Category Archives: International News
‘Barely a scallop’: fears oil and gas exploration will destroy fishery
There are calls for a moratorium on seismic surveys by the oil and gas industry from members of the fishing industry after new Australian research shows it has serious impacts on invertebrates such as lobster, scallop, abalone and crab. The calls come as three different oil and gas companies have told industry bodies they want to carry out seismic explorations in Otway basin this summer. Tasmanian Seafood Industry Council (TSIC) chief executive, Julian Harrington, says: “This is a big issue for our industry and we now have research that backs our concerns.” >click to read<20:19
Chile purse seine project nominated for conservation award
In October, the Pink-footed Shearwaters begin to arrive on Robinson Crusoe Island, off the coast of Chile. “These [fishing fleets] are fishing in the same areas as these birds. They are capturing the very fish these seabirds eat,” said Cristian Suazo, a member of the Albatross Task Force Chile, which is working to combat bycatch. “The fleets are also out at the same time these birds, many of which are migratory, have the greatest need for food to both refuel and to feed their young.”,,, In Chile, the ATF has been working since 2007, where it began by trying to reduce bycatch in pelagic longline fisheries. In 2013 though, the team noted that there was also bycatch coming from purse seine fisheries, and began working to reduce bycatch in this industry as well. >click to read<17:43
The Visionaries of Evolution: The Future of Fish Farming May Be Indoors
If it catches on, indoor aquaculture could play a critical role in meeting the needs of a swelling human population, Nordic CEO Erik Heim says. He believes it could do so without the pollution and other potential threats to wild fish that can accompany traditional aquaculture—although the indoor approach does face environmental challenges of its own. “There’s always some risk, but the risk of the land-based system is a small percentage of the risk of an outdoor system,” says Michael Timmons, an environmental engineer at Cornell University who has studied aquaculture for more than 20 years and is not involved in the Nordic project. >click to read<16:54
Pacifical Responds To Undercurrent’s Fake News With Facts
The menace of fake news and sensationalized lies has reached even the tuna world, with a London based seafood website, Undercurrent News (UCN), releasing an article with misleading and false information on Pacifical, the successful joint venture between Sustunable and the PNA countries. Pacifical has responded to what appears to be a hit job with a series of facts that aims to stop the efforts to spread information about the joint venture. >click to read<08:45
Tsukiji market’s last days: Tuna from around the world
At 5:30 a.m., a bell clanged at Tsukiji fish market, marking the start of its famed auction of frozen tuna. An auctioneer, swaying with a unique rhythm, soon began calling out the price of the fish per kilogram in a thick voice: “1,100 yen!” “1,200 yen!” Tuna, referred to as “omono (big items)” at the market, are symbols of Tsukiji, which deals in about 480 kinds of fish. The catches are shipped in from around the world, from the waters off Tahiti in the southern Pacific Ocean to those off Angola in Africa. >click to read<21:33
Scallop wars: French fishermen pull plug on talks with UK rivals
French fishermen have broken off talks with British rivals for a new deal on access to scallop-rich waters in the English Channel, a long-simmering conflict that flared into a high-seas confrontation last month. Representatives from both sides had been meeting in London since last week to hammer out an accord that would stop smaller British boats from scooping up the prized mollusks outside the official fishing season. “It’s game over,” Hubert Carre, the head of France’s CNPMEM national fishing committee, told AFP. >click to read<10:30
Answering The Question: What’s Fishing For Leave’s Position On Fishing Entitlement?
Fishing For Leave (FFL) are adamant that all repatriated quota is held as a national resource and is divided out to all fishermen in a community. Under the principle of one ton to one boat. If someone doesn’t use their slice it goes back in the pot to be divided again. That is what we’ve represented to the highest levels of government repeatedly and has had some acknowledgement in the white paper. This is in spite of the Scottish Fishermen’s Federation (SFF) insisting all repatriated resources are distributed through the current Fixed Quota Allocation (FQA) system which has facilitated and driven consolidation as the EU CFP quota system failed. >click to read<10:38
Wait, So How Much of the Ocean Is Actually Fished?
