Over the summer maritime charities Seafarers UK and Cornwall Rural Community Charity (CRCC) are working together to carry out a UK-wide project to survey fishermen, their families and communities. The survey aims to understand community and individual needs and challenges better, and to identify examples of projects or activities that are working to tackle these.
South African industry federation SADSTIA has seen a radical shake-up of its executive committee, with new members from a variety of different backgrounds joining, and with Sea Harvest’s Terence Brown as its newly-elected chairman.
Iceland’s Minister of Fisheries Thorgerður Katrín Gunnarsdóttir has set quotas for the 2017-18 quota year, and has stuck rigidly to the recommendations of the Marine Research Institute, except for erring on the side of caution by setting quotas for some species below the recommendations.
According to the Akranes Trade Union (Verkalýðsfélag Akraness), a combination of Iceland’s strengthening currency and falling fish prices have seen crew earnings drop significantly. The union has compared earnings by crews on several trawlers to come up with its findings.
One of the founders of the EMK movement in Holland that has voiced the industry opinion that the landing obligation is unworkable, Dirk Kraak has been fishing for 36 years, and has been sailing as skipper for 33 of those.
Hefty fines have been handed out to two Portsmouth fishermen for obstructing fishery officers. The case went before SouthamptonMagistrates Court where the two were ordered to pay fines and costs in a case brought by the Southern Inshore Fisheries and Conservation Authority (IFCA).
The European Court of Auditors (ECA) today presented its ‘EU fisheries controls: more efforts needed’ special report to the European Parliament. Europêche, which represents industry bodies across the EU, does not consider that the report reflects significant progress made on fisheries control and monitoring over the last years nor the actual situation in the whole European Union.
The Council of the EU and the European Parliament have reached a political agreement on a new legislative framework for the sustainable management of the external fishing fleets. The new regime sets out strict, transparent and harmonised rules for issuing and managing fishing authorisations to EU vessels fishing outside Community waters and to foreign vessels operating in EU waters.
The Government has presented a bill to parliament which substantially seeks to reform fisheries policies and the administration of the country’s most vital resource. According to the government, this reform sets out to promote sustainability and change the way in which fishing licenses are administered. On the other hand, the industry remains uneasy and unconvinced.
Last week saw the 10th anniversary of the EU Long Distance Fleet Advisory Council (LDAC), the EU stakeholder body formed by representatives of the fishing industry, seafood processing and marketing sectors, trade unions and NGOs.
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