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
No decisions are expected on fisheries issues at the June EU Council meeting in Luxembourg, but CFP reform and future TACs will be up for debate. At the Tuesday 29 luncheon – possibly over a seafood menu – the Fisheries ministers will discuss “Reform of the common market organisation (CMO) for fishery and aquaculture products”. The … Continued
A whole Danish fishing community that went for ITQs now risks to be wiped out after the local bank collapsed. When Danish fishing quotas were made transferable in 2007, many fishermen on north-western Jutland cashed in, sold their boats and whole communities moved on to other ways of making a living. In the village of … Continued
Contrary to earlier beliefs, a new study indicates that professional fisheries do not go for what is left at the top of the food chain, but rather focuses on what is most profitable: shrimp pays better than cod. The depletion of stocks high in the food web, such as cod and tuna, has earlier been … Continued
Ivory Coast officials say its own seafood catches went down 30 percent last year, and some experts estimate that illegal catches along West African coasts, mostly by European or Asian vessels, amount to as much as one billion dollars annually. According to the Environmental Justice Foundation, an NGO based in London, as many as 60 … Continued
Changed fishing gears could reduce both harmful effects on the marine ecosystems and greenhouse gas emissions, as well as lower the fishermen’s fuel costs, a new report towards low impact fisheries shows. The study, commissioned by the Brussels-based Seas At Risk organisation and performed by the independent fisheries consultancy MacAlister Elliott and Partners, also identified … Continued
A strong representation of anglers in general and NGOs from Estonia, Latvia and Estonia in particular marked a recent FISH-led strategy workshop in Poland. Some 25 NGO representatives, also from Poland, Sweden, Germany, Denmark and Russia, had gathered in Miêdzyzdroje, a spa and sea resort north of Szczecin on the Polish Baltic coast. FISH had … Continued
Feeling ”truly disappointed”, Fisheries Commissioner Maria Damanaki has urged Mediterranean member states to finally apply the 2006 fisheries regulation. “The transition period is over”, she added grimly. Of those fish stocks in the Mediterranean that have been scientifically assessed at all – the majority haven’t – more than 54 percent have been found overfished. In … Continued