News
June 30, 2010
EU Council writes off COM TAC cuts
“Most delegations” were said to contend that the Commission was going too far with some proposed TAC cuts for 2011, and the retiring Spanish Presidency chair Elena Espinosa underlined that they were only “at the very beginning” as the EU June Council meeting opened formal discussions of the upcoming CFP reform. At a press conference … Continued
June 29, 2010
Not seeing too well, male fish gets pregnant with the wrong female
Temporarily impaired vision may have the same potentially disastrous effects for fish as for humans in picking a partner for mating, new research shows. Josefin Sundin, a Ph.D student at the Evolutionary Biology Centre (EBC) of Uppsala University, has studied how the broad-nose pipefish (Syngnathus typhle) reacts to intensive algal bloom, in later years a … Continued
June 24, 2010
CFP Reform, 2011 TAC-setting, on agenda for June Council
No decisions are expected on fisheries issues at the June EU Council meeting in Luxembourg, but CFP reform and future TACs will be up for debate. At the Tuesday 29 luncheon – possibly over a seafood menu – the Fisheries ministers will discuss “Reform of the common market organisation (CMO) for fishery and aquaculture products”. The … Continued
June 23, 2010
ITQs may be straw that broke the camel’s back for Danish fishing hamlet
A whole Danish fishing community that went for ITQs now risks to be wiped out after the local bank collapsed. When Danish fishing quotas were made transferable in 2007, many fishermen on north-western Jutland cashed in, sold their boats and whole communities moved on to other ways of making a living. In the village of … Continued
June 23, 2010
Fishers follow the money, not the big fish, report says
Contrary to earlier beliefs, a new study indicates that professional fisheries do not go for what is left at the top of the food chain, but rather focuses on what is most profitable: shrimp pays better than cod. The depletion of stocks high in the food web, such as cod and tuna, has earlier been … Continued
June 22, 2010
Illegal fishing plunders West African waters
Ivory Coast officials say its own seafood catches went down 30 percent last year, and some experts estimate that illegal catches along West African coasts, mostly by European or Asian vessels, amount to as much as one billion dollars annually. According to the Environmental Justice Foundation, an NGO based in London, as many as 60 … Continued
June 22, 2010
Both environment and fishers could profit from new gears, study shows
Changed fishing gears could reduce both harmful effects on the marine ecosystems and greenhouse gas emissions, as well as lower the fishermen’s fuel costs, a new report towards low impact fisheries shows. The study, commissioned by the Brussels-based Seas At Risk organisation and performed by the independent fisheries consultancy MacAlister Elliott and Partners, also identified … Continued
June 18, 2010
Anglers an emerging force in CFP reform work
A strong representation of anglers in general and NGOs from Estonia, Latvia and Estonia in particular marked a recent FISH-led strategy workshop in Poland. Some 25 NGO representatives, also from Poland, Sweden, Germany, Denmark and Russia, had gathered in Miêdzyzdroje, a spa and sea resort north of Szczecin on the Polish Baltic coast. FISH had … Continued
June 10, 2010
COM clamps down hard on Mediterranean States
Feeling ”truly disappointed”, Fisheries Commissioner Maria Damanaki has urged Mediterranean member states to finally apply the 2006 fisheries regulation. “The transition period is over”, she added grimly. Of those fish stocks in the Mediterranean that have been scientifically assessed at all – the majority haven’t – more than 54 percent have been found overfished. In … Continued
June 3, 2010
Lowri Evans new head of DG MARE
A British chartered accountant has been appointed new Director-General for fisheries under the EU Commission. As part of the Commission’s “mobility policy”, Fokion Fotiadis, a Greek national as his Commissioner Maria Damanaki, is replaced by Lowri Evans at the top of the Directorate-General for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries (DG MARE), the Commission announced. According to … Continued