New Zealand’s Primary Industries Minister Nathan Guy has announced a temporary closure of shellfish and seaweed harvesting along the earthquake-affected east coast of the South Island, and a NZ$2 million package to investigate the impact of the earthquakes on these fisheries.
The 35TH Annual Meeting of the North-East Atlantic Fisheries Commission (NEAFC) was held in London last week, and conservation and management measures for the year 2017 were adopted for a number of fish stocks. These include blue whiting, herring, mackerel, redfish in the Irminger Sea and Rockall haddock.
Nations bordering the Black Sea have unanimously backed a declaration setting out their commitment to tackling the challenges faced by fisheries and aquaculture. This is the region’s first ever consensus on promoting rational exploitation of marine resources, sustainable aquaculture, opposition to illegal practices and mitigation of threats to the marine environment.
For the second time in a few days, Australian Border Force (ABF) and Maritime Border Command (MBC) have retrieved lost fishing gear, this time from the Timor Sea roughly 150 nautical miles NNW of Darwin.
Icelandic processors’ organisation SFÚ (Samtök fiskframleiðenda og útflytjenda), which represents independent processors and exporters, was held last week and chairman Jón Steinn Elíasson was re-elected. SFÚ also took a firm stance at its AGM on the current threat of strike action by fishermen, backing the fishermen in their demands.
Ian Gatt, the chief executive of the Scottish Pelagic Fishermen’s Association, has been elected as the new President of the Scottish Fishermen’s Federation (SFF) at its annual general meeting.
Romania is hosting a high-level conference to examine the future of fisheries and aquaculture in the Black Sea region, which starts today.
Following two weeks of intense but constructive negotiations, last week the session closed for the United Nations Preparatory Committee for a new legally-binding instrument under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) for the conservation and sustainable use of marine biodiversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction.
New rules for traceability of fishery and aquaculture products in Sweden will come into effect in 2017, at least three months later than planned, as the Swedish Agency for Marine and Water Management (HaV) draft regulation has to first be assessed by the European Commission.
The European Commission has been urged to postpone a fisheries management plan for the North Sea, given the UK will no longer be bound by EU rules once the Brexit process has concluded.