News
November 4, 2021
Scientific advice: no catches of European eel can be considered sustainable
Today, the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea, ICES, published its scientific advice on fishing opportunities for European eel for 2022. It is now aligned with advice for other species in dire straits: zero catch for 2022. The advice also includes a clear call for catches for restocking to stop, as it increases eel mortality without any proven net benefit to eel reproduction.
October 29, 2021
Mixed feelings in Baltic Sea States after October Council
After October Agrifish Council, which focused in particular on the proposal for a Council regulation fixing the fishing opportunities in the Baltic Sea for 2022 Member States’ governments published press releases. Most of the countries emphasized the terrible state of the Baltic Sea and the lengthy and difficult negotiations in the Council. The reactions to … Continued
October 25, 2021
Fishing ban on all Baltic Sea cod reality after decades of mismanagement
Negotiations of the 2022 fishing quotas for the Baltic Sea on 11-12 October 2021 resulted in a prohibition of all targeted fishing for cod in the Baltic Sea – both the eastern and the western cod populations are now in such bad shape that only a small bycatch quota is allowed. This clearly illustrates the deterioration of both the environment and many fish stocks in all of the Baltic Sea.
October 22, 2021
Plight of European eel explained on Swedish television
This week, the recurring Swedish television programme Uppdrag Granskning – Mission: Investigate in English – highlighted the plight of the European eel and the ineffectiveness of many of the current management measures. It focused particularly on the devastating effects of hydropower installations and the costly, artificial support provided by restocking and trap-and-transport.
October 13, 2021
AGRIFISH: Some Baltic Fish Still in Crisis as the EU Starts to Consider Ecosystem Impacts
Press release from Coalition Clean Baltic, FishSec, Our Fish, Oceana, Seas at Risk and WWF Luxembourg, 12 October 2021: Following the EU AGRIFISH Council press conference today, NGOs expressed disappointment that Member State fisheries ministers again haggled all night to raise Baltic fishing limits for 2022 above the European Commission’s proposal and against the clear … Continued
October 8, 2021
New funding for European dam removal launched
Today is a good day for rivers, biodiversity and migratory fish. Together with Professor Peter Baldwin and Dr Lisbet Rausing, founders of Arcadia, the Dam Removal Europe Coalition launched an entirely new programme to fund dam removal in Europe.
September 21, 2021
A coalition for the Return of Baltic cod has been formed
The Return of the cod project, which started at the beginning of 2021, aims to compile the current knowledge and scientific research concerning the state of the Baltic cod in order to work out and implement measures to recover the eastern cod stock. The Return of the Cod (RoC) project has progressed since its onset … Continued
September 17, 2021
National monitoring programme to include genetic diversity in fish stocks
At a recent seminar in Simrishamn, Sweden, a new research programme that will investigate genetic diversity as part of environmental monitoring and ecosystem-based management, including the impact of fishing on herring sub-populations in the Baltic Sea, was announced.
August 26, 2021
Commission Baltic TAC proposal – only Riga herring doing well
Today the European Commission adopted their proposal for fishing opportunities for Baltic Fisheries 2022. The proposal mostly follows the ICES advice and proposes a TAC within the lower range for sprat and plaice considering the poor situation of the cod. For the Western herring it is suggested to close all direct fishery and a bycatch … Continued
June 29, 2021
One-third of global high seas fishing done by only 100 companies
Seafood companies rarely disclose what or where they are fishing. To provide an overview of the fishing industry in the high seas—the area beyond national jurisdiction—researchers linked fishing activity in the high seas to vessel owners and corporate actors. They identified 1,120 corporate actors for 2,482 vessels (∼2/3 of high seas fishing vessels and effort … Continued