Catching cod in cages has been found well comparable in efficiency to using nets, trials in Sweden have shown. The program, whose sponsors include the Swedish Board of Fisheries, a government agency, and the national organisation for professional fishermen, is still ongoing, but results so far point to an average catch per cage of 3 … Continued
Few political decisions beside the usual TAC and quota haggling are foreseen in the work programme of the Belgian EU Presidency for the second half of 2010. Belgium took over the Presidency from Spain on 1 July, to pass on the torch to Hungary on 1 January next year. Belgium still has a caretaker government … Continued
As part of its preparations in drafting legislation for the new CFP, the Commission recently organised a seminar and stakeholder dialogue on the “Reform of the Market Policy on Fishery and Aquaculture Products”. Council Regulation 104 dating from 2000 has directed the common organisation of the market since its inception and is now up for … Continued
The outcome of the recent Polish presidential elections is not predicted to impact the country’s position on the Common Fisheries Policy, although the winner Bronis³aw Komorowski is expected to play an important role in the preparations for the Polish EU Presidency, which starts on July 1, 2011. Komorowski, of the Civic Platform party, claimed election … Continued
A strategic Government report on future Swedish fisheries urging “radical change”, has now been released in English. The recommendations from the Swedish Board of Fisheries, published in May, included better distribution of fishing rights between the fishing sector, fishing tourism and leisure fishing, giving priority to what has “the greatest value to society”.
The 4th annual International Clean up the Baltic 2010 event has been scheduled for 9 September in Poland, just when the tourist season nears its end. Organised by Our Earth Foundation (Fundacja Nasza Ziemia), the previous three events have been met with tremendous success, and efforts to continue raising awareness and attention regarding pollution of … Continued
An American biologist/oceanographer who has ”made it his life’s work to promote a coordinated and sustainable administration of marine resources and marine environments”, and a Costa Rican environmentalist who has successfully fought shark finning are sharing this year’s one million kronor (€105,000) Göteborg Award for Sustainable Development. Dr. Ken Sherman and Randall Arauz, chairman of … Continued
Some positive signs for the North Sea/Skagerrak cod stocks were suggested when ICES published its scientific advice for the 2011 TACs in that region, but the situation for their Kattegat cousins remains at a critical level. The Copenhagen-based International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) said there were now more spawning cod in … Continued
“Most delegations” were said to contend that the Commission was going too far with some proposed TAC cuts for 2011, and the retiring Spanish Presidency chair Elena Espinosa underlined that they were only “at the very beginning” as the EU June Council meeting opened formal discussions of the upcoming CFP reform. At a press conference … Continued
Temporarily impaired vision may have the same potentially disastrous effects for fish as for humans in picking a partner for mating, new research shows. Josefin Sundin, a Ph.D student at the Evolutionary Biology Centre (EBC) of Uppsala University, has studied how the broad-nose pipefish (Syngnathus typhle) reacts to intensive algal bloom, in later years a … Continued