Yesterday, the European Commission published its proposals for EU fishing opportunities in 2008. The proposal provides grim reading for sector representatives and reflects the general state of EU fish stocks, with around 80 per cent being overfished. EU fish stocks in a poor state EU fish stocks are among the most poorly managed in the … Continued
Yesterday, a group of Polish fishermen staged another protest in Brussels against the European Commission ban of their cod fishing in the eastern Baltic Sea. The previous Polish Government tried to negotiate with the Commission in order to lift the ban, but finally agreed at the Council meeting in October to obey and implement an … Continued
On 26 October Radek Gawlik of the Polish environmental NGO Eko Unia, gathered stakeholders to discuss the Polish Operational Programme (OP) for the fisheries sector, which specifies how Poland will spend its allocated funding from the European Fisheries Fund (EFF) for the period of 2007-2013. The meeting which was held on the Baltic coast in … Continued
On November 15, a Baltic Sea Action Plan to improve the environmental status of the Baltic Sea was finally adopted at a HELCOM ministerial meeting in Krakow, Poland. Despite progress in some areas, such as eutrophication, the plan is judged by many to be a failure. In 2005, the environmental situation in the Baltic Sea … Continued
On 25 October, the BS RAC met to discuss the situation of the Baltic cod fishery and the recent closures. The meeting resulted in a statement on the issue of non-compliance, highlighting the need for rapid action, as well as a more harmonised and harsher system for punishing those that break the law. The Baltic … Continued
Many claim the Polish election this year to be one of the most dramatic since the end of Communism in 1989. There was – by Polish standards – a very high voter turnout at about 55 per cent. Many young people flooded the polls dismayed at the state of politics in their country and turned … Continued
A review commissioned by DG Fisheries & Maritime Affairs assessing the performance of the Common Fisheries Policy has been leaked. The report highlights the lack of political will in the Council to put national interests aside and the resulting poor state of EU fish stocks. The report can be downloaded below.
Earlier this evening, a compromise was struck on next year’s quotas for the Baltic Sea. In 2008 there will be reduced catches of cod, but not enough to give real respite for the overfished eastern stock. Salmon quotas are unchanged despite warnings of very low smolt survival in the north. On a more positive note, … Continued
Last week, the European Commission released a proposal to protect vulnerable ecosystems in the high seas. Following the EU position at UN General Assembly negotiations on the prohibition of deep-sea bottom-trawling on the high seas, the Commission now proposes to give Member States the responsibility to assess vulnerability and fishing plans when issuing fishing licenses … Continued
At a meeting in Warsaw yesterday, WWF-Poland and Greenpeace Poland discussed Polish plans for Baltic cod with Marek Gróbarczyk, the Minister of Maritime Economy, and his Vice-Minister Grzegorz Ha³ubek. It is clear that Poland’s current Government wants to go its own way and change the entire management system. Earlier this week, several Polish environmental NGOs … Continued