News

November 8, 2005

North Sea Regional Advisory Council: a model 1st year?

The North Sea Regional Advisory Council (NS RAC) held its second General Assembly in Stockholm, Sweden, on October 20, marking a busy and successful year. Regional Advisory Councils (RACs) were provided for under the 2002 reform of the EU Common Fisheries Policy (CFP), and specifically in Council Regulation 2731/2002, to provide enhanced stakeholder involvement in … Continued


November 5, 2005

Nordic & Baltic Perspectives on the European Marine Strategy

Frustration expressed at failure to build new EU Marine Strategy and Framework Directive on past and ongoing efforts and concepts at recent Copenhagen workshop. A workshop was held in Copenhagen on 3-4 November, 2005, to consider the European Marine Strategy (EMS; COM(2005)504), and the recent European Commission proposal for a supporting Marine Framework Directive (MFD; … Continued


October 24, 2005

EU eel management seminar

On 20 October 2005, the Fisheries Secretariat, the Swedish Board of Fisheries and the Swedish Fishermen’s Federation hosted a seminar about the problems facing the eel stock, its management and eel fisheries. The seminar was held at the Observatory Museum in Stockholm, Sweden. Is the eel disappearing? Current status and future consequenses The purpose of … Continued


October 15, 2005

Hearing on Fisheries Partnership Agreements disappointed

A recent EU Parliament hearing on Fisheries Partnership Agreement was disappointing from a sustainability perspective. On September 14, the Fisheries Committee in the EU parliament held a discussion on EU Fisheries Partnership Agreements (FPAs). Fisheries and Maritime Affairs Commissioner, Joe Borg, spoke to the Members of the Committee about FPAs and the role of Regional … Continued


October 15, 2005

Nordic conference on environmental effects on fish stocks

Calls for more efforts to mitigate a range of environmental effects on marine resources as well as new studies made at Nordic conference. The Nordic Council held a conference on Fisheries and Environment on 15-16 September. The purpose was to give an overview of environmental effects, such as climate change and eutrophication, on fish stocks … Continued


October 10, 2005

ICES on new course to address conservation challenges

Participants at ICES Annual Conference hear about the EU’s new agenda, reactions from the fishing sector, as well as scientific progress in a number of important areas. A recent gathering of fisheries and marine scientists from the international community were informed of bold new approaches to be undertaken to get North Atlantic fisheries and marine … Continued


October 6, 2005

NAFO heads for reform

At this year’s annual meeting of NAFO a working group was established to come up with suggestions to reform the organisation, making it more fit to deal with integrated oceans management. When the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organisation (NAFO) met in Tallin, Estonia, 19-23 September for its annual meeting, the main highlight was an agreement to … Continued


October 5, 2005

A New Way to Manage North Sea Fisheries

A plan to manage North Sea fisheries as a whole ecosystem and encourage greater stakeholder participation was unveiled at the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) science conference in Aberdeen, 20-24 September. The draft Fisheries Ecosystem Plan (FEP) seeks to manage North Sea fisheries in a more sustainable and inclusive way. Rather … Continued


August 24, 2005

Summit explores African fish supply crisis

African leaders, development organizations and fisheries experts are meeting in Nigeria this week to discuss the importance of fisheries and aquaculture for Africa’s development and explore ways of improving fish supplies. The Fish for All Summit, being held in Abuja, Nigeria 22-25 August has been organized by the Secretariat of the New Partnership for Africa’s … Continued


August 23, 2005

Steady stream of interest in MSC certification

Despite controversy over some high profile fisheries, the Marine Stewardship Council’s (MSC) environmental standard for sustainable fisheries has seen a steady flow of interest in the past few years and plans to extend its global reach. Steady stream of interest in MSC certification In March 2000, Thames Herring and Western Australian Rock Lobster became the … Continued