Category: Article

Politician behind US fisheries management dies in plane crash

The former Alaska US Senator Ted Stevens who died in an airplane crash on 9 August was one of the pair the gave the 1976 Magnuson-Stevens Fisheries Conservation and Management Act its name, in some respects held forth as an example to follow for the EU. The legislation under that name was introduced after USA … Continued

Fish feel global warming, too

An increasing awareness of the effects of climate change on fish stocks – some of them dramatic, and occurring in our lifetime – was expressed by scientists at a conference in Belfast in July. Even though overfishing may be the dominating global fisheries problem, increasing evidence point to warming waters, an effect of climate change, … Continued

Next stage in WWF trout dialogue

Draft standards have now been published in the WWF-led process to minimise environmental effects of freshwater trout aquaculture. The document, resulting from a 200-person roundtable process including scientists as well as industry representatives and environmentalists, is now open for public comment on the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) website. The process has included players from the … Continued

Swedish Government agency goes for Asian invader

Swedish Board of Fisheries scientists are eagerly fishing for a Black Sea invader that has already conquered Poland, posing a threat to ecosystem balance, however eatable, preferably pickled. The Round Goby (Neogobius elanostomus),  originally swimming the bottoms of the Black and Caspian Seas, was first discovered off Gdansk on Poland’s Baltic coast in 1990, but … Continued

New study: What we can learn from the Americans

Hoping to draw conclusions from the American experience when the EU forms a new Common Fisheries Policy, a comprehensive study looks into the US management system, partly much more ambitious and successful in fighting overfishing and rebuilding depleted stocks. The study, commissioned by the Pew Environment Group, focuses on how the Maximum Sustainable Yield (MSY) … Continued

Scottish ingenuity to save fishermen’s lives

A Scottish engineer has developed a potentially life-saving device that warns fishermen if their vessel is about to capsize. “Fishing is the most dangerous industry we have,” says Ken Smith, the inventor, interviewed by The Scotsman. ”But while the accident rate in other industries has been declining in recent years, there has been no corresponding … Continued

Japan launching the world’s first investment fund for fish

With a €1.25 billion purse, a major Japanese brokerage house is setting up what it claims to be the world’s first fisheries investment fund. Nomura Securities said the trust is in answer to a growing global demand for fish. After the assembling period August 9-19, the Japanese branch of the French Amundi assessment management company … Continued

For fish, the EU owes to the world

If EU citizens had consumed fish from EU waters only, they would have run out of fish the first week in July, a report shows. The report “Fish Dependence: The increasing reliance of the EU on fish from elsewhere”, published by the new economics foundation (nef), one of the founding members of the OCEAN2012 coalition, … Continued

US restaurants to start conserving fish

Several huge American fast food/restaurant chains, including McDonald’s, seem to be jumping on the train to save the world’s dwindling fish stocks. “We know that if we go raping and pillaging it today, there’s nothing left for tomorrow,” Ken Conrad, the owner of the chain of 10 Libby Hill seafood restaurants in North Carolina and … Continued

Eating fish may save women’s sanity

A recent Nordic study indicates that psychotic conditions are much more common among women who do not eat fish, as compared to those who do. “Our research strengthens the hypothesis that a shortage in vitamin D and some fatty acids may contribute to the emergence of psychotic conditions”, says Maria Hedelin of Karolinska Institutet, The … Continued