fishing

The Spanish Fisheries Confederation, CEPESCA, has requested the Spanish government to ensure the European Union defends its interests, primarily allowing the Spanish fleet to access the UK waters of the UK and, secondly, to maintain reciprocal access to markets. The Spanish fleet catches around 29,000 tonnes in the Northeast Atlantic of which 9 000 tonnes are caught in UK waters primarily hake, megrim and monkfish worth around €27m. Although these catches only account for 1% of total Spanish catches and far from, for example, Sweden’s 60%, they are essential for shipowners from Galicia, Asturia and Cantabria. Currently, the 88 Spanish-flagged vessels that can fish in the UK waters employ 2,150 crew members and generate around 10,750 indirect jobs.

Low quotas over several years due to a critical decline in cod and herring stocks challenge both commercial and recreational fisheries financially with declining revenues and fewer angler tourists fishing for cod. Representatives from the business community, the research establishment, municipalities, green organisations, and politicians are being gathered by the Danish government to lay the groundwork for an action plan for future fisheries in the Baltic Sea. Although fishing pressure has eased considerably since 2000 and quotas are the lowest in many years, cod and herring stocks in the Baltic have declined to the point where the future of fishing in the Baltic Sea is uncertain.

Helping small-scale fishers promotes Blue Growth This article featured in EUROFISH Magazine 1 2020 The project Adri.SmArtFish unites Italian and Croatian regions of the northern Adriatic, together with two pre-eminent research centres and the Ministry of Agriculture of the Republic of Croatia, in an effort to promote sustainability, innovation and co-creation (the collaborative development of value using customers, suppliers etc.) in small-scale fisheries (SSF) policy-making while preserving marine resources and local traditions and enhancing the competitiveness of small-scale fishermen through cross-border cooperation.

Octopus is an important source of income for Senegalese fishermen and women due to its high value on international markets like Europe and Japan. Last year 15,000 clay pots were submerged in Senegalese local waters to form artificial reefs protecting and sheltering octopuses. The artificial breeding beds provided by the clay pots have increased the production of octopus considerably. This generates significant revenues at community level which benefit the local woman making the clay pots, the artisanal fishermen and fisherwomen who have an abundant and high value octopus stock to fish from, and the local fish merchants selling the octopus. The octopus pots not only preserve and restore the ecosystem and increase the octopus biomass but they also support the local artisanal fisheries by maintaining an economically viable activity.

An estimated 33% of the European fishing fleet catches are fished in British waters. The UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson insists on Britain “maintaining control of these UK fishing waters” after it leaves the EU, he said in his first meeting with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who took office in December. The two are discussing the negotiations after Brexit, on January 31, with Johnson wanting a trade deal with the EU completed by the end of 2020 without Britain aligning with EU rules. He said the UK wanted “a broad free-trade agreement covering goods and services and co-operation in other areas”. With regards to fishing rights the two sides have committed to negotiating a new framework in place by 1 July although EU spokespersons believe that talks will go deep into the year due to its complexities.

Ahead of the Council meeting on Fisheries taking place in mid-December, the Commission has adopted its proposal for fishing opportunities, the Total Allowable Catches (TACs), in 2020 for 72 stocks in the Atlantic and the North Sea. Quotas for 32 stocks will increase or remain the same, while 40 stocks will have their quota reduced. The quotas are set for most commercial fish stocks at levels that maintain or restore them to health, while allowing the industry to take the highest amount of fish. The proposal follows advice from the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES). Sustainable fishing has made substantial progress in the EU: in 2019, 59 stocks are being fished at Maximum Sustainable Yield levels, up from 53 in 2018 and compared to only 5 in 2009, meaning that the fishing pressure on the stocks is limited to a level that will allow a healthy future for the fish stocks' biomass, while taking into account socio-economic factors. As the size of some key fish stocks is increasing – for instance, haddock in the Celtic Sea and sole in the Bristol Channel – so has the European fishing sector’s profitability which will reach an estimated €1.3 billion in 2019.

Serious shortcomings exist in the mechanisms that Ecuador has put in place to ensure compliance with its international fishing obligations according the European Commission. The legal framework in place in the country is outdated and not in line with international and regional rules for the conservation and management of fishing resources, and law enforcement is hampered by this outdated legal framework. In addition, inefficient administrative procedures and a lenient attitude towards infringements means the sanctions regime is neither depriving the offenders from the benefits gained from IUU fishing, nor deterring it. Deficiencies in terms of control, notably over the activity of the tuna fishing and processing industries, undermine the reliability of the traceability system upon which the certification of the legality of the catches is based.

A social agenda for the artisanal fishing sector was presented by the Undersecretariat of Fisheries and Aquaculture (SUBPESCA),…

The use of slave labor to catch fish is an epidemic whose severity needs no elucidation. New technology, however, may hold the key to fighting forced labour in the fishing industry. An estimated 21 million people are trapped in enslaved labor around the world. Many of these slaves are forced to work on fishing vessels, with illegal fishing practices generating over $23 billion each year. The tendency is for men who are seeking work to board ships willingly, but then once they are isolated at sea, their wages are withheld, and they are subjected to violent, bleak working conditions for years.