News
March 2, 2010
Top UK Science Councellor carries many hats
According to The Times, the British Government’s top science advisor and his wife owns a consulting firm which manages fisheries that zoologists say is catching tens of thousands threatened fish in the Indian Ocean. Professor John Beddington and his wife are sole shareholders in, and last year made some 550,000 euros from, the Marine Resources … Continued
March 2, 2010
No peak for pike
Swedish anglers in the Baltic are facing sharp restrictions in their favourite catch from April 1, the Board of Fisheries has decided. A three-units-a-day limit for pike anglers with hand gear is taking effect then, and only those fish between 40-75 centimetres may be kept. These permanent restrictions apply to the whole Swedish Baltic coast, … Continued
March 2, 2010
US takes on alien fish
Following a White House summit meeting, the US Government has decided to hit the threat of an alien carp species “with all of the tools in the toolbox”. The plan however failed to impress both environmentalists and some Governors from concerned states. The Asian imports, the bighead and silver carps, were brought to America for … Continued
February 25, 2010
EP comes up short on CFP, environmentalists say
Regionalisation instead of ”top-down approach”, subsidarity and widened stakeholder involvement were key notions as the European Parliament has its saying on the upcoming CFP reform. The non-binding resolution, part of the consultation process leading up to a 2012 decision on a new Common Fisheries Policy, was adopted 456-50, with all Green MEPs abstaining. The resolution’s … Continued
February 25, 2010
EU-Iceland talks may start in dire straits
Fisheries may be one of the biggest stumbling blocks, as the EU Commission has now given green light for membership talks with Iceland. “We will be applying the same criteria as are applied to any other country. There is no short cut,” said enlargement commissioner Stefan Füle while announcing the commission’s recommendation to move ahead … Continued
February 24, 2010
PECH ponders pros and cons of farming fish
Aquaculture can be green, a Spanish industry representative claimed to somewhat sceptical MEPs at a hearing in the European Parliament’s Fisheries Committee (PECH). Otero Lourido, director of the Galician Turbot Producers Association, referred to one of his own establishments in Galicia, where one of the world’s largest aquaculture sites is located right next to the … Continued
February 24, 2010
Japan says ”clear no” to tuna ban
The Japanese Fisheries minister, representing three quarters of the global bluefin tuna consumption, has come out strongly against a trade ban on the threatened species, common in sushi. A meeting of the parties to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) in Doha, Qatar, on 13-25 March will decide on a proposed inclusion … Continued
February 24, 2010
Sardines Made in USA no more
Reduced herring quotas are forcing the last US remaining sardine cannery to close down, its parent company has announced. The Stinson Seafood cannery in Prospect, Maine, employing some 130 people, will cease operations on April 18 after having been around for more than a century. Referring to lowered catch quotas for herring in American waters, … Continued
February 23, 2010
COM comes out for tuna ban
The EU Commission has followed suite after the European Parliament decision to support a trade ban on bluefin tuna, saying that it will now search out Member States to reach a common EU position for the CITES meeting in March. The conference of the parties to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) … Continued
February 19, 2010
Norway having hard time at Winter Olympics
Adding insult to injury – Canada won 8-0 – North American environmentalists staged a protest demonstration outside the Olympic Canada-Norway hockey game – against Norwegian aquaculture. Aiming their protest primarily against the Oslo-based Marine Harvest, the world’s dominant salmon farming company, the activist claimed the industry practice to be “tremendously destructive” to the environment. The … Continued