Starring the famous Cromer Crab Cancer Paguris, the story of the fishing industry in north Norfolk from Domesday to the present day is featured in a new DVD release. It uses historic photos, animations, interviews and archive footage to update a book first printed 25 years ago. The final sequence using a waterproof camera gives […]

The National Federation of Fishermen’s Organisations (NFFO) comments, 15th May: “The agreement reached by the Council of Ministers in Brussels in the early hours of 15th May represents an important staging post on the tortuous passage to CFP reform. The agreed form of words gives the Irish Presidency a mandate to finalise negotiations with the […]

Fisheries Ministers from across Europe have come to an agreement on 14th May on a sweeping reform of fisheries policies, but fell short of the most ambitious changes that green campaigners had demanded. They agreed to ban the wasteful practice of discarding healthy fish at sea, but most of the ban will be phased in […]

Richard Benyon, the UK’s fisheries minister, has vowed to drive “ambitious and radical reform” of the EU’s common fisheries policy at a key meeting in Brussels, week commencing 13th May. In an interview with the Guardian, he listed three main goals for the UK – to ensure that a new proposal for fishing to be […]

A new initiative to make the labelling of sustainable fish clearer and more consistent for consumers has been launched on 26th April 2013 by industry and retailers, with the backing of the Fish Fight campaign set up by celebrity chef Hugh Fearnley-Whittingttall. The voluntary code of conduct by the Sustainable Seafood Coalition (SSC), whose supermarket […]

The Guardian reports, 24th April 2013: Supersized genetically modified salmon grown fast and fat and after years of wrangling, are ready for market – but is the market ready for them? And why is the firm hidden away in Panama? It is hard to think of a more unlikely setting for genetic experimentation or for […]

Tom Heap, presenter for Radio 4’s Costing The Earth programme, meets in the programme the activists hoping to bring an end to illegal fishing by tackling the problem head on: by getting in the way of pirate fishermen. Among these activists is The Black Fish, a relatively new NGO (Non-Governmental Organisation) whose aim is to […]

Sea Shepherd report (edited version, see full version), 17th April 2013: “The industrial smoke stacks have arrived to the Antarctic Peninsula. The area famous for its scenic, rugged landscapes and abundant South Polar wildlife has become the target for the trawlers and factory ships of the growing krill fisheries. “Many people think of Krill as […]

The Irish Republic’s Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Simon Coveney TD, has welcomed the commitment by Director Generals for Fisheries of EU Member States (meeting at the National Seafood Centre, Clonakilty on Tuesday 16th April) to achieve agreement on CFP reform by the end of June. The meeting, hosted by the Irish Presidency, […]

About one in seven fish sold in shops, restaurants or fish and chip shops may not be what they say on packs or menus, according to trading standards checks. Figures supplied by councils to the UK Food Standards Agency indicate that 41 of 303 checks on packaged frozen or chilled fish and in catering businesses […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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. […]

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 […]

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

“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 […]