News coverage in Poland in January shows that misreporting and overfishing continues despite last year’s clamp down by the EU. While the Polish Government is striving to implement tougher fishery inspection standards, new cases of severe underreporting of catches were seen in Polish ports. The fishing sector and inspectorates will come under additional scrutiny this … Continued
Swedish private consumers as well as municipalities have decided to stop buying cod. A recent survey reveals that out of 1000 persons asked, one third does not buy cod at all. Eight municipalities on the Swedish west coast have decided to stop including cod in their contract for central purchase of food products to public … Continued
Today the environmental NGOs Greenpeace, Swedish Society for Nature Conservation and WWF left a protest list to the Minister of Fisheries and Agriculture, Eskil Erlandsson, containing 15000 signatures against the cod fishing in the Kattegat. The call is a protest against the EU cod quotas for the Kattegat hammered out in the December EU Council. … Continued
From 1 July fisheries officers from the Swedish Board of fisheries will be able to directly hand out fines and withdraw fishing licences from fishermen misreporting their catches, or not handling their log books correctly. The action is another step towards improving fish stocks, says the Swedish government in a recent Press Release. The EU … Continued
In a new series of articles on the relationship between Europe’s demand for fish and the world’s supply, the New York Times links EU fisheries agreements to increased illegal immigration. Trying their luck, either transporting immigrants or paying to be shipped themselves, may be the only solution that remains when there is no fish left … Continued
Last year, the European Commission came forward with a proposal to protect vulnerable ecosystems in the high seas from bottom-trawling as well as a consultation paper on a Community Plan of Action for Sharks. According to European environmental organisations, both are steps in the right direction but do not go far enough to create effective … Continued
In the Sunday issue of Sweden’s major daily news paper “Dagens Nyheter”, the General Director of the Swedish board of fisheries, Axel Wenblad, along with his colleagues Johan Löwenander-Davidsson and Bengt Strömblom, suggest national actions such as downsizing of the fishing fleet and stronger control efforts in order to recover dwindling fish stocks. The Swedish … Continued
Earlier reports from a tackle trade association of a dramatic rise this year in Swedish upriver migration of Baltic salmon, arguably a direct consequence of the driftnet ban in the Baltic in effect since 1 January 2008, are being questioned by government experts as “premature”. More than 80 per cent of wild salmon in the … Continued
The Swedish Board of Fisheries recently decided on a national management plan for Baltic Sea cod. A main component is the allocation of a part of the quota for each of the Baltic stocks to the coastal fishing vessels using nets rather than trawls. In June this year, the European Council agreed on a joint … Continued
At the end of this year’s negotiations on fishing possibilities for 2008, Scottish fish processor may be jubilant but environmental NGOs and the public are not. In Sweden, people are signing a petition to save the cod in Kattegat. While writing this article, another 289 people added their names to the list. Short-term interests prevail … Continued