News

February 4, 2016

Technical measures in BALTFISH and the Baltic Sea Advisory Committee

A BALTFISH technical working group and the Baltic Sea Advisory Committee’s (BSAC) working group coordinated back-to-back meetings in Gdynia, Poland on January 26-28.


January 29, 2016

New leadership for the Fisheries Secretariat

We are delighted to announce the appointment of Jan Isakson as director for FishSec. Jan is currently senior campaigner for Greenpeace in Stockholm and and takes over as FishSec director in March. With the new leadership comes a new website and logo, launched this week: www.fishsec.org. We hope the new design will enable you to stay … Continued


January 12, 2016

European Court rules cod plan unlawfully amended by Council

In a landmark ruling that may allow the development of multiannual plans (MAPs) for EU fisheries to move forward after years of deadlock, the European Court of Justice found that the Council breached the Treaty when unilaterally passing amendments in 2012 to the cod management plan for the Atlantic and North Sea.


December 31, 2015

Council falls short of CFP goals and mandates overfishing for 2016

In December, EU Ministers decided upon fishing quotas for the North Atlantic, North Sea and Black Sea for 2016. Once again, many quotas were set above scientific advice.


December 21, 2015

Public consultation: Evaluation of the Fisheries Control Regulation

The European Commission has opened a public consultation on “Evaluation of the Fisheries Control Regulation”. The consultation is open to all stakeholder groups and individuals and close 13th of March 2016.


December 18, 2015

MSC certification for Eastern Baltic cod suspended

MSC has suspended its certification of the Eastern Baltic cod fisheries after assessments found that fishing activities may not be sustainable. All cod caught in the fishery after 17 December 2015 is now uncertified.


December 17, 2015

Cod survival – the relationship with warm waters and protection of strong year classes

FishSec regularly highlights research which can contribute to the ongoing dialogue on Baltic fisheries. These two papers examining cod stocks in the Northwest Atlantic may be informative for Baltic cod stock recovery and ecosystem considerations in population modelling.


December 7, 2015

ICES Workshop on methods for the evaluation of the MSFD criterion D3.3

ICES is picking up the work on descriptor 3 of the MSFD with a dedicated workshop on criterion 3.3 early 2016.


December 4, 2015

New Economics Foundation analyses fishing quota decisions

A new nef report finds an average of 7 out of every 10 TACs were set exceeding scientific advice over the last fifteen years. The Fisheries Council have set fishing quotas which often exceed scientific advice and out of line with legislated principles in the CFP.


December 4, 2015

North Atlantic and North Sea TACs to be set at December Council

2016 catch quotas for the North Atlantic and North Sea to be decided at the Fisheries Council on 15 December. FishSec is concerned that the Council will repeat its pattern of poor adherence to scientific advice and the goals of the CFP.