastern cod stock is running unexpectedly well, and we … Continued
May 27, 2010
Report finds no trawling is productive
Thanks to a 70-year old trawling ban, cod fishing in the sound between Sweden and Denmark could now be counted as 100 times more productive than in neighbouring Kattegat, a new Swedish study shows. With an annual outtake of some 2,500 tonnes in Öresund, cod catches in the ten times larger Kattegat has dwindled to … Continued
May 26, 2010
IUU fishing: Crime still pays, study shows
Fish worth almost 19 billion euros is landed illegally each year, and efforts to clamp down on it are futile, a new study shows. The study, published in May in the Science magazine, contends that annually up to 26 million tonnes are landed illegally, worth an estimated $23 billions. “Illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing … Continued
May 26, 2010
Finland has to do more for threatened seals, EU warns
Concerned about one of the world’s most threatened seal populations, the EU Commission has sent a formal notice to the Finnish government calling for better protection of the waning Lake Saimaa seals. The Saimaa seal is a fresh water subspecies of the Ringed Seal, its occurrence restricted to the mythical Lake Saimaa in Eastern Finland, … Continued
May 25, 2010
Sweden wants another exception
Even though no improvement has been seen, Sweden will ask the Commission to prolong the dispensation from EU limits on the dioxin content in herring and salmon, the minister says. The present EU dispensation that allows Sweden and Finland to utilize fish with higher concentration of dioxin and PCB than the Union limit expires after … Continued
May 20, 2010
Oil spill may strike huge Florida angling sector
The Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Mexican Gulf may, if it hits Florida beaches, threaten a sport fishing industry worth almost 1 billion euros. Tar balls that have floated ashore there recently have been identified as not coming from the aftermath of the Deepwater Horizon incident off the coast of Louisiana, but US government scientists … Continued
May 18, 2010
Not many fish in the sea by 2050, experts warn
Unless fleets are slashed, the world may face fishless oceans in 40 years, UN experts say. In such a needful action, they add, 22 million jobs could disappear and 13 million fishing boats be scrapped. “It’s not as absurd as it sounds, as already 30 percent of the ocean fisheries have collapsed and are producing … Continued
May 18, 2010
COM stakes out road to 2011 TACs
As the EU Commission released its policy paper on the setting of next year’s catch quotas, Commissioner Maria Damanaki said she wanted to see “a tougher method” applied. TACs are set annually for most stocks and every two years for deep sea species. An increasing number of stocks are now dealt with under multi-year management … Continued
May 18, 2010
Swedish fisheries have an age class problem
Although the greying stock of Swedish professional fishermen is in serious need of rejuvenation, the Board of Fisheries approves only a handful of new licenses each year, a newsletter from the authority reports. “It’s got nothing to do with the job market – primarily it’s a question of what the fishing resources can endure”, says … Continued