Dutch and English fishermen’s organisations have struck a voluntary deal on three areas of the North Sea to be kept free of pulse fishing. One zone is off Ramsgate and two are off the English east coast off Lowestoft, and the agreement is in force as of today (15th January) and each zone also has temporal limits.
The anti-pulse trawl lobby peaked this week in Brussels with a campaign ahead of the crucial vote on a new regulation for the conservation of fishery resources that will take place on 16 January 2018. Europêche, which represents European fishing associations, believes that this is the umpteenth attempt to demonise an innovative fishing method.
Pulse fishing has been the subject of a concerted campaign in the mainstream media and there are upcoming events at the European Parliament ahead of a crucial vote due to take place later this month. Dutch pulse fishermen are adamant that their fisheries have been portrayed in the worst possible light by NGOs – and have hit back at the flood of misinformation and fake news.
Síldarvinnslan’s production plant in Seyðisfjörður last year took delivery of 2625 tonnes of groundfish for processing; 1980 tonnes of cod and 491 tonnes of saithe.
Staff at Icelandic fishing gear supplier Ísfell have been busy with sales of Bridon trawl warps recently, including delivering warps to practically all of the newbuilds delivered to the Icelandic fleet over the last year.
The keel-laying ceremony for the third and fourth of the new Murmanseld 2 trawlers to be built at the Pella yard in St Petersburg has been held a few days before Christmas. The formal ceremony for the first and second trawlers in the series had already taken place in September.
The third of HB Grandi’s new fresher trawlers has arrived in Iceland, bringing to an end the long series of newbuilds for the company, all of them delivered by the Celiktrans yard in Turkey.
A new tool offers instant access to selectivity solutions. Launching today, the GearingUp online tool provides information on a decade of gear innovation – with more to come.
The second of a series of three trawlers for owners in Brittany was launched this week in Douarnenez. Built for Loctudy fisherman Stéphane Le Bec, Kronos is the sister vessel to Les Caraïbes II, which was delivered to Julien Le Brun in May, and a third trawler in the series is under construction.
The Okskaya Shipyard has signed a contract to deliver six new fresher trawlers to Murmansk company Valiant JSC.