News
May 10, 2018
Eel Evaluation Roadmap NGO submission
We strongly support the upcoming evaluation and welcome this opportunity to provide feedback on the effectiveness and implementation of the EU Eel Regulation. The population of European eel has declined dramatically since the 1970s*. Recruitment of juvenile eels remains extremely low despite the joint EU management framework, which has now been in place for … Continued
April 27, 2018
EU report – progress has stalled on fish stock recovery
The Scientific, Technical and Economic Committee for Fisheries (STECF) has published its report: Monitoring the performance of the Common Fisheries Policy.
April 17, 2018
EU begins evaluation of eel management
On 13 April, the European Commission released a Roadmap for the upcoming evaluation of the Eel Regulation. The evaluation is set to help the Commission decide whether to review the regulation or focus on improving implementation. Stakeholders are invited to provide feedback on issues related to the implementation of the Eel Regulation until 11 May … Continued
March 6, 2018
Environment ministers struggle to deliver on promise of a healthy Baltic Sea
Today, 6 March, the HELCOM ministerial meeting will gather Environment Ministers from the Baltic region in Brussels. The first of its kind for five years sees implementation of marine environment laws as its focus. But ten years after the original Baltic Sea Action Plan was signed all countries fall short on the promise of a healthy Baltic Sea, as described in a new report from World Wildlife Fund, WWF.
March 6, 2018
NGO coalition call on Danish fisheries minister to act after reports on illegal, unreported discarding of fish
In an open letter to the Danish fisheries minister Karen Ellemann, dated 21 February, seven NGOs call on Denmark to take action to stop the widespread illegal and unreported discarding in the Baltic cod fishery and suggest solutions for a successful Landing Obligation, which is an obligation under the EU common fisheries policy (CFP).
December 21, 2017
Red flags for EU fishing quotas
Ahead of the December Council meeting at which quotas for the Northeast Atlantic and North Sea are set, The Fisheries Secretariat along with Seas At Risk, The Pew Charitable Trusts, ClientEarth and Oceana provided a briefing to Ministers with recommendations for 16 stocks identified as being in environmentally poor condition and having been mismanaged. Ministers … Continued
December 21, 2017
WTO Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies!
Trade treaties with teeth are in practice often a major hurdle to environmental protection measures. Trade hawks routinely claim that this need not be so. Sometimes they say that governments are unnecessarily cautious. Another stock reply is that the solution is international environmental rules, giving everyone a level playing field.
December 19, 2017
Kicking the Can, Not Walking the Walk
The ink is hardly dry from this summer’s UN high level Ocean Conference, but the EU seems to have forgotten it already.
December 13, 2017
EU Fisheries Council 2018 agrees catch limits for the main commercial fish stocks in the Atlantic and North Sea
The EU Fisheries Council has agreed on a regulation setting the 2018 catch limits for the main commercial fish stocks in the Atlantic and North Sea. On 13 December 2017 after all-night negotiations, the Council reached a political agreement on a regulation concerning the 2018 fishing opportunities for the main commercial fish stocks in the Atlantic and … Continued
December 8, 2017
EU reaches provisional agreement on North Sea management plan
In the early hours of the morning, the Estonian Presidency of the EU announced that the trilogue negotiations between the Parliament, Council and Commission had been concluded on the North Sea multiannual management plan (NSMAP). The final document will not be made public until later this month.