The 2010 guide to International Agreements Concerning Living Marine Resources of Interest To NOAA Fisheries, compiled and edited by Keith Cialino, has been published by the National Marine Fisheries Service Office of International Affairs.
The 2010 guide to International Agreements Concerning Living Marine Resources of Interest To NOAA Fisheries, compiled and edited by Keith Cialino, has been published by the National Marine Fisheries Service Office of International Affairs.
Arcadia has awarded $1 million to the international marine conservation organisation Oceana, which will fund the first year of its two-year Baltic Sea Enforcement Project. Oceana plans to seek other donors to meet the remaining project cost.
Oceana will work on two fronts in the Baltic Sea, with the aim of reducing and preventing illegal and non-sustainable fishing.
Its campaign by land will involve the research and documentation of all ports in the nine Baltic countries, with researchers specialising in fisheries issues hired locally and trained for this specific campaign. Their role will be to monitor the Baltic coasts to verify fleets and their catches, including bottom trawlers and driftnets. An investigation of the fishing companies operating in these fisheries will also be carried out, as well as a thorough study of the regulations in each area. This will enable Oceana to develop policy proposals.
Read the complete story from Arcadia.
The organization calls on the EU to manage its fleets’ shark fisheries with quotas, recovery plans, minimum landing sizes and a “fins attached” landing policy.
MADRID – July 22, 2010 – In a new report by Oceana, The Race for Threatened Sharks, the international marine conservation organization demonstrates how sharks are extremely vulnerable species that have been fished by European Union vessels at home and around the world without management for decades. Globally, 21% of shark populations are threatened with extinction, according to the IUCN Red List, and targeted and by-catch fisheries are the main threat to their survival.
Changes in shark fishery management in the European Union have been slow, with strong proposals often rejected or weakened. Oceana is urging the responsible fisheries management bodies and authorities to pick up the pace in establishing new regulations. Specifically, the marine conservation organization demands that all shark fisheries be regulated with “fins attached[1]” policies, catch quotas, minimum landing sizes, recovery plans or technical controls for fishing gear.
Read the complete story from Oceana.
MARINE conservation organisation Oceana is calling for the EU to follow scientific advice in determining the Total Allowable Catch (TAC) of anchovy in the Bay of Biscay.
The International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) has proposed a TAC of 6,000 tonnes according to the precautionary approach, which would ensure that another anchovy collapse like that of 2005 does not happen again.
Ricardo Aguilar, Research Director of Oceana in Europe, said: “Anchovy in the Gulf of Biscay is an incredibly vulnerable stock. In spite of being a short-lived species, it has taken the stock almost five years to recover from the collapse which occurred in 2005. This slow recovery was due to low recruitment episodes, whose causes are still unknown. This situation not only threatens the continuance of this species, but also the livelihoods of fishermen. The current situation necessitates a TAC of 6.000 tonnes in accordance with the precautionary approach.”
Read the complete story from Fish News EU.
July 15, 2010 – Her Majesty seems to know exactly what she fancies as she inspects local produce in a Scots fishing village yesterday – some fresh QUEEN scallops.
Thousands turned out to welcome the Queen and Prince Philip to Kirkcudbright as they toured Dumfries and Galloway.
Chef Carlo Bignami, 52, and wife Heather served the shellfish cooked in Cointreau to the Royal couple.
Heather, also 52 – who runs Carlo's restaurant in nearby Castle Douglas – said: "The Queen called Philip over to try some. He was very interested in what liquor was used in the recipe – he seemed to like it."
Read the complete story from The Sun.
WASHINGTON, D.C. – July 14, 2010 – Ted Danson, award-winning actor, longtime ocean advocate and Oceana board member, testified today before the Subcommittee on International Trade, Customs and Global Competitiveness of the Senate Committee on Finance. In the hearing entitled Marine Wealth: Promoting Conservation and Advancing American Exports, Danson described how government subsidies negatively impact the oceans and global seafood market as well as explained why sustainable fishing is necessary to preserve ocean health and jobs.
“There’s an inextricable link between ocean conservation and global competitiveness,” said Danson. “It’s quite simple – No fish. No fishermen. No future.”
The World Trade Organization (WTO) is currently engaged in a dedicated negotiation on fisheries subsidies as part of the Doha trade round. Yet despite international consensus on the dire state of the oceans, many governments continue to provide major subsidies to their fishing sectors. These subsidies promote overfishing by pushing fleets to fish longer, harder and farther away than would otherwise be economically feasible.
Read the complete story from Oceana.
It might not be the "Cheers" bar, but everyone is still sure to know his name when actor Ted Danson appears before the Senate Finance Committee this week.
Danson, famous for his role as Sam Malone on the long-running television series "Cheers," is scheduled to testify Wednesday at a hearing on fishing and international trade. A longtime advocate for marine conservation, Danson will be representing Oceana and is expected to call for the United States to use international trade negotiations to press other nations to repeal fishing subsidies.
The International Trade, Customs and Global Competitiveness Subcommittee will look at "marine wealth" and options to support and advance U.S. seafood exports. The hearing is intended to explore how U.S. fish and seafood producers can compete in global markets and promote ocean conservation, according to the committee.
Read the complete story from the New York Times.
The European Union's executive wants to allow Spanish and French fisherman to catch some 30 percent of the anchovies in the Bay of Biscay over the next year, only months after it lifted a total fishing ban imposed because they were in danger of disappearing.
The EU allowed anchovy fishing in the region last December under pressure from the Spanish and French governments after banning it for four years.
It says scientists confirm that the number of anchovies is now "in a good state" and able to replenish itself from limited catches.
Read the complete story at The Boston Globe.
Eight years after it was banned, in Italy, other types of illegal driftnets are still being used. They end the lives of thousands of cetaceans and turtles each year.
Oceana considers this morning’s surrender of 250 km of illegal driftnets positive. The nets were used to catch swordfish by fishermen from Bagnara Calabra. Even so, the international marine conservation organization underlines that this act does not mean the end of driftnets in Italy. Oceana has reported the activity of hundreds of kilometers of illegal driftnets of vessels in this port for years. This has been done both along the coast and on the high seas by vessels that had collected substantial subsidies to reconvert them.
Xavier Pastor, Executive Director of Oceana in Europe, has celebrated that at last, after almost a one-year blockade of this port by the coast guard, the fishermen in this bastion of driftnet use have surrendered their nets to be destroyed. However, he added: ”The nets should have been confiscated by the authorities years ago and the subsidies returned. This is not a voluntary return. This port has a longstanding tradition of illegal practices, and we are asking the Administration not to make this into a measure for the media alone and continue the historic permissiveness toward this destructive fishing gear. Driftnets must be completely and permanently done away with.”
Read the complete story from Oceana.
Gabriel Guitard, a fisherman from the small community of Pointe-Verte roughly 30 kilometres northwest of Bathurst, said the drop in scallops is due to over-fishing. "In the last 10 years there was more fishermen than ever," said Guitard. "There's too many boats for the little area we have." The Department of Fisheries and Oceans has decided to suspend the scallop-fishing season for one season. Ernest Ferguson, department spokesman, said the department will monitor scallop levels in the region over the next year. "A decision was made to stop for a year. And then have a discussion with the union, with the fishermen in 2011 to see what should be done for next year," Ferguson said. Yvon Arseneau, another northern fisherman in Pointe-Verte, said he's pleased the federal fisheries department complied with the local request even if it didn't quite as far as originally proposed. "For once, I think [the Department of] Fisheries and Oceans listened to the fishermen and we're very happy with the decision," Arseneau said. "It seems like people there now are looking for the future of the fishery, and it's good." Read the CBC News story in full