News
August 30, 2009
US foresees climate change, bans Arctic fishing
In an unprecedented move, US Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke has approved a plan to ban fishing in more than a half million square kilometres of American waters in the Arctic – not because of overfishing, bur anticipating changing climate. The plan, the first of its kind, has been worked out in previously scarcely seen … Continued
August 26, 2009
STECF advices reduced effort for Baltic cod
The EU Commission’s main scientific advisory body has generally agreed with earlier scientific advice on next year’s Baltic catch quotas, but adds that fishing effort should be reduced for the dominant eastern cod stock. In its review of advice published in May by the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES), the Scientific, … Continued
August 26, 2009
CFP debate still same old song, study shows
The debate still centres around the same ”crisis in EU fisheries” as it did ten years ago, an important European research organisation says in a “health check” on the current Common Fisheries Policy (CFP), which also includes prescriptions for a better and more sound future. “Of all the European policies that govern the exploitation of … Continued
August 20, 2009
HELCOM wins big prize
The Helsinki Commission (HELCOM) has been awarded the prestigious 2009 Swedish Baltic Sea Water Award. The award-giving body, The Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI), cited HELCOM for having taken “marine environmental protection to a new level”. HELCOM , the governing body of the 1974 and 1992 Helsinki Conventions, works to protect the marine environment of … Continued
August 19, 2009
West Coast fishermen rush to sink their boats
Forty-five vessels, equalling one third of the total Swedish capacity for fishing cod in the western waters, have applied for subsidies to scrap the boats. Three quarters of the money for the program, aimed at a 50-percent reduction in Sweden’s capacity to catch cod in the Kattegat, the Skagerrak and the North Sea by 2015, … Continued
August 18, 2009
No more cod for Drogba, Lampard, Deco
Chelsea Football Club is one of 6,500 customers to face removed Atlantic cod and swordfish from their lunchroom menus, as the world’s largest contract caterer decides to follow conservationists’ recommendations. The Compass Group, which caters to schools, workplaces and restaurants all over the UK and Ireland, along with the Bristol Zoo, had already banned bluefish … Continued
August 18, 2009
ITQs no success story, Canadian study claims
A study released by a Canadian NGO implies that the unregulated ITQ market in British Columbia favours “armchair” fishermen and investors, rather than actual, sea-faring entrepreneurs. The majority of fisheries in British Columbia on the Canadian Pacific Coast have been managed under a system of Individually Transferable Quotas (ITQs) since the early 1990s. The federal … Continued
August 18, 2009
MSY not good enough, says “CSI for Overfishing”
A global study holds forth the US, New Zealand and Iceland as good fish stock managers, but adds that more than half of the assessed stocks worldwide still need rebuilding. The study, published in July in the Science magazine, is a joint effort that includes Boris Worm of Dalhousie University in Canada, a controversial marine … Continued
July 25, 2009
FISH looking for new staff member
Because of new project funding and a shifting of responsibilities within the Fisheries Secretariat, we are now searching for a new member of staff. FISH is looking to recruit a new team member to assist with our ongoing policy work. The successful candidate will take part in our work on “greening” international fisheries policy, with … Continued
July 23, 2009
Advice process, Commission “generalisations” questioned at Brussels seminar
Many doubts were vented over the process leading to the setting of TACs as the Commission arranged a one-day July seminar for scientists, bureaucrats, stakeholders and politicians in Brussels. After presentations by scientists of assessment methods and states of stocks in EU waters region by region, discussions continued, dominated by industry representatives claiming that scientific … Continued