Saving Seafood

Scallop row: UK and French fishermen strike a deal

September 18, 2018 — The agreement, starting on Tuesday, will see larger British boats withdrawing in return for greater fishing rights elsewhere.

In August, boats collided and fishermen threw stones at each other as the French accused UK boats of depleting scallop stocks.

British fishermen said they were legally entitled to fish there.

Under the terms of the new deal, UK scallop dredgers over 15m long will leave the scallop beds off the coast of Normandy from midnight for six weeks.

In return, France will transfer fishing rights for scallops in areas such as the Irish Sea.

Smaller British boats are not restricted under the deal and can continue to fish in the Bay of Seine, where the row broke out.

Fisheries minister George Eustice said: “I commend the UK fishing industry for its patience throughout negotiations and welcome this pragmatic outcome.

Read the full story at BBC News

Talks to end ‘scallop wars’ between UK and France collapse

September 13, 2018 — Negotiations between British and French fishermen to end the ‘scallop wars’ in the Channel have collapsed.

Industry leaders had been working to agree compensation for UK mariners to prevent them foraging for the molluscs in a disputed territory during a period when the French are banned under domestic law.

But it was announced on Wednesday that talks had ended without a deal, risking a return to recent skirmishes in the Baie de Seine north of Normandy.

The Scottish White Fish Producers Association said it was “disappointing for everyone”, adding: “No one wants to see conflict on the high seas.”

The French food and agriculture minister, Stephane Travert, said he “regretted” the failure, but he added that he “salutes” the efforts of the French fishermen to “propose reasonable compensation”.

Talks had been held both sides of the Channel after trouble flared in recent weeks.

Some 35 French boats confronted five British craft off the coast of northern France, with reports of rocks and smoke bombs being hurled at UK vessels.

Read the full story at The Guardian

Climate change conflicts are here – and ‘scallop wars’ are just the beginning

September 11, 2018 — As the planet warms, species are moving further north to climate zones which are closer in temperature to what they originally evolved in. The oceans have absorbed most of this temperature increase, and so many marine species, including commercially fished scallops, are under particular stress to migrate northwards to cooler waters.

In the face of this disruption, legal boundaries for fishing fleets could become increasingly irrelevant. As the fish stocks they once contained move out, conflict is likely to arise between countries exploiting neighbouring fishing grounds.

As a result, the ongoing “scallop war“, which has seen tense physical confrontations between French and British fishers over access to these prized molluscs, may be a taste of worse to come.

The habitat ranges and migration patterns of commercial species in the ocean have been carefully studied throughout history, so that fishing fleets can exploit them more efficiently. This understanding has informed the division of fishing grounds according to who has the right to harvest them.

French scallop fishers were incensed over their British counterparts’ alleged pillaging of scallop stocks, as smaller British boats aren’t bound by a French law that prohibits dredging in the Baie de Seine from October 1 through May 15, to allow scallop populations to recover.

While on the surface it might seem that these skirmishes are anchored to specific circumstances – potentially inflamed by existing tensions around Brexit – they highlight the enormous difficulties in clearly mapping and enforcing legal boundaries around natural habitats that are changing rapidly.

Read the full story at PHYS.org

Scallop row: French fishermen wary of UK deal

September 7, 2018 — A deal has been reached to bring an end to the skirmishes between French and British fishermen in the Channel, but boat captains on the Normandy coast have vowed to fight on if any British boats come near their fishing grounds before October.

The agreement is yet to be signed and among those with most at stake are the two captains of La Rose Des Vents and Le Sachal’eo, whose dramatic collision with a Scottish trawler last week was caught on video.

Anthony Quesnel, captain of La Rose Des Vents, returned to Ouistreham’s empty dock on Wednesday after a night at sea and almost a tonne of mackerel, sole and plaice. But, in keeping with French rules, there were no scallops until the end of the breeding season at the start of October.

Like many fishermen here, he is adamant that British boats should abide by those same French rules when it comes to fishing for scallops – even though the UK government has in the past imposed no similar restrictions on its vessels.

Read the full story at BBC News

French navy ‘ready to act’ against England over scallops

September 5, 2018 — The French navy is “ready to act” against the British over control of a scallop-rich seabed.

A seafood feud between the two countries erupted last week when French fishermen chased their Brit counterparts out of the Baie de Seine, according to the Telegraph.

The disgruntled French fishermen were fuming that the English can fish for scallops in the waters year-round, but they are barred from doing so during the summer months under a previously struck agreement.

The British accused the French of ramming their ships and hurling projectiles at them – and the French said they experienced a violent counter-attack.

“We can’t keep going on like this, we can’t keep having skirmishes like that,” French Agriculture Minister Stephane Travert said Tuesday.

“The French Navy is ready to step in if more clashes break out, as well as carrying out checks,” he added.

Read the full story at the New York Post

French, UK fishermen to seek scallops deal after sea skirmishes

September 4, 2018 — Fishing industry officials from France and Britain will try to strike a new deal on dredging for scallops next week following violent skirmishes in the Channel, authorities said on Friday.

