The European Commission is expected to announce the closure of the North Sea sandeel fishery this month. The Commission’s Scientific, Technical and Economic Committee for Fisheries recommended an immediate closure of the fishery for the rest of the year, to conserve depleted sandeel stocks. The Commission will for the first time either close or scale … Continued
The United Nations Open-ended Informal Consultative Process on Oceans and the Law of the Sea (UNICPOLOS) again failed to recommend a moratorium on bottom trawling at their sixth meeting, held in New York, 6-11 June. Despite support from several countries, the move to recommend a global moratorium was blocked by the EU and Iceland. Support … Continued
The collapse of cod stocks in the northwest Atlantic during the 1980s and 1990s has had a major impact on the entire ecosystem of the Scotian Shelf, off Nova Scotia in Canada. The results of a new study, which analysed abundances of fish, seals, invertebrates and plankton from 1960 to the present day, show that … Continued
Fisk är gott och nyttigt har man nyligen kommit fram till…
A draft Marine Bill is to be discussed in the new session of the UK Parliament, which opened on 17 May. Environmental groups have welcomed the move and are urging the government to press ahead so that a full bill can be introduced quickly. The Wildlife and Countryside Link, a coalition of UK environmental NGOs, … Continued
A study of demersal fish species in the North Sea over a 25 year period has shown that most fish are moving deeper and further north to escape rising sea temperatures. The study, published online in the journal Science on 12 May, was led by conservation ecologists Allison Perry and John Reynolds at the University … Continued
This week, the North Sea Regional Advisory Council (NSRAC) Spatial Planning Working Group held its first meeting in London. The aim of the meeting was to set up Terms of Reference for the group, established at the Executive Committee meeting in Boulogne earlier this year. The first day of the workshop provided participants with an … Continued
On 10-11 May, a range of Polish stakeholders interested in Baltic Sea fisheries management came together in Gdynia to discuss sustainability. A number of different issues were discussed, among them control and monitoring, subsidies to the sector, the status of the Baltic harbour porpoise, implementation of the Habitats and Birds directives in Poland, and the … Continued
On 28 April, the Swedish Fishermen’s Federation elected Henrik Svenberg to be their new Chairman. He is current working at Sweden’s Permanent Representation in Brussels, as First Secretary, Foreign Relations, with responsibility for sub-Saharan Africa and ACP. During the Swedish Presidency in Spring 2001, he was the Swedish Fisheries Attaché, leading negotiations on EU fisheries … Continued
The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) has launched a new initiative to combat bycatch of albatrosses and other seabirds in global longline fisheries. A team of experts called Operation Ocean Task Force will train fishermen in areas with particularly high levels of bycatch how to prevent seabird deaths when fishing. Every year, … Continued