How much of the world’s oceans are affected by fishing? In February, a team of scientists led by David Kroodsma from the Global Fishing Watch published a paper that put the figure at 55 percent—an area four times larger than that covered by land-based agriculture. The paper was widely covered, with several outlets leading with the eye-popping stat that “half the world’s oceans [are] now fished industrially.” Ricardo Amoroso from the University of Washington had also been trying to track global fishing activity and when he saw the headlines, he felt that the 55 percent figure was wildly off. He and his colleagues re-analyzed the data that the Global Fishing Watch had made freely available. And in their own paper, published two weeks ago, they claim that industrial fishing occurs over just 4 percent of the ocean. How could two groups have produced such wildly different answers using the same set of data? >click to read<21:21
The United Nations Is Considering Banning High-Seas Fishing
Far offshore are the high seas—waters beyond any country’s jurisdiction and the focus of a contentious debate. The high seas, which cover nearly two-thirds of the ocean’s surface, have recently seen an increase in fishing and other activities, such as deep-sea mining. To protect the biodiversity of this vast environment, delegates attending a meeting currently underway in New York are negotiating for a new international treaty, an addition to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. Depending on the outcome of this and subsequent meetings, the United Nations could move to regulate—or even ban—fishing and other activities on the high seas. >click to read<17:55
Pro and anti whaling nations brace for battle in Brazil
Pro- and anti-whaling nations are set for a showdown when the International Whaling Commission (IWC) meets in Brazil from Monday as Japan leads an assault on a three-decade old moratorium on commercial whale hunting. Tokyo heads into the biennial meeting as chair of the 88-nation body determined to shake-up what it says is a dysfunctional organization mired in dispute and unable to make key decisions. But Japan’s package of proposals, entitled “The Way Forward,” has left conservationists seething even before delegates have taken their seats at the 67th IWC meeting in the Brazilian surfing resort of Florianapolis. >click to read<17:59
The Sago Extreme – Closing the longline snackbar
Sisters on the west coast of Norway have provided the impetus behind the development of a system designed to protect longline catches from predating whales that treat the lines as a free lunch. Ingunn Elise and Linn Solveig Sørvik took an idea their father Omar had originally come up with some years before, and have taken it to the stage of being a commercial product ready for use. Omar Sørvik came up with the idea while he was working on longliners fishing for toothfish in the Southern Ocean, where sperm and killer whales stealing fish from the lines as they are hauled is a serious problem for fishing vessels. >click to read<16:41
Arson probe launched after fishing boat blaze in Sunderland
Police and fire chiefs are today investigating the cause of a blaze on board a fishing boat moored in Sunderland. A member of the public raised the alarm about a fire abroad the Prevail, which was moored at Clark’s Quay, under the Queen Alexandra Bridge, at about 6.30am. The RNLI and Coastguard personnel were there to provide safety cover to firefighters who were fighting the fire. The operation lasted about three hours, until the crews were satisfied that the fire would not re-ignite. The boat suffered significant damage in the fire, whose cause is being investigated. >click to read<14:10
The Scallop War: Food for Thought
Music may be the food of love, but the quest for food has often been the cause of friction and political insecurity. That friction has been evident throughout history. Ancient Rome was troubled by the increase in the price of bread. In the 15th century, 1482-84, the Salt War took place among papal forces, their Venetian allies, and the Duke of Tuscany over the salt that had been reserved to Venice, the only port allowed to trade in salt. The famine in Ireland in the 1840s still has political overtones in British-Irish relations. The 900-day Nazi blockage of supplies to Leningrad, September 1941 to January 1944, caused the deaths of 1.5 million Russian soldiers and civilians and the evacuation of another 1.4 million. The Cod War, really a number of interstate disputes in 1950, 1958, and 1972 between Britain and Iceland over fishing rights in the North Atlantic,,, Now we have an outbreak of a new food war: a Scallop War between Britain and France. >click to read<12:55
Japan fails to win approval to increase tuna catch quotas
Japan failed to win approval at an international fisheries meeting for its proposals to increase overall catch quotas for Pacific bluefin tuna. The proposals were supported by Taiwan and South Korea but opposed by the United States and the Cook Islands. States in opposition said that it’s too early to expand quotas as the numbers of such tuna are still extremely small. They were put forward at the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission’s Northern Committee, where any proposal requires unanimous approval.>click to read<10:13
The Scallop War: No Deal! UK and French fishermen fail to agree
