News
November 19, 2009
Questioned MSC label is sought for Baltic cod
The EU Council’s October decision to raise the 2010 TACs for the Baltic cod, has now been followed by a move by German fishermen to have their fisheries in both Baltic stocks MSC certified. The eastern and western stocks have both dramatically declined since the 1980s, but the much bigger Eastern stock has been showing … Continued
November 19, 2009
Nordic Ministers sink current CFP
In an article ahead of Friday’s EU Fisheries Council meeting, the Secretary General of the Nordic Council of Ministers calls the current Union fisheries regime a “dismal failure”. Halldor Asgrimsson, a former Prime Minister of Iceland, added that Nordic management systems in that field could serve as a “source of inspiration” for the upcoming reform … Continued
November 18, 2009
Just one day in Brussels for Fisheries Ministers
Due to the Thursday extra EU summit to discuss candidates for new top official offices, the Agriculture and Fisheries Council meeting has been limited to just one day, Friday. According to the Swedish Presidency, however, all fisheries issues will remain on the agenda. That means that the ministers will decide on the Commission’s proposal for … Continued
November 18, 2009
Chickens, pigs and cows nibble dwindling fish stocks, while people starve, study says
Rather than aiming at consumers’ conscience about what they put on their dinner tables, finding alternative feed sources for chickens, pigs and cows may be a more fruitful path to choose when it comes to saving dwindling fish stocks, researchers behind a new global study say. Some facts, according to the researchers behind the University … Continued
November 17, 2009
Bluefin tuna decision meets mixed reactions
The EU Commission welcomes the ”decisive action” by ICCAT to reduce bluefin tuna TACs, while fuming environmentalists call it a “sell-out”. Meeting in Recife, Brazil, The International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) decided to reduce the annual Atlantic blue-fin tuna fishing quota to about one-third of the current levels, thus rejecting calls … Continued
November 17, 2009
Renewed jellyfish threat
Scientists’ warnings of Japanese jellyfish growing big as sumo wrestlers as a consequence of overfishing, have become terrifying reality: a 200-kilo monster recently sunk a big trawler off Chiba on the central East coast. The trawler, the Diasan Shinsho-maru, capsized as its crew was trying to haul in a net containing dozens of huge Nomuras. … Continued
November 17, 2009
Management does save fish, study shows
Stock management really does work in rebuilding depleted fisheries, a new study shows. The study, published in the Science magazine, was done on ten of the world’s largest marine communities. It examined the range of fishing rates that could provide high yields while maintaining most species from both a commercial and conservation perspective. It also … Continued
November 12, 2009
SARFISH briefing on Ministers’ desks
The second briefing from FISH/Seas At Risk to EU Fisheries Ministers and other stakeholders has been sent out for the November 19-20 Council meeting. In the SARFISH project, a letter with a summary of our standpoints on issues up for decision, and a lengthier “annex” on each of those agenda points with background material, is sent … Continued
November 11, 2009
Selecting the right catch
The Scottish Government is funding a test of five Scottish trawlers’ use of selective fishing gear to the tune of €280,000. The aim of the gear is to reduce cod discards while enabling fishers to land valuable seabed-dwelling species such as monkfish and flatfish. Thereby, helping fishers to avoid taking catches they have no quota … Continued
November 10, 2009
Fish are going north for the cool, study shows
Many fish stocks are fleeing warming waters, moving northward and off-shore, some of them now all but extinct in US waters, a new American study shows. The survey, performed by researchers at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) science centre in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, studied 36 stocks in the Northwest Atlantic Ocean, many of … Continued