News
February 29, 2008
Community financial contribution of Member States fisheries control programmes
Too much community funding towards Member States fisheries control programmes is spent on hard investments such as the purchase of aircrafts and vessels, rather than for training and recruitment of control staff according to the EU Commission. The Commission gave a presentation at a recent meeting with the Advisory Committee for Fisheries and Aquaculture (ACFA) … Continued
February 27, 2008
Illegal fishing promts Polish NGO to investigate practices
News coverage in Poland in January shows that misreporting and overfishing continues despite last year’s clamp down by the EU. While the Polish Government is striving to implement tougher fishery inspection standards, new cases of severe underreporting of catches were seen in Polish ports. The fishing sector and inspectorates will come under additional scrutiny this … Continued
February 8, 2008
Swedish municipalities and consumers refuse consumption of cod in order to save the threatened species
Swedish private consumers as well as municipalities have decided to stop buying cod. A recent survey reveals that out of 1000 persons asked, one third does not buy cod at all. Eight municipalities on the Swedish west coast have decided to stop including cod in their contract for central purchase of food products to public … Continued
January 30, 2008
Swedish environmental NGOs delivered protest list to the Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries
Today the environmental NGOs Greenpeace, Swedish Society for Nature Conservation and WWF left a protest list to the Minister of Fisheries and Agriculture, Eskil Erlandsson, containing 15000 signatures against the cod fishing in the Kattegat. The call is a protest against the EU cod quotas for the Kattegat hammered out in the December EU Council. … Continued
January 29, 2008
Sweden introduces new law to combat illegal fishing
From 1 July fisheries officers from the Swedish Board of fisheries will be able to directly hand out fines and withdraw fishing licences from fishermen misreporting their catches, or not handling their log books correctly. The action is another step towards improving fish stocks, says the Swedish government in a recent Press Release. The EU … Continued
January 29, 2008
“Europe is having its fish and eating it too”
In a new series of articles on the relationship between Europe’s demand for fish and the world’s supply, the New York Times links EU fisheries agreements to increased illegal immigration. Trying their luck, either transporting immigrants or paying to be shipped themselves, may be the only solution that remains when there is no fish left … Continued
January 29, 2008
NGO response to proposals to protect sharks and deep sea ecosystems
Last year, the European Commission came forward with a proposal to protect vulnerable ecosystems in the high seas from bottom-trawling as well as a consultation paper on a Community Plan of Action for Sharks. According to European environmental organisations, both are steps in the right direction but do not go far enough to create effective … Continued
January 28, 2008
The Swedish Board of Fisheries suggests 50% down sizing of the Swedish fishing fleet
In the Sunday issue of Sweden’s major daily news paper “Dagens Nyheter”, the General Director of the Swedish board of fisheries, Axel Wenblad, along with his colleagues Johan Löwenander-Davidsson and Bengt Strömblom, suggest national actions such as downsizing of the fishing fleet and stronger control efforts in order to recover dwindling fish stocks. The Swedish … Continued
January 9, 2008
Good conditions may be behind good salmon year
Earlier reports from a tackle trade association of a dramatic rise this year in Swedish upriver migration of Baltic salmon, arguably a direct consequence of the driftnet ban in the Baltic in effect since 1 January 2008, are being questioned by government experts as “premature”. More than 80 per cent of wild salmon in the … Continued
December 20, 2007
Sweden sets aside part of cod quota for coastal vessels
The Swedish Board of Fisheries recently decided on a national management plan for Baltic Sea cod. A main component is the allocation of a part of the quota for each of the Baltic stocks to the coastal fishing vessels using nets rather than trawls. In June this year, the European Council agreed on a joint … Continued