News
November 29, 2012
Over 800,000 people campaign to save the ocean
As of today, Thursday, November 29, 2012 over 838,120 people have signed a petition to stop wasteful discards.
November 27, 2012
Upcoming Council meeting will focus on deep sea fishing opportunities
The Council on 28-29 November will fix fishing opportunities for certain deep sea stocks for 2013 and 2014 (COM(2012)579). Discussions on the annual consultation between EU and Norway will also take place and the Danish delegation will brief the Council on the Norway pout stock.
November 23, 2012
EP charts a sustainable course
The European Parliament has voted yes to new Baltic salmon management plan, to ban shark finning and gave overwhelming support to the report from Isabella Lövin (Greens/EFA, Sweden) on the external dimension of the CFP.
November 20, 2012
Swedish television examines the Baltic salmon crisis
The flagship investigative journalism series “uppdrag granskning” from Swedish public broadcaster SVT1 will show a film on the collapse of the Baltic wild salmon population and the management failures that have caused the situation ahead of Thursday’s European Parliament plenary on the salmon management plan.
November 19, 2012
Balanced Harvesting – an alternative interpretation of selectivity
At a workshop in the European Parliament organised by Struan Stevenson (ECR, UK), the theory of balanced harvesting was discussed. Its proponents argue that fishing across a range of species, stocks and sizes could increase yields, address food security better than selectively avoiding juvenile fish and bycatch. However, they warn that the state of fish stocks and scientific research would need to be greatly improved before such a management system could be implemented.
November 15, 2012
”Stop bankrupting our oceans” – WWF and 150,000 people demand sustainable CFP
At the European Parliament on 6-8 November, WWF handed over their peition to Ulrike Rodust (S&D, DE), rapporteur for the European Parliament on the basic regulation of the CFP reform.
November 7, 2012
Peru slashes anchovy quota
In what used to be the world’s largest fishery, Peru has cut its anchovy quota by 68 %, to 810,000 tonnes, due to warmer water temperatures and high levels of discarding. This is the smallest allowable catch for 25 years and a fraction of 12 million tonnes caught in the early 1970s.
November 7, 2012
MEPs ask, will the CFP deliver fish in the future?
Today, the Fish for the Future (FFF) Bureau, a cross-party group of MEPs in the European Parliament, released a “Beginner’s Guide on the reform of the Common Fisheries Policy.” Their message is simple “we must fish less now so we can fish more tomorrow”.
October 25, 2012
Seismic testing may impact spawning patterns of fish and mammals
Seismic testing involving loud airgun arrays, used to find deposits of oil and gas in the sea bed, may be used off the east coast of America next year. Environmental campaigners are trying to prevent this due to its effect on marine wildlife.
October 24, 2012
Council agrees to EMFF general approach
At 3.40 negotiations in Luxembourg concluded between EU ministers, who agreed to a compromise package on the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF) by a qualified majority. The details of the agreement have yet to be published, but the Council agreement allows for 15% of the funds member states can access through the EMFF to be used for fleet restructuring until 2017. Significant increased funding for aquaculture has also been put forward, along with measures to improve control, data collection, selectivity and move toward low impact fishing techniques.