On Tuesday, French vessels rammed British trawlers off the coast of Normandy, hurling projectiles and insults in a dispute which erupted after a previous agreement broke down.

French fishermen accuse the British of unfairly catching scallops in the Baie de Seine in the summer months when French boats are banned from doing so under rules imposed by the Paris government to conserve stocks of the shellfish.

French Agriculture Minister Stephane Travert told Europe 1 radio he had discussed the issue with a British minister on Thursday night and that the industry representatives would meet next week to work out an agreement.

“We both condemn the violent acts and we want to return to a spirit of responsibility,” Travert said.

Travert said he had asked British fisheries minister George Eustace to ensure UK vessels do not sail south of the Barfleur-Antifer line, the scene of this week’s clashes.

The industry representatives would meet in London on Wednesday and French government officials would also attend, said Dimitri Rogoff, who heads the Normandy fishing association.

Read the full story at Reuters

Spanish seafood industry urged to work toward greater sustainability

August 17, 2018 — Spain’s seafood industry is being helped to work towards a more sustainable and responsible supply chain by environmental law group ClientEarth, following the success of the Sustainable Seafood Coalition (SSC) in the United Kingdom, which it initiated.

The SSC aimed to promote and support responsible and sustainable fish and seafood consumption, inform the public debate on seafood, and influence change in policy relevant to seafood sustainability not just in the U.K., but also in the European Union internationally.

The SSC has become a practical and collaborative way of demonstrating good sourcing practice, according to ClientEarth. The U.K. initiative has resulted in 75 percent of seafood in British supermarkets being labeled and sourced responsibly through voluntary codes of conduct on responsible sourcing and labeling developed by SSC members.

ClientEarth’s new sustainable seafood project hopes to achieve similar results with the Spanish seafood industry.

“Our role is to facilitate a new industry coalition and help them develop best practice for seafood sustainability in Spain,” Katie Miller, ClientEarth’s sustainable seafood project lead, told SeafoodSource. “This group can pave the way for collaborative environmental leadership in Spain.”

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Maine Lobster Industry Has Yet to Feel Full Impact of China Tariffs

July 27, 2018 — Bob Baines does not believe new foreign tariffs will have an immediate impact on the Maine lobster industry.

“The state is catching mostly new-shell lobsters that don’t ship well to China or the EU yet,” he said, plucking a few twisting lobsters from his haul to display the small number mature enough for an overseas voyage.

That won’t last, Baines said, and harder shells will come with more difficult trade barriers.

Moving quickly around the deck of his lobster boat Thrasher, Baines unloaded flat crates of live catch onto a dock adjacent to the Spruce Head Fisherman’s Co-Op, where he serves as president of the South Thomaston nonprofit that brokers sales for more than 40 dues-paying members.

Read the full story at The Free Press

Dutch fishermen to sail fleet into Amsterdam in wind turbine protest

June 5, 2018 — The Netherlands may be the land of the windmill, but fishermen are planning a major protest on Saturday against the Dutch government’s latest wind turbine construction in the North Sea, with an armada of fishing boats sailing into Amsterdam.

After alighting from at least 15 boats at the back of Amsterdam’s central station, it is understood that hundreds of fishermen will march to the capital’s Damrak canal, where they will upend bags of small fish deemed too small for sale by the EU, and cover them with red dye.

Fishing community leaders say they are being crowded out of their waters and that the towering turbines damage fish stocks and deafen and displace the local porpoise populations.

The Dutch government has announced plans to build three more windfarms off the Noord-Holland coast and north of the Wadden Islands, in addition to five new windfarms already agreed upon, at a cost of €20 billion (£17.5bn).

It is claimed by local fishermen that 25% of Dutch fishing waters will be covered with turbines by 2025 and made out of bounds for larger fishing vessels.

A Dutch energy network is additionally drawing up plans for an island of wind turbines on Dogger bank, a patch of shallow fishing waters 78 miles off the east Yorkshire coast frequented by Dutch, Danish and UK fishermen.

Read the full story at The Guardian

 

NGOs rail against EU’s confirmed North Sea fishing plan

May 30, 2018 — Multiple environmental NGOs have railed against the EU’s North Sea fishing plan, which it has now voted in, claiming it does not implement the common fisheries policy (CFP) and allows overfishing.

On May 29 the European Parliament adopted in its final vote the North Sea Multi-Annual Plan (NSMAP). The plan covers nearly one-third of all fish catches in EU waters, and includes demersal species, such as: cod, haddock, whiting, sole, plaice and Norway lobster. According to Oceana, the final deal is not acceptable, as it does not fully implement the objectives of the CFP and still allows for overfishing of certain stocks in the region.

“The EU lawmakers have completely failed to meet the legally binding requirements set by the CFP and the parliament missed an opportunity to defend its own position adopted at the plenary vote in September 2017. The parliament also ceded to the [EU] council’s pressure and low ambitions on the matter,” wrote Oceana.

Read the full story at Undercurrent News