The European Association of Fish Producers Organisations, which represents forty POs across ten EU member states, held its Annual General Meeting in Galicia on 17 June, hosted by the local members OPPC3 and OPPF4 and by ARVI, the local fishing vessel owners association. The UK referendum was not on the agenda and did not affect the spirit of co-operation among the POs from 10 EU member states.
The Scottish Fishermen’s Federation (SFF) had its first introductory meeting with Fergus Ewing, the new Cabinet Secretary for the Rural Economy this week.
Norwegian trawler operators have committed to a series of initiatives designed to mitigate the effects of fishing gears on ocean floor species.
The Port State Measures Agreement, designed by the FAO as a mechanism to help crush illegal fishing, is set to come into force as international law on the 5th of June now that 30 members have deposited the required articles of adherence.
Volker Kuntzsch of New Zealand company Sanford has made a robust response to the University of British Columbia report, Reconstruction of Marine Fisheries Catches for New Zealand (1950-2010), which uses historical catch information from New Zealand fisheries and claims these are 2.7 (between 1950 and 2010) times larger than the official records.
Algerian’s Minister for Agriculture, Rural Development and Fishing Sid Ahmed Ferroukhi has confirmed during a visit to Tipaza that the country’s Blue Ports campaign is focused on infrastructure development.
The Swedish Agency for Marine and Water Management (SaWM/HaV) has a new director-general with the appointment of Jakob Granit to the post as of the first of September.
The idea of Blue Growth emerged during the 2012 Rio + 20 process under the auspices of the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, in turn building on the 1992 Earth Summit. Blue Growth has become the latest buzzword, something that appears to be promoted as a miracle cure for stalled progress and dwindling natural resources.
For a nation with just 2040 square kilometres of land across several islands, Mauritius has a huge Exclusive Economic Zone of more than 2.30 million square kilometres. The challenge of patrolling this vast area of the Indian Ocean has been made more manageable with the delivery of the final five of ten Fast Interceptor Boats designed and built by the Indian Government-owned M/s Goa Shipyard Ltd.
IFCAs, the bodies responsible for administering inshore fisheries in England are increasingly risking becoming hamstrung, warns the National Federation of Fishermen’s Associations. According to the findings of a meeting of the NFFO West Coast Committee meeting held in Carnforth, the IFCAs increasingly lack of fishing industry representatives on their committees and the appointments process is in need of overhaul in order to be more conducive to fostering positive industry engagement in the management of local fisheries.