The Faroese fleet yesterday sailed en masse to dock in Tórshavn where fishermen came together to protest against the government’s plans to drop the longstanding days-at-sea system for most of the fleet, to replace it with quotas.
European fishermen’s organisation Europêche has hit out at accusations of false lobbying levelled against it by NGOs Corporate Europe Observatory (CEO) and Seas at Risk.
The challenges facing groundfish fishermen in Iceland can’t have escaped anyone familiar with the sector, according to Örn Pálsson, director of the National Association of Small Boat Owners (NASBO), who points out that fish prices have not been as low as they are today for years.
Following its boost to mackerel quotas for 2017, Iceland has also increased this year’s blue whiting quota.
The Ministry of Fisheries has decided to increase this season’s capelin quota to 299,000 tonnes, of which approximately 196,000 tonnes goes to the Icelandic fleet.
Norwegian Fisheries Minister Per Sandberg has held a meeting in London with his UK counterpart George Eustice, setting out clear requirements.
A strongly-worded position paper published by the Low Impact Fishers of Europe (LIFE) Platform has come out firmly against Individual Transferable Quotas (ITQs) as an integral component of EU fisheries policies and management, which LIFE says have a disproportionately negative impact on small scale coastal fishing communities.
The Icelandic Ministry of Industry and Innovation with responsibility for fisheries has mirrored Norway’s herring quota hike in setting this year’s quotas for Atlanto-Scandian herring and blue whiting.
Iceland’s National Association of Small Boat Owners (NASBO) has questioned the authorities on its management of blue ling, which was not a quota species until the 2013-14 quota year, asking why advice has been for significantly higher amounts than have been landed, while management has not been effective in rebuilding this stock.
The organisation representing the majority of English, Welsh and Northern Ireland fishermen, the NFFO, has launched a scathing attack on fisheries minister George Eustice following his decision to transfer 1500 tonnes of quota from the Humberside PO to Scotland.