News
January 23, 2010
Revamping Baltic Sea decision-making system
A new platform, working-name ”Baltfish”, is emerging in the EU decision-making process. The conceived body, built around the Fisheries directors of those eight member states that surround the Baltic Sea, is budding from the EU Baltic Sea Strategy, launched as a pet project by the Swedish Presidency last fall. The Fisheries directors, intended to constitute … Continued
January 20, 2010
Plain talk from Damanaki in EP Hearing
With a commitment to ”stick to” the Baltic cod management plan, and praising the Baltic Sea RAC cooperation as “excellent”, Fisheries Commissioner designate Maria Damanaki made an overall headstrong and competent impression in her European Parliament hearing. While holding forth the BS Regional Advisory Council as a good example of cooperation from the Commission’s perspective, … Continued
January 20, 2010
Coming up, Fish Week
Pencil the date in your diaries: The week of June 8th will see the first European Fish Week, with events being held all across the continent. The instigator for this is OCEAN2012, a coalition of parties committed to actively participating in the 2012 reform of the Common Fisheries Policy, whose goals are to stop overfishing, … Continued
January 20, 2010
MSC best in test
Despite a recent storm of criticism from environmentalists and scientists, the WWF has found the MSC label better than any other certification system. The Marine Stewardship Council eco-labelling process has recently been questioned for its use of commercial consultants, paid by the industry. The study, commissioned by the World Wide Fund For Nature (WWF), compared … Continued
January 20, 2010
First six Swedish trawlers to go down
A total €1.78 millions have been granted to six Swedish West Coast trawlers to be scrapped, the first in a campaign aimed at a 50-percent reduction of the nation’s cod fleet in western waters by 2015. As the application period ran out last summer 45 vessels, equalling one third of the total Swedish capacity for … Continued
January 19, 2010
Damanaki hearing: Live on video link
The hearing of the Fisheries Commissioner-nominee Maria Damanaki in the European Parliament will take place on January 19, which is the last day of hearings. Ms. Damanaki, a former political prisoner under the Greek military junta in the 1970s, will share that session with Sweden’s present EU Minister Cecilia Malmström, who has been nominated for … Continued
January 12, 2010
Pressure is rising to end fish poaching in Poland
In Poland fish poaching is occurring at staggering rates, experts warn. Growing Problem There is no process in place to estimate the rate of illegal catches in Polish rivers, but according to the scientists from the Marine Fisheries Institute and Volunteer Fish Guards in the Western Pomeranian region in Poland, the rates are very high and … Continued
January 7, 2010
Irish scientists to listen to fishermen
A scientific study to take advantage of knowledge amassed by fishermen, not always on par with scientists’ outlook, is underway in Ireland. The study, performed by the newly formed Socio-Economic Marine Research Unit at the university in Galway, has been going on for more than a year, with individual fishermen being interviewed about the history … Continued
January 5, 2010
Used Christmas tree meaningful donation to fish
Obsolete Christmas trees may make excellent habitats for fish, according to a government fisheries biologist in Florida. A good idea is to tie a few trees together for density and anchor them between 1.5–3 metres below the surface. “You’ve got dense cover, which is going to bring in small bait fish because they can hide … Continued
December 29, 2009
UK on CFP: … not just yet …
In its official response to the Commission’s Green Paper, The British Government stresses regionalisation and “greater flexibility” on its wish list for the 2012 CFP. The UK response, however, does not go as far as the Scottish earlier contention that the Common Fisheries Policy should be scrapped. The British vote in the Council is a … Continued