Saving Seafood

EU tightens the net on illegal fishing with restructuring of fisheries control rules

July 12, 2023 — On 27 June, five years after the European Commission’s initial proposal to modernize the European Union fisheries control system, a preliminary agreement on new regulation received approval from the European Parliament’s Fisheries Committee.

The 20-8 vote advances a planned overhaul of E.U. fisheries control rules with the goal of strengthening measures to combat illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing, with compulsory measures introduced on electronic tracking and traceability that aim to boost supply chain transparency, which have been long-sought goals of marine-focused environmental NGOs.

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EU fishing fleet losing profitability in 2022

November 2, 2022 — A sharp increase in energy costs and inflation in 2022 will result in E.U. fisheries struggling to maintain profits, and the fleet could end 2022 in a loss-making position, according to the “2022 Annual Economic Report on the E.U. Fishing Fleet” published by the European Commission Scientific, Technical, and Economic Committee for Fisheries (STECF).

STECF’s projection doesn’t consider E.U. financial support and the national state aid that could be provided to mitigate the socio-economic impacts of rising energy prices and inflation.

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EU’s new Russia sanctions package includes ban on seafood

April 6, 2022 — A fifth round of sanctions against Russia, including a ban on imports of Russian seafood, has been proposed by the European Commission, amid fresh allegations Russia has committed war crimes during its invasion of Ukraine.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Tuesday, 5 April, she expected seafood to be among EUR 5.5 billion (USD 6 billion) worth of specific import bans, along with wood, cement, alcohol, and other products. Von der Leyen said the move would seek to “cut the money stream of Russia and its oligarchs,” and also close financial loopholes that currently exist between Russia and Belarus.

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UK, EU settle row over fishing licenses

December 13, 2021 — Weeks of negotiations aimed at settling a dispute over post-Brexit fishing licenses have ended with the United Kingdom issuing 18 licenses for European Union replacement vessels in U.K. territorial waters and five licenses for E.U. vessels to access Jersey waters, the European Commission has confirmed.

French vessels have performed a series of protests, including a blockade of the British island of Jersey, arguing they were not issued a sufficient number of permits to cover all the fishing vessels that historically fished in U.K. waters before Brexit.

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NOAA releases report identifying seven countries engaged in IUU

August 12, 2021 — NOAA has cited seven countries as engaged in IUU fishing, including Mexico, and an additional 29 countries or entities as lacking effective regulatory programs to combat bycatch, including the European Union.

The latest report, the “2021 Biennial Report to Congress on Improving International Fisheries Management,” determined that China, Costa Rica, Guyana, Mexico, the Russian Federation, Senegal, and Taiwan all had vessels engaged in IUU fishing activities during 2018-2020. Mexico’s presence on the list makes it the second report in a row where the country has been listed among those engaged in IUU fishing.

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Scottish fisheries leaders ask Boris Johnson for help with Brexit woes

August 6, 2021 — At an in-person meeting in Fraserburgh, Scotland, on 5 August, Scottish fisheries leaders urged United Kingdom Prime Minister Boris Johnson to help them build back the industry after the Brexit deal.

Scottish Seafood Association Chief Executive Jimmy Buchan told Johnson Brexit and COVID-19 have combined to create a “perilous situation” for companies, with production and export capacity severely reduced, especially due to a related labor shortage.

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As new agreement goes into effect, countries align to protect and study Arctic fisheries

August 6, 2021 — An international agreement to protect the fisheries of the central Arctic region, signed in 2018, went into effect 25 June.

The agreement was signed by nine countries and the European Union. Signatories include Arctic countries – the United States, Canada, Russia, Denmark, and Norway – and countries with fishing interests there, including China, Japan, South Korea, and Iceland.

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EU pleads with US judge to limit discovery in salmon price-fixing class-action lawsuit

July 21, 2021 — The European Union has not issued any public comment regarding its antitrust investigation into Norwegian salmon farmers for more than a year, but on 13 July, it made clear its inquiry is still active.

In a brief filed in the U.S. District Court in the Southern District of Florida, the European Commission contended that a class-action suit filed on behalf of U.S. purchasers of Norwegian farmed salmon in 2019 is interfering with its investigation. The lawsuit accuses Mowi, SalMar, Lerøy Seafood, Grieg Seafood, and Cermaq Group of exchanging competitively sensitive information among themselves, with the aim of artificially controlling the price of farm-raised salmon sold in the United States.

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EU fuel fight ignites as WTO subsidies negotiations enter final week

July 12, 2021 — Daniel Voces, the managing director of the European Union’s primary fishing industry advocacy group, Europêche, believes members of the World Trade Organization will reach a deal on curbing illegal fishing subsidies this week.

WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala has pleaded with negotiators in Geneva, Switzerland, to come to an agreement before the deadline for negotiations arrives on 15 July. Negotiators are currently considering a draft version of an accord, but differences remain due to sparring over exemptions for developing nations as well as fuel subsidy definitions and enforcement mechanisms.

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Elvers plentiful in Japan, harvest remains capped

June 28, 2021 — The return of glass eels to Japan improved this year, but a subcommittee of the Fisheries Policy Council meeting held in Tokyo approved maintaining the current cap on the number that can be stocked to aquaculture ponds in line with a regional resource management agreement.

The amount of elvers of the Japanese eel, anguilla japonica, collected in Japan had been in decline since the latter half of the 1950s, corresponding with channelization of rivers for flood control and filling of wetlands for reclamation.

Read the full story at Seafood Source