MEPs have backed plans to end the EU-Comoros Fisheries Agreement, due to the Comoros’ involvement in illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing. This is the first time that the EU has terminated a fisheries agreement for this reason.
The UK’s environment secretary Michael Gove and fisheries minister George Eustice, who is also MP for the Camborne and Redruth constituency where fishing is a key part of the economy, can expect to have some explaining ahead of them, given the expectation they raised over Britain being able to regain exclusive control of its fisheries, according to the Cornish FPO.
‘Our governments have let us down,’ said SFF chief executive Bertie Armstrong, commenting on the deal that means relative stability and therefore reciprocal access to fishing grounds will remain in place throughout the two-year post-Brexit transition period.
Representatives of fishermen’s organisations and co-operatives from England, France, Belgium, Holland and the Channel Islands gathered in Devon for the 39th annual Mid-Channel Potting Conference, and following two days of discussion have released a statement to the effect that they intend to ensure that cohabitation agreements should continue to be made, industry to industry, into the future.
After tracking the satellite positioning data of 70,000 fishing vessels for the past four years, a group of researchers have concluded that commercial fishing covers over 55% of the ocean's surface. Europêche has hit back at the claim that fishing therefore occupies four times as much space as agriculture in terms of square kilometres.
The furore over claims by environmental organisations of suspicious fishing activity continues as the Australian Fisheries Management Authority (AFMA) has gently set out in response to a National Geographic article, specifically mentioning a vessel operated by Austral Fisheries, that AIS is not the same thing as a VMS.
Following on from the overwhelming success of Fishing into the Future’s first industry training workshop in 2017, the charity delivered its second training session aimed at inshore fishermen on the 6-8th March, at Dartington Hall in Devon: entitled ‘an Introduction to Sustainable Fishing.’
Scientists at University of California, Irvine predict that the world’s fisheries will be, on average, 20% less productive in the year 2300, with those in the North Atlantic down nearly 60% and those in much of the western Pacific experiencing declines of more than 50% as warming-induced plankton growth near Antarctica will impair the marine food chain.
Statements by environment secretary Michael Gove and Scottish Tory leader Ruth Davidson and chancellor Philip Hammond on the need for the UK to leave the Common Fisheries Policy have been welcomed by the Scottish Fishermen’s Federation.
Scottish Pelagic Fishermen’s Association chief scientist Dr Steven Mackinson, and colleagues from the Centre for Environment Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (Cefas), have published a scientific paper highlighting the sustainability issues faced when balancing pressures between maximising sustainable catch yields and ensuring effective fish stock conservation.