News
May 13, 2010
Baltic NGOs discuss Marine Strategy Framework Directive
Many Member States around the Baltic have just started on the road to implementation of the two-year old EU directive, an NGO meeting in Lithuania was told. On Monday 10 May, NGOs around the Baltic Sea gathered to learn more about Marine Strategy Framework Directive and its implementation in the region. They also discussed the … Continued
May 6, 2010
EU Ministers clear throats, raise voices on new CFP
The first informal talks among EU fisheries ministers on the upcoming CFP reform ended in the Spanish Presidency reporting “unanimous agreement” on a set of priorities, including the need to separate small-scale and industrialised fishing. Backlighted by the Commission’s 2009 Green Paper and the more than 380 responses to it, as well as declarations and … Continued
May 6, 2010
ICES advice to shift into MSY approach
As a result of ICES clients now subscribing to the Maximum Sustainable Yield approach, ICES is currently developing a strategy for the transition of the current precautionary-based advice to an MSY framework. The International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) is an independent organisation/network based in Copenhagen that provides the European Union and … Continued
May 5, 2010
Scottish fishers in dire straits
The Scottish fishing sector says it is facing massive close-downs after fishermen have used up their allotted days-at-sea quotas much sooner than expected. As the EU Fisheries ministers – except Scotland’s Richard Lochhead – had an informal meeting in Vigo, Spain, representatives of the Scottish seafood producers met Lochhead in Edinburgh to express their worries … Continued
May 5, 2010
UK Study shows today’s fishermen must work much harder than yore
Comparing statistics going back to the 1880s, British researchers found that four times more fish were landed in UK ports 100 years ago than today. The study, published in the Nature Communications journal, also found that UK trawlers had to work 17 times as hard for the same catch as in the late 1880s, when … Continued
May 5, 2010
Earthquake in fishmeal prices
The forces of Nature have caused the price of fishmeal to skyrocket more than 85 percent in a year. A tonne of fishmeal had surged to 1,937 US dollars (€1,479) in late April. After the global financial crisis in 2008, prices went as low as $1,000 a tonne. The increase was due to a sharp … Continued
May 4, 2010
Swedish plans to lift small-scale efforts
A report from the Swedish Board of Fisheries suggests that small-scale fisheries should be under separate management. The report, commissioned by the Swedish Government, added that this could be achieved through separate catch quotas, or that some areas could be closed to large-scale fisheries. On the whole, the report pinpointed sinking profitability as a dominant … Continued
May 4, 2010
That’s how THEY do it:
A report on how fleet capacity is managed in six important non-EU fishing nations has been published, to the benefit of the European Parliament Fisheries Committee. The report, commissioned by the Fishery Committee (PECH), aimed at providing a support tool for the members, comparing instruments for fleet management in different non-EU countries with the EU … Continued
May 4, 2010
Singing Sensation: 10 Fishermen No.7 on British charts
Not exactly a boy band, more of a “buoy band”, 10 rugged Cornwall fishermen have launched a singing group career that has only just started with a one million pound recording contract. It was a scene as taken from a sentimental movie: The Fisherman’s Friends were discovered following a pub gig by the same label … Continued
May 3, 2010
NGO statement told EU to scale down
Describing the upcoming CFP reform as an “once-in-a-decade opportunity”, close to a dozen NGOs told the EU Fisheries ministers to promote a shift to “appropriately-scaled, community-based fisheries” when the new policy is taking shape. The ministers were gathered for an informal meeting in the Spanish fishing stronghold of Vigo on May 4-5. Welcoming the Commission’s … Continued