A pilot project has been launched towards establishing a voluntary observation and inspection programme for the Black Sea by the end of 2019. This follows the recent recommendation by the General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean (GFCM) for a multi-annual management plan for turbot in the Black Sea.
The NFFO Executive Committee, which met recently in York, has reaffirmed its objectives as the UK leaves the EU against the background of the European Commission’s position that NFFO chief executive Barrie Deas described as aiming at keeping a post-Brexit UK tied into the CFP for the foreseeable future, while pressing for a status quo on quota shares and access arrangements to be maintained.
Haddock worth an estimated NoK200 million went uncaught last year, according to Norwegian research institute Nofima, which has put forward suggestions for the allocation of quotas to be reviewed.
As the European Parliament voted on technical measures earlier this week, French fishing industry body CNPMEM claims that with all the attention was focused on pulse fishing, a chance to deal with properly crucial legislation on mesh sizes was missed.
Following the overwhelming vote in the European Parliament to ban the use of electric pulse beam trawling, LIFE’s Executive Director, Jerry Percy stated that ‘it is so important to reiterate yet again that our resistance to the use of electric pulse fishing was not based on ‘fake news,’ jealousy between fishermen or NGO dogma.’
The anti-pulse trawl lobby peaked this week in Brussels with a campaign ahead of the crucial vote on a new regulation for the conservation of fishery resources that will take place on 16 January 2018. Europêche, which represents European fishing associations, believes that this is the umpteenth attempt to demonise an innovative fishing method.
Russia’s fishing industry produced close to 4.80 million tonnes in 2017, 2% up on the previous year, and the best year’s fishing for a quarter of a century.
A small group of pelagic longline fishing vessel owners will take a six-month voluntary break, but will continue to fish with alternative gear, improving populations and supporting supply chains as NOAA and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation kicked off 2018 with the second round of the Oceanic Fish Restoration Project.
The European Commission has adopted a recommendation that aims at obtaining authorisation from the Council to open negotiations for the conclusion of a new fisheries protocol between the European Union and Morocco. The current four-year protocol to the Fisheries Partnership Agreement will expire on 14 July 2018.
In his summary of the preliminary figures for 2017, the head of the Russian Fisheries Agency Ilya Shestakov said that 68 applications had been received during the year for investment quotas; 34 for new fishing vessels and a further 34 for shore-based production facilities.
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