Environmental groups are welcoming a joint effort by the European Parliament and Fisheries Commissioner Maria Damanaki to close loopholes in an EU shark-finning ban that they see as among the weakest in the world. The cruel practice of slicing off a shark’s fins and discarding the carcass at sea – the fish sometimes staying alive … Continued
Stressing that ”we cannot negotiate with nature”, Commissioner Maria Damanaki has presented a proposal based strictly on scientific advice for 2011 catch quotas in the Atlantic, the North Sea, and international waters. In their scientific advice for 2011, based ICES assessments, experts of the Scientific, Technical and Economic Committee for Fisheries (STECF), once more underlined … Continued
Time is quickly closing on the November ICCAT meeting in Paris that many see as a final stand in the struggle for the survival of the bluefin tuna, and it still remains for the EU to find a common position. The annual meeting of the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT), expected … Continued
A street performance by the acclaimed Polish Klub Gaja theatre group, a standout member of the OCEAN2012 coalition, marked the start of a Belgian Presidency symposium in Ostende on present and future fisheries management methods. To mark the start of the symposium on 9-10 November, “Improved Fisheries and Science Partnerships as Policy Drivers”, Klub Gaja … Continued
With the Scottish North Sea haddock getting MSC certification, the British favourite dish of fish’n chips is facing a sustainable future, indeed. On another front, the mackerel conflict, vital to Scottish fisheries, hit another snag. Haddock and cod are the most common fish used for the dish, and with the increasing scarcity of the latter, … Continued
Just in time for the glass eel fishing season to begin on 1 November, the EU Commission issued a ”clarification” that in effect implied a ban on all eel export to countries outside the Union. Recruitment in the eel population in EU waters has dropped by more than 95 percent in just a few decades, … Continued
Fisheries is one of the Pacific Island region’s most vital economic resources, and a new study shows that overfishing, overcrowding and climate change is threatening it with collapse by 2035. The report, published by Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC), a regional intergovernmental organisation, said the €1.5 billion a year industry was poorly managed, with … Continued
Apparently not waiting for its government’s announced plans to create its own eco-label, Iceland’s largest seafood company has entered all its cod and haddock fisheries into Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) assessment. According to the MSC, the Icelandic Group uses five different types of fishing gear to catch 160,000 tonnes of cod and 82,000 tonnes of … Continued
Falling short of reaching agreement on Commissioner Maria Damanaki’s mandate for the upcoming bluefin tuna negotiations, and setting a TAC for the huge sprat stock – the biggest stock of the Baltic – that made the Commissioner “unhappy and very disappointed”, the EU fisheries ministers picked the October Council meeting for showing some muscle in … Continued
After dire warnings that the future of the Fraser River sockeye salmon was under threat, 34 million returned to spawn this year, making this the biggest run for over a century, according to the BBC “Newsnight” TV program. The previous year saw a paltry 1 million sockeye make the journey upstream, a collapse from an … Continued