The EU and Norway have reached agreement on next year’s catch quotas and fishing rules for common waters that includes extended TACs for fishermen willing to accept onboard surveillance to bring down discards. Trials with extended landing quotas for fishermen who agree to onboard documentation that no discards are made, including camera surveillance, are already … Continued
Just one and a half year after FISH and four other NGOs launched the OCEAN2012 coalition dedicated to wrestling EU fisheries into a more sustainable direction, the membership has passed 100 organisations. Natuurpunt, the largest Belgian NGO working on the protection of nature, was the 100th organisation to join the coalition, with Kalipso of Mauritius … Continued
Setting an example for managers of most EU waters, the US government has closed a loophole for herring fishermen challenging the protection of groundfish spawning. A bottom-line rule in the Magnuson-Stevens Fisheries Conservation and Management Act of 1976, the cornerstone in US fisheries management, is that all commercial fishing operations are to be monitored to … Continued
The first in a line of Danish trawl fishermen reported for fishing in a protected, closed-for-fishing area of the Kattegat has been slapped with heavy fines and had his license revoked for a month. From 1 January 2009 Sweden and Denmark jointly closed a part of the Kattegat for all fisheries, and enforced restrictions in … Continued
Setting up a light at the end of the tunnel for threatened sharks, but doing little to reduce catches of other deep-sea species, EU fisheries ministers concluded a long day of quota haggling at the November Council meeting. The Council decision on the sharks implies a by-catch ban by 2012, heralded by Commissioner Maria Damanaki … Continued
The final ICCAT decision on next year’s bluefin tuna quotas went along levels suggested by the EU Council – forced on Commissioner Maria Damanaki – drawing protests from outraged environmentalist describing it as “a massive failure” and a product of “greed and mismanagement”. The International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) held its … Continued
The 2011-2012 catch quotas for a long line of vulnerable deep-sea species will be in focus for the Fisheries ministers’ next Council meeting in Brussels on 29 November. In their customary letter to the ministers concerned prior to the meeting, FISH and Brussels-based Seas At Risk pointed to the biological characteristics that make these species … Continued
A wide range of issues from new technologies in passive fishing gears to solutions of unwanted bird/seal bycatch were presented at a FISH seminar on “Low Impact Fisheries” in Berlin on November 18. After an extensive review of examples of low impact fisheries in the Baltic Sea region, the day was concluded with discussions on … Continued
A clear however mostly informal meeting structure is now evolving for Baltfish, a cooperation project between the eight EU member states around the Baltic Sea, spearheading the current regionalisation trend. The platform, built around the national Fisheries directors, is budding from the EU Baltic Sea Strategy, launched as a pet project by Sweden for its … Continued
The tug-of-war between Fisheries Commissioner Maria Damanaki, with last-stand support from three member states, and some dominating fishing powers in the Council, including France and Spain, over the EU position on the threatened bluefin tuna ended in a forced compromise that outraged environmentalists described as to “board a plane with only a 60-77 percent chance … Continued