» Fisheries



Is 8% or 57% of UK fishing fleet foreign owned – NFFO and Greenpeace exchange facts

Greenpeace reports, 8th February 2013: “Earlier this week, we exposed that the UK’s top fishing lobby – the National Federation of Fisherman’s Organisations (NFFO) – is not what it says on the tin. Traditional fishing is in crisis and it seems that small-scale fishermen aren’t getting the representation they deserve. Our investigation revealed some very […]

Please do share this

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Delicious
  • StumbleUpon
  • Add to favorites
  • Email
  • RSS

Greenpeace: “57% of NFFO fishing capacity is foreign controlled”

Greenpeace’s Oceans Blog reports 15th March 2013: “How would you feel if you were betrayed by the very people who are meant to be protecting your interests? This is what we discovered about the National Federation of Fishermen’s Organisations (NFFO) last month. It turns out that instead of standing up for small scale fishermen, they […]

Please do share this

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Delicious
  • StumbleUpon
  • Add to favorites
  • Email
  • RSS

Survey launched for views on declining fishing industry

Few would argue that our fishing industry has seen better days. Gone are the times when over 100 trawlers landed their catch in Lowestoft and scores of drifters their herring catch at Great Yarmouth, when Suffolk’s inshore fleets were able to land plentiful catches, so providing a livelihood for scores of local families. Now dwindling […]

Please do share this

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Delicious
  • StumbleUpon
  • Add to favorites
  • Email
  • RSS

Removing large fish from wild stocks damages their gene pool

Scientists have warned that a fishing rethink is needed after finding that catches of big fish trigger a rapid change in the genegene A string of the DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) molecule that is the fundamental unit of inheritance, so it is variations in the make up of this molecule in the gene that controls variations […]

Please do share this

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Delicious
  • StumbleUpon
  • Add to favorites
  • Email
  • RSS

Trade in UK fishing quotas remains secret, says MP

On his website Shadow Fisheries Minister, Tom Harris MP, reports 5th March 2013: “The government agency responsible for managing Britain’s fishing stocks has publicly contradicted its own minister over the vexed question of who owns the nation’s fishing quota. “Shadow fisheries minister Tom Harris today blasted confusion at the very heart of the Department for […]

Please do share this

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Delicious
  • StumbleUpon
  • Add to favorites
  • Email
  • RSS

Record caesium level in Fukushima fish

A record concentration of radioactive caesium, 5,100 times the government’s food safety standard, was detected in a fish caught near the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant, the plant’s operator said on 28th February 2013. Tokyo Electric Power Co. said the reading of 510,000 becquerels per kilogram in the greenling is the highest ever recorded […]

Please do share this

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Delicious
  • StumbleUpon
  • Add to favorites
  • Email
  • RSS

Prof. Callum Roberts outlines the urgent task the new Global Ocean Commission must tackle

Prof. Callum Roberts writes in The Observer, 10th February 2013: “The oceans are changing faster today and in more ways than at any time in human history. We are the cause. Which is why I welcome the launch of the Global Ocean Commission, dedicated to ending the neglect, in international affairs, of the high seas. […]

Please do share this

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Delicious
  • StumbleUpon
  • Add to favorites
  • Email
  • RSS

“Historic vote” in European Parliament to reform the CFP

The European Parliament voted on 6th February 2013 to ban the wasteful practice of throwing away healthy fish at sea in a victory for campaigners and green groups after more than two years of procedural wrangling. Campaigners in Strasbourg for the “historic” vote on the EU common fisheries policy (CFP) were jubilant. After significant opposition […]

Please do share this

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Delicious
  • StumbleUpon
  • Add to favorites
  • Email
  • RSS

Newsletter January 2013

  Our newsletter number 42 for January 2013 is now available here.  

Please do share this

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Delicious
  • StumbleUpon
  • Add to favorites
  • Email
  • RSS

Clyde marine station threatened with closure

“The Marine Biological Station at Millport, based on the isle of Cumbrae in the Firth of Clyde, is a world class research and educational centre which must be saved from closure” says Andrew Binnie, The Community of Arran Seabed Trust’s (COAST) Marine Project Officer. Andrew is one of many former Millport students appalled by the withdrawal […]

Please do share this

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Delicious
  • StumbleUpon
  • Add to favorites
  • Email
  • RSS

Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall renews his campaign to protect the seabed

Damaging fishing methods and a lack of marine protected zones are being targeted by a renewed campaign to protect the world’s dwindling fish stocks, spearheaded by food writer Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall. The dredging of seabeds with nets weighted with huge metal ploughs, tearing up all life, rocks and seaweeds and leaving a barren environment is one […]

Please do share this

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Delicious
  • StumbleUpon
  • Add to favorites
  • Email
  • RSS

George Monbiot asks if the Fisheries Minister is surrendering to commercial interests?

