The mere plans for a Greenpeace campaign to protect two Natura 2000 sites off the Swedish west coast have inspired government bureaucrats to set off work on new regulations there, campaigners suggest. Earlier this spring, Greenpeace Nordic announced that they were planning to prevent bottom trawling in the two Natura 2000 areas, located in the … Continued
The Natura 2000 project, the upcoming EU control regulation, and the futures of the Baltic salmon and the Common Fisheries Policy, respectively, were the issues handled at an intensive two-day NGO “strategic workshop” in Stockholm in early June. The workshop, a part of the joint Eko-Unia/Our Earth Foundation/FISH project “The Baltic is in Poland; The … Continued
SSB, Yield/R , or “Predation mortality” are not household words for everybody concerned with the present and future for our fish stocks. The International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) has published a made-easy – and not un-funny – guide to how their Scientific Advice is produced.
Less power to the EU Council, and more power to the Commission and the Member States, two Swedish government agencies recommend in a joint report to the cabinet. The Board of Fisheries and the Environmental Protection Agency were asked by the government to evaluate the current Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) and make recommendations as for … Continued
For the first time in years, scientists have recommended increased catch quotas for both Baltic cod stocks in 2010. Increase for both cod stocks The advisory body, the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES), recommends a 15 per cent increase for the much larger eastern stock – the same as last year’s … Continued
Swedish reactions to the ICES TAC advice for 2010 were guardedly positive, from NGOs as well as from the government administration. ”The important thing now, for the cod recovery to remain permanent, is for EU fisheries politicians to continue following the management plan”, said Svante Axelsson, Secretary General of the Swedish Society for Nature Conservation … Continued
In a sharp attack on the “wasteful” practice of discards, Commissioner Jorge Borg told the Union Ministers that “there is absolutely no excuse not to tackle this problem head-on now”. Stressing that “discards is an issue that I personally attach great importance to”, he added in a statement to the May Agriculture and Fisheries Council … Continued
The Fisheries Secretariat has admitted Youth and Nature Sweden (Fältbiologerna) as a new member organisation. “The Field Biologists” is an organisation founded in 1947 for youth up to 25 that offers activities ranging from bird watching to conservation campaigning. Its basis consists of a network of local clubs that ”make excursions to bird lakes and … Continued
The EU Council meeting on Monday, May 25, will provide Union ministers with a first opportunity to dig deeper into the Green Paper on CFP reform introduced a month ago. Fisheries Commissioner Joe Borg will also make a statement to the Council on the controversial discards issue. This practice is “no longer acceptable” and the … Continued
Sixty-one of the world’s 64 Large Marine Ecosystems (LME) show a significant increase in surface temperature, a new UN report says. LMEs with the sharpest increase included the Baltic Sea, the North Sea and the Mediterranean. The change in surface temperature had led to smaller catches in some fisheries, and bigger in some other, according … Continued