The Australian Fisheries Management Authority (AFMA) and its international partners have wrapped up an operation focusing on illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing in the Pacific Ocean on the high seas outside Australian waters.
TCD, the technical division of the Urk Fishermen’s Co-operative VCU, has delivered the first new fishing vessel built in Urk for many years with the completion of a new shrimp trawler for Texel fisherman Erik Kalf.
In an addition to the pole-and-line fleet it operates under the Solomon Islands flag, a vessel acquired from Japan has joined the fleet of National Fisheries Developments (NFD), a subsidiary of US tuna operator Tri Marine.
Dr Katie Brigden has been appointed as Fisheries Scientist to work on a pioneering fish industry ‘self-sampling’ scheme for pelagic stocks. Her new role is supported by the EU PANDORA project, under which the NAFC Marine Centre in Shetland is partnering with the Scottish Pelagic Fishermen’s Association (SPFA) and Marine Scotland Science (MSS).
A second fire on board the same trawler under construction at a shipyard in Holland has left the new twin-rigger/fly-shooter’s future in the balance as the damage is assessed.
Icelandic fishing company HB Grandi continues to go through a period of change that began when a third of its ownership changed hands earlier this year. The company has announced the acquisition of another operator – and that its new freezer trawler currently under construction in Spain may be for sale.
Earlier this year, a group of researchers made the claim that fishing activities occurred in 55% of the world’s oceans. As a result, their study found that the area fished is four times bigger than the area occupied by agriculture in terms of square kilometres. At the time, Europêche argued that the study was based on scientifically unsound data, overestimating the proportion of the seabed where fishing occurs.
Scotland’s salmon farmers have published monthly mortality figures on a farm-by-farm basis to increase transparency and understanding of this key sector.
The Board of the Shetland Shellfish Management Organisation (SSMO) has hailed the successful MSC re-accreditation of the local scallop dredge and brown crab fisheries by the international sustainability watchdog.
The Northern Shipyard in St Petersburg, part of the United Shipbuilding Corporation, has begun cutting steel for a new factory trawler scheduled to be delivered to Norebo company Rybprominvest JSC in 2020.