British and French fishermen have failed to finalise a deal to end the “scallop wars” over fishing in the Channel, according to the French camp, despite reaching an agreement in principle earlier this week. “The fact is that there is no agreement because British claims [for compensation] were disproportionate … We have a blockage, but the discussions have not broken down,” said Hubert Carre, the director of the French national fishing committee, adding that it would now be up to the “two ministers to call each other to arrange a possible future meeting”. >click to read<20:36
Captain of Spanish Longliner Charged with Shark Finning
The captain of a Spanish-flagged fishing vessel has been charged with shark finning after Irish Naval Service personnel boarded his vessel and found more than one tonne of fins on board. After a tip-off from Ireland’s Sea Fisheries Protection Authority (SFPA), the patrol vessel William Butler Yeats intercepted and boarded the longliner Virxen de Blanca off the southwestern tip of Ireland. The Yeats escorted the de Blanca to port at Castletownbere, Cork, where she was transferred to the custody of the SFPA and the Garda Siochana. >click to read<17:26
Fisherman who drowned after being thrown overboard had his lifejacket deflate while he was in water
Deflation of a crew member’s lifejacket was a “major impediment” to his survival when he was thrown overboard off the south-west coast, the Marine Casualty Investigation Board (MCIB) has found. Additionally, a second crew member put himself at risk when he jumped into the water to try save the first man without any lifeline, the MCBI said. The probe looked into the fatal incident that happened when the FV Cu Na Mara fishing trawler was out to sea around nautical miles west of Slea Head on 30 June 2016. In the process of transferring over an attachment of nets from the net drum to its towing winch, one of the crew members got into difficulty, went over the stern and into the water. >click to read<10:16
UK, French fishermen strike deal in ‘Scallop Wars’
British and French fishermen reached an agreement on Wednesday in the so-called Scallop Wars over fishing in the Channel, following clashes at sea between rival boats. “We renewed the 2017 agreements,” Gerard Romiti, chairman of the French national committee on fishing, told AFP following a day of talks in London. Tensions boiled over last week when five British vessels sparred with dozens of French boats in the sensitive Seine Bay, with video footage showing fishermen from both sides ramming each other. >click to read<14:22
If this is you my friend, you are a fisherman. Be proud. Be strong. Be safe.
The most abhorrent occupation in the world? – Imagine you have a business. You’re not breaking any laws and its something your family have been doing for hundreds of years. Your whole community has been doing it and whole cultures, traditions, music, stories and clothes have evolve around it. Industries have thrived on your products.,,, You find yourself and your industry being eroded. Not by fact-based evidence but by the wild ramblings of people who are ideologically driven to persecute those that make a living from a common resource. >click to read<
Scallop War: French navy ‘ready to intervene’ following scallop skirmishes in English Channel
France said on Tuesday its navy is standing by to avert new clashes between French and British fishing boats after tensions flared last week over access to scallop-rich waters off the Normandy coast. Agriculture Minister Stephane Travert told CNews television the navy was “ready to intervene in case of clashes” after fishermen hurled stones and insults in the latest episode of a long-running “Scallops War”. A patrol boat based in nearby Cherbourg is watching the area as part of a routine mission “to ensure the safety of people and ships at sea”, said Captain Bertrand Dumoulin. Travert said he could not speak for the British navy, which reportedly sent ships to the area. >click to read<12:35
Are There Too Many Harbor Seals in British Columbia?
Earlier this year, Roy Jones Jr., a hereditary chief with the Haida First Nation, took a trip up the Skeena River, one of British Columbia’s prime salmon spawning grounds. Not far from the river mouth, he looked across the water at what he thought was a row of polished rocks. Then he pulled out his binoculars. “There were probably 120 seals lined up across that river,” Jones says. The seals were gobbling up juvenile salmon as the smolts made their way to the Pacific Ocean. It’s just one example of a problem that’s been growing up and down the coast, argues Jones, who recently co-founded an organization, to advocate for a cull of British Columbia’s harbor seals. A reduction in the harbor seal population is necessary to protect salmon species, some of which are highly threatened, Jones says. “We’ve got to do something, plain and simple.” >click to read<10:20
Store Caught Sticking Googly Eyes on Fish to Make Them Look Fresh
When you are shopping for fish, there are important ways to check its freshness. Of course there is the smell test. (Hint: it shouldn’t smell fishy!) And if you’re buying a whole fish, its eyes will tell you everything you need to know. They should be bright and bulging – not cloudy or murky in any way. In an attempt to pull one over on unsuspecting fish consumers, a store in Kuwait has done something that you would only ever expect to find in an Onion article. It was recently closed down after sticking googly eyes on its fish. And of course it went viral on Twitter when someone realized what was going on. >click to read<09:47
