Just a week after crucial talks on mackerel quotas broke down, EU Fisheries Commissioner Maria Damanaki has taken the first step in blocking Icelandic fishing vessels from landing catches in Union ports. According to the British Daily Mail newspaper, Maria Damanaki has made a formal request to the European Economic Area (EEA) to meet before … Continued
Moves by powerful forces to circumvent the European Union’s ban on eel exports to third nations, particularly the Asian market which offers exorbitant prices, have been finally averted – for at least a year. Just days before the glass eel fishing season was to begin on 1 November, the EU Commission issued a “clarification” establishing … Continued
Actresses Magdalena Rózczka and Julia Pietrucha, along with chef Robert Maklowicz, will join Klub Gaja as celebrity ambassadors in this year’s “Carp is still alive” campaign to stop pre-Christmas cruelty to this popular holiday treat in Poland. “Carp is still alive” is one of the oldest consumer targeted campaigns of Klub Gaja, an environmental organization … Continued
To put work on fisheries issues in perspective in Poland, and to learn from other examples, FISH organised a December Best Practice Workshop “Hitting the wall: how to affect public opinion on adversarial issues” at the Sea Fisheries Institute (MIR) in Gdynia, Poland. The workshop was attended by 23 people, representing 17 Polish NGO groups. … Continued
Talks on quota distribution between the EU, Norway, Iceland and the Faroe Islands have broken down completely this month, and some now see a “mackerel war” brewing. The talks aimed at securing a joint total catch level for mackerel in the north Atlantic have come to a screeching halt in December, resulting in great frustration … Continued
A recent legal briefing on the UK quota distribution system, where allotment rights can be handed over to Fish Producer Organisations, shows that the arrangement is open to judicial challenge. The UK has 12 percent of the EU’s landings and one of the largest exclusive economic zones (EEZs) in the EU. For much of the … Continued
While environmentalists to various degrees greeted Wednesday’s Council decision on TACs for most EU fish stocks with thumbs determinedly down, governments and sector lobbyists scrambled to claim success. “The UK has secured an agreement to a complete review of the controversial cod recovery plan for 2011, including current days at sea restrictions”, reported British Fisheries … Continued
The EU Council early Wednesday morning reached “unanimous” agreement on 2011 TACs for most stocks under management, allowing much smaller reductions of cod quotas west of the British Isles than the Commission and scientific advice had suggested. For the faltering cod stocks in the Kattegat, the Skagerrak and the North Sea, however, the Council’s 3 … Continued
A recent evaluation shows that the number of eels removed by Swedish fishermen has decreased by almost 30 percent since strict conservation measures were enforced in 2007, the Swedish Board of Fisheries claims. The bad state of the eel in Swedish waters has been obvious for many years. Millions of eel migrated up the Göta … Continued
With TACs for most stocks under management in EU waters – and some of the most threatened stocks – up for a vote, the Council meeting on 13-14 December may be a decisive moment in a tug-of-war over sustainable fisheries between Commissioner Maria Damanaki and some dominant fishing powers that has slowly been building up … Continued