Tag Archives: European Union
The European Union’s Plan to Ban Bottom Fishing is Causing Widespread Outrage
The plan, which seeks to ban bottom trawling in protected areas, has caused widespread demonstrations, disruption of work in ports, and the launch of a protest movement by fishermen in France called “Blocked Ports”. Although the Commission’s proposals do not represent new legislation, and will not be implemented soon in a way that satisfies some environmental protection non-governmental organizations, they have been met with strong opposition from a number of member states. There was outrage in Germany, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Ireland and Denmark, who feared the plan would endanger the entire fishing industry. The “Marine Action Plan” for sustainable fishing was announced on February 12, and it includes initiatives to phase out deep-sea trawling in protected areas. >click to read< 08:51
UK fishing industry ‘on its last legs’ as Tories accused of ‘betraying’ coastal towns
Fishing rights for EU vessels have proved to be a major bone of contention for the industry since leaving the bloc more than three years ago. Brexit fury has exploded after claims the UK fishing industry is “on its after legs” with Boris Johnson and the Tories accused of “stabbing fishermen in the back” over the deal with the European Union. The former Prime Minister had promised to protect the industry and insisted the UK would “take back control” of its waters before signing a trade deal with Brussels more than three years ago. The fishing agreement states there would be a five-year transition period that would see EU boats continue to gain access to UK waters until 2026. At the time, Mr Johnson admitted some concessions had been made in talks with the EU. >click to read< 09:43
UK fishermen feeling ‘widespread shock and betrayal’ at Boris Johnson’s ‘broken promises’
Brexit fury has erupted after UK fishermen raged they have been left with a “widespread feeling of shock and betrayal” while claiming Boris Johnson broke “promises” made to the industry. The former Prime Minister promises the country’s fishermen they would be protected in the event of any post-Brexit trade deal with the European Union, which was signed at the end of 2020. The agreement states there would be a five-year transition period during which little would change that would see EU boats continue to gain access to UK waters until 2026. >click to read< 08:12
EU running riot in British waters as UK fishermen ‘betrayed’ over broken Brexit promises
UK fishermen have lashed out at the Government and accused it of “betrayal” over broken Brexit promises, with European vessels still allowed to run riot in British waters. Former Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his Conservative Party Government had promised fishermen they would be fully protected in the event of any trade deal with the European Union. This was signed at the eleventh hour on December 30, 2020, with fishing rights, which had been a major bone of contention in often bitter negotiations between the two sides, one of the last issues to be resolved. >click to read<
Is the UK really allowed to catch more fish because of Brexit?
British politicians earlier this week praised the results of the EU-UK 2023 Brexit fishing quota negotiations, saying the UK will be able to catch 30,000 more tonnes of fish than if the island nation had remained within the European bloc. The UK fishing industry will be allowed to catch 140,000 tonnes of fish in 2023, instead of 110,000 tonnes if Brexit had not happened, Fisheries minister Mark Spencer said on Tuesday. The amount of fish that the UK can catch in 2023 has actually remained the same or similar to previous years. So why are politicians latching on to it now? >click to read< 08:09
Defra announces EU fishing deal to increase fishing opportunities to £750m
Defra has announced the UK fishing industry will benefit from 140,000 tonnes of fishing opportunities next year, following the conclusion of negotiations with the EU. The deal, announced yesterday, represented a 30,000-tonne increase on pre-Brexit volumes and would present UK boats with opportunities worth over £280m in 2023 in EU waters. This brought the total value of fishing opportunities secured for the UK fleet in 2023 in the three main negotiation forums to £750m, a £34m increase from last year, Defra said. >click to read< 09:15
Belgian fishing industry flounders
Between May and June this year, the Belgian fishing industry saw a drop in seasonal catches. In June, just 675 tonnes of fish was landed by Belgian vessels and sold in Belgian ports, according to data published by Statbel, the Belgian statistics agency. This fall has been partially blamed on the rising cost of fuel and expenses. According to forecasts from the National Bank of Belgium, the fishing industry is set to be one of the biggest losers of the year. With fuel prices accounting for around 38% of inputs for the industry, the sector could finish with big losses. >click to read< 10:11
Donegal seafood sector “hopeful” on fuel aid
Fishing and seafood organisations say the are “hopeful” that the Minister for the Marine is about to announce a national fuel aid scheme for the Irish fleet. They believe the Minister now agrees that escalating fuel costs are causing serious difficulties for the industry. EU funding is already in place to support such a scheme, but to date, Ireland had failed to implement one. Aodh O’Donnell of the Killybegs-based Irish Fish Producers Organisation (IFPO) said: “The survival of the entire fishing sector is at stake. >click to read< 08:14
Lobster and snow crab markets fall by as much as 65 per cent
While lobster and snow crab have long been two of the Maritimes’ most popular exports, new data suggests the markets are now falling short. At the wharf in Glace Bay, N.S., fishermen were getting about $7 a pound for lobster by season’s end and about $6 for snow crab. “It wasn’t a good year, lobster-wise or crab-wise for us,” said fishermen’s representative Herb Nash. At Louisbourg Seafoods, where lobster and snow crab have long been their biggest sellers, a record year last year gave way to a difficult 2022. “We were very optimistic coming into 2022 that we would see a replica of 2021, and that couldn’t have been further from what happened,” said Allan MacLean, a senior operations manager at the seafood business. Video, >click to read< 11:38
Post-Brexit Fishing: 1,054 Fishing Licenses Obtained, A Fleet Exit Plan for Dockside Fishermen
It is the epilogue of a diplomatic-commercial battle of more than a year between Paris and London, arbitrated by Brussels. France finally obtained 1,054 fishing licenses from the UK and the Channel Islands, allowing holders to continue fishing in their waters, as before Brexit. For the dozens of fishermen who have remained on the sidelines or whose activity has been drastically reduced, the government has planned a “individual support plan”or a fleet exit plan for ships that will be destroyed. >click to read< 07:56
Dutch fisheries will shrink considerably in the coming years
The Dutch commercial fishing fleet will shrink by 10 to 15 percent over the next five years. Many fishermen are getting into money trouble, partly because of declining turnover and high fuel costs. The financial support announced by the government will be too late for some of the fishermen, ABN Amro predicted based on its own research. About a third of fishermen think they could run into financial problems in the coming years. Brexit and the expansion of wind farms has also caused concerns for fishermen. The new distribution of fishing rights means that many fishermen are no longer allowed to catch as many fish as before Brexit. >click to read< 18:55
It’s time to end the era of billion-dollar ‘sealords’ and heed the fishermen
The recent New Bedford Light/ProPublica investigative report, revealing how a billionaire Dutch family currently operates as the largest New England fish-quota owner, confirms what fishermen have been warning lawmakers for decades: that replacing independent fishermen with outside investment firms will undermine economic, social and environmental goals. However, these warnings extend well beyond New England. The report outlines how Bregal Equity, a multi-billion dollar private equity firm based in the European Union, maximizes fishing profits from their New England quota holdings by slashing costs and reducing income to captains and crew. Catch share programs have been implemented in Alaska, the West Coast, and the Gulf of Mexico, as well as internationally, where the next generation of independent fishermen are being systematically replaced by non-fishing, outside