Tensions escalate in scallop wars as French fishermen venture into British waters to net 44 bluefin tuna
The battle between British and French fisherman escalated again today after Gallic trawlers grabbed a giant haul of bluefin tuna off Jersey that their UK rivals must throw back. Two boats based in Normandy caught 44 of the valuable protected fish while hunting for bream off the Channel Islands – adding to already simmering tensions between the two nations. The tuna, each weighing between 50kg and 120kg and worth more than £100,000 in total, were then brought ashore at Granville in France to be sold. British fishermen caught in the ‘Battle of the Scallops’ last week say the new development proves their French foes are hypocrites. >click to read<09:02
You should have seen the ones that got away…
TWO French fishermen working off the south-west coast of Jersey got a surprise – when they caught 44 bluefin tuna. The fish, which are rarely seen in the Island’s waters, weighed between 50 and 120 kg and were brought ashore at the nearby port of Granville to be sold. Normandy newspaper La Manche Libre reported that the tuna were caught by two commercial vessels that were pair-trawling for bream west of the Minquiers. >click to read<11:09
Big turnout to welcome the eighth Serene to Whalsay
Crowds gathered at Symbister on Saturday afternoon to watch the arrival of Whalsay’s latest pelagic trawler, the 82-metre Serene. The boat, the latest of eight to bear the same name, was built at the Karstensens shipyard in Denmark. She is understood to be Shetland’s largest fishing vessel so far. Skipper Bobby Polson and partners signed the order for the new boat at the Skipper Expo trade show in Aberdeen two years ago. >click to read<09:28
PFD’s – A case for life jackets for all: By Roger R. Locandro
Andre Penton of Fogo Island died June 27 this year in a boating accident on a pond not far from his home in Joe Batt’s Arm. The Fogo Island community mourns his death, with condolences to his wife Rita, his three sons and their families. Although his death was not directly due to drowning, it brought back my own memories of dangers on the water.,, People drown. Don’t take any chances on or around the water. I took chances and almost paid for it with my life. Some years ago, I was commercial seining for salmon in the Gulf of Alaska, out of Cordova. >click to read<22:49
Scallop War – French fishermen vow to ‘use the heavy artillery’ in next Channel clash with English scallop rivals
French fishermen now appear to be planning to step up their attacks on British vessels as they branded out trawlers “roast beef”. One, Pierre Sophie, raged the “war” is not over and vowed to keep attacking UK fisherman in the English Channel. In one rant, he said: “Will (sic) come back with more boats! We’ll have to get the heavy artillery out!!!” He also shared footage of the violent clash on Tuesday with the caption: “Bunch of b*****ds”. Another fisherman, , Steph LF, boasted about the attack, saying how “the little French frog… ate some f***ing British roast beef”. >click to read<11:34
Captain with Bristol County Sheriff’s Office Convicted of Smuggling Rafael Profits to Portugal
A Captain with the Bristol County Sheriff’s Office was convicted today by a federal jury in connection with helping Carlos Rafael, known as the Codfather in the fishing industry, and the owner of one of the largest commercial fishing businesses in the U.S., smuggle the profits of his illegal overfishing scheme to Portugal. Jamie Melo, 46, of North Dartmouth, Mass., was convicted of one count of conspiracy to commit offenses against the United States and one count of structuring the export of monetary instruments. U.S. District Court Judge Denise J. Casper scheduled sentencing for Oct. 24, 2018. The jury acquitted the defendant of one count of bulk cash smuggling. >click to read<08:31
So that’s how you deal with lobsters
Christie Wilcox describes a terrible experiment. Investigators were mystified >click here< by an area around a Pacific island that was empty of lobsters, so they dumped a bunch of lobsters there to see what happened. And then… “Visibility was great that day, and virtually the entire sea bottom started to move,” he said. That movement was countless whelks. They started to climb onto the newcomers, sticking to their legs. “I didn’t know then, but they’d started to suck them alive, basically. It was like a horror movie,” Barkai said. “It actually was a bit frightening to watch.” The lobsters simply didn’t know how to respond. They were outnumbered and overwhelmed. “To my horror, in about 30, 40 minutes, all the lobsters were killed.” Barkai managed to bring two whelk-coated lobsters back to the surface to show the crew—which is when the first photo in this piece was shot.>click to read<19:59
Scallop War – ‘Not the first time!’ Fisherman says French Navy ignored attacks on UK boats two years ago
Derek Meredith, the owner of two fishing boats caught in the shameless attack by French fishermen in the international waters between France and England, told BBC News this was the second time he had to defend himself at sea. Mr Meredith said he experienced the same attack by the hand of French fishermen two years ago, revealing the French Navy, present at the time of the attack, did not intervene to stop it from happening. He said: “Two years ago it happened to us but not as forceful as this time, I wouldn’t have said. >click to read<10:00
