News
November 4, 2009
No more whiting this year
The 2009 Swedish quota for whiting has been all but exhausted, and all commercial fishing for the species in the Kattegat and the Skagerrak has been banned for the rest of the year, the Board of Fisheries announced. The closure was enforced from November 9.
November 3, 2009
Spanish threat to South Pacific sharks
Two Spanish vessels using gillnets in waters between Australia and New Zealand threaten endangered deepwater sharp stocks, according to those nations, and the practice will be discussed with the European Union. Gillnet fishing is not formally forbidden in these high seas – waters outside the 200-mile Economic Zones – but Australian and New Zealand officials … Continued
November 3, 2009
Green Federation Gaja scales up wild salmon protection
A 50,000 zloty grant to provide volunteer fish guards with radio-telephones, rubber boots and insulated underwear will make life tougher for Polish salmon poachers. Green Federation ‘Gaja’ (GFG) (Federacja Zielonych ‘Gaja’), will provide equipment for Volunteer Fish Guards (VFG) to strengthen protection of the declining, and already low, wild salmon populations in the Polish rivers. … Continued
November 3, 2009
Baltic regionalisation officially underway
The Baltic Strategy has been endorsed and adopted by the heads of government in the European Council and responsibility has now been passed to “all relevant actors to act speedily and ensure full implementation of the Strategy.” The Baltic Strategy has been endorsed and adopted by the heads of government in the European Council and … Continued
November 3, 2009
Commissioner Borg shares sustainability prize
EU Fisheries Commissioner Joe Borg and Abraham Iyambo, Namibia’s Minister for Fisheries and Natural Resources, share this year’s Kungsfenan The Swedish Seafood Award in the Sustainable Fishing category. Dr. Borg was lauded for being “able to handle short term interests in relation to more long term ones with great personal integrity”. “His work has enormous … Continued
October 29, 2009
EU adopts IUU rules, but environmentalists see loopholes
The EU Commission has adopted rules for the implementation of last year’s IUU regulation, but environmentalists voiced concern that some salmon stocks have been excluded. The Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing regulation was adopted in September 2008, and will enter into force on Jan.1 next year. It will control all landings and transhipments of … Continued
October 28, 2009
IMP has been “key achievement”, Barroso says
Looking back at two years of Integrated Maritime Policy at work, the Commission reports that, out of 65 actions in the action Plan, 56 have been completed or launched. In a two-year progress report the Commission provides information and references for a total of 62 items related to the Integrated Maritime Policy (IMP), ranging from … Continued
October 28, 2009
Stakeholders in RAC not always in harmony, study shows
Not surprisingly, a study of communications between stakeholders in the Baltic RAC found “distrust” and “different levels of communicative skills”, as well as “different understandings of scientific concepts and language”. The project,”Facilitating Governance of Baltic Seas Fisheries by Improving Communication Among Stakeholders”, is run by a group of researchers at the Gothenburg Center for Public … Continued
October 28, 2009
NGO letter quoted in EU Council conclusions
The main demand in a joint letter on harmful subsidies from three environment NGOs was included all but verbatim in the conclusions from the October Council meeting of the EU Environment ministers. The letter to the EU Environment attachés from the WWF, BirdLife International and OCEAN2012, a coalition promoting more sustainable fisheries in the Union … Continued
October 28, 2009
Swedish move to ITQs
Sweden will introduce an ITQ system for pelagic fisheries on November 1, the Board of Fisheries has announced. The Individually Transferable Quotas (ITQ) rules will be applied for mackerel, herring, sprat, blue whiting, great sand eel, and some species in industrial fisheries. For the remainder of this year, the only change for fishermen with licenses … Continued