Norway and the Faroe Islands have reached agreement on reciprocal fishing rights for 2017, with the Faroes getting an increased cod quota in Norwegian waters and in return Norway gets a higher mackerel quota in the Faroese EEZ.
MEPs have voted to remove days at sea for North Sea cod fisheries and the European Parliament claims that the relaxation of this measure will remove all obstacles to complying in full with the landing obligation.
Iceland’s minister of agriculture and fisheries has allocated regional quotas, under one of the two regional quota schemes.
The latest factory vessel to join the Norwegian fleet, the Rolls-Royce-designed Ramoen built at Armon in Spain, is ready for sea.
The Swedish Agency for Marine and Water Management (SwAM) is in the process of developing a new system of allocating quotas that is planned to be in place from the 1st of January next year. Now out for consultation, responses must be submitted to the agency by 18th November.
EU Fisheries Commissioner Karmelu Vella has announced a swingeing reduction in the Western Baltic cod quota.
Demersal fishing in the Baltic Sea has been dealt a huge blow by the Council of Ministers on Monday night when they reached agreement on fishing opportunities for 2017 in the Baltic. The ministers ended up agreeing on a quota reduction of no less than 56% for cod in the Western Baltic Sea, while the quota for cod in the Eastern Baltic Sea was reduced by 25%.
Danish PO Danmarks Fiskeriforening is appalled that the EU Commission has decided to follow the recommendations for western Baltic cod quota without taking into account fishermen's arguments, predicting a death knell for the fishery if the proposal is adopted at the Council meeting in October.
Europêche has hit back at the Commission's 2017 proposals for Baltic cod allocations, which sees a colossal decrease from last year's figures. The quota proposed for Western Baltic cod amounts to 1588 tonnes, down 88% from 2016 figures and a reduction of almost 40% for the Eastern stock.
The MMO has published the results of the 2015 trials with 18 North Sea vessels fitted with Remote Electronic Monitoring (REM) devices to fish under a discard ban for cod in Area IV.