Ireland’s Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Michael Creed has launched the Strategy for the Irish Inshore Fisheries Sector 2019-2023 on behalf of the National Inshore Fisheries Forum. The Strategy is designed to frame the work of the Inshore Fisheries Forums over the next number of years and represents the first time the inshore fisheries sector has developed its own sector-specific plan.
The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and Morocco signed an agreement at the Halieutis exhibition on Friday, aiming to build capacity in Morocco’s artisanal fisheries.
European small-scale fishing body LIFE has called on MEPs to reject amendments 10, 19, and 39, which it claims will expand the definition of small-scale fisheries and create an uneven playing field across Europe. According to LIFE, the simple definition of under 12 metres and fishing with passive gears offers a basic clarity and comparability across the EU.
Now working for the last three weeks with a daily catch limit of 50kg, French small-scale line fishermen fear a complete closure of the bass fishery any day now, at a time of year when bass is crucial to their livelihoods.
According to Plateforme Petite Pêche, representing French small-scale fishermen, commercial fishing for bass in the Bay of Biscay has been subject to an annual catch limit, set for 2018 at 2240 tonnes. But as of 22nd November, only 200 tonnes were left, less that 10% of the total at a critical time of the year.
A the annual conference of the European Union’s outermost regions, in Gran Canaria, Jean-Claude Juncker has announced that nine outermost territories can now use state aid to support the renewal of the small-scale fishing fleet, while meeting conditions requiring sustainable activity.
A non-profit tuna producer organisation based on the island of Lanzarote in the Canary Islands has become the latest Member of the International Pole & Line Foundation (IPNLF). Organización de Productores de Túnidos y Pesca Fresca (Optuna No 42) represents the interests of the pole-and-line tuna fishery of the Canary Islands, and has been supporting local fishermen and coastal communities in the region for more than a hundred years.
The NFFO’s East Anglian Committee has highlighted the need for a concerted effort to protect fishing opportunities and the viability of the fleets in the region. Fishermen in the region are rapidly running out of options, according to the NFFO.
The decline of much of the UK under 10m fleet has escaped much attention in the furore of claim and counter-claim around Britain’s departure from the European Union, according to Jerry Percy of the Coastal PO and director of coastal fishing organisation LIFE Platform.
The Yorkshire town of Filey is battling to keep fishermen on the water as well as to protect fishing history and a local identity first recorded in the Middle Ages.