George Monbiot writes, 11th February 2013: “If the EU decides to ban fishing boats from discarding the edible fish they catch, it’ll land the British government in a spot of bother. It’s been using the discards issue as its excuse for justifying overfishing. “Last week the European parliament, pressed among others by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s excellent […]

Please do share this

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Delicious
  • StumbleUpon
  • Add to favorites
  • Email
  • RSS

David Miliband, co-founder of Global Ocean Commission, explains its purpose

An environmental catastrophe with greater economic impact than the global financial crash is occurring on the high seas, according to David Miliband. The former foreign secretary is to lead a new, high-level international effort to end the lawlessness of the oceans, which will be unveiled this week. The high seas, which lie beyond any national […]

Please do share this

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Delicious
  • StumbleUpon
  • Add to favorites
  • Email
  • RSS

Global Ocean Commission formed to fight degradation of the ocean

The Global Ocean Commission, an independent body of international leaders aiming to reverse degradation of the ocean,  has been launched to seek to restore it to full health and productivity. The group chaired by former Costa Rican President (and Carbon War Room President) José María Figueres, South African cabinet minister Trevor Manuel and former UK […]

Please do share this

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Delicious
  • StumbleUpon
  • Add to favorites
  • Email
  • RSS

North Norfolk plans for Fishery Visitor Centres

A bid for funding from the £2.4m European grant for a £85,000 scheme to showcase the past, present and future of North Norfolk’s fishery from four centres is being planned at Cromer, Sheringham, Wells and Stiffkey to explain the heritage and future challenges of the fishing industry to visitors, school children and tourists. The scheme […]

Please do share this

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Delicious
  • StumbleUpon
  • Add to favorites
  • Email
  • RSS

Hard facts in the battle for mackerel

The Sunday Telegraph reports, 2nd February 2013: “Every morning for the past 30 years, Thorvaldur Gunnlaugsson has risen early and sailed out of Reykjavik harbour at 4.30 am to fish in the freezing waters off the coast of Iceland – returning with his small boat laden with plaice, tusk fish and haddock. But this summer […]

Please do share this

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Delicious
  • StumbleUpon
  • Add to favorites
  • Email
  • RSS

Ladbrokes is giving odds and taking bets on the extinction of fish species

George Monbiot writes in his Guardian Blog, 1st February 2013: “I’ve come across some odd ways to make a living, but few as strange as this. The gambling company Ladbrokes has been offering odds on the conservation status of various fish species. Earlier it was taking bets on mackerel after it was taken off conservationists’ […]

Please do share this

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Delicious
  • StumbleUpon
  • Add to favorites
  • Email
  • RSS

Faroe Islands withdraw from herring fishing agreement

The Scottish Fishermen’s Federation (SFF) and the Scottish Pelagicpelagic The ecological area consisting of the open sea away from the coast and the ocean bottom. The pelagic zone contains organisms such as surface seaweeds, many species of fish and sharks and some mammals, such as whales and dolphins. Pelagic animals may remain solely in the […]

Please do share this

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Delicious
  • StumbleUpon
  • Add to favorites
  • Email
  • RSS

Marinet launches CFP petition on Avaaz

John Stansfield, Marinet’s CFP campaigner, has created a petition on Avaaz to be delivered to MEPs at the Plenary session of the European Parliament on 6th February. This petition is asking for MEPs to vote in support of the Fisheries Report and the block of amendments to the Basic Regulation (law) of the CFP which are being recommended […]

Please do share this

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Delicious
  • StumbleUpon
  • Add to favorites
  • Email
  • RSS

Icelandic “mackerel war” threatens the future of Grimsby and UK fishing industry

Grimsby was home to Britain’s biggest fleet – now it relies on processing fish from Iceland. But if the EU imposes quotas on mackerel the impact on the Humberside town would be devastating. When Graham Hall started out as a trawlerman, the port of Grimsby was crammed with so many boats that local legend had […]

Please do share this

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Delicious
  • StumbleUpon
  • Add to favorites
  • Email
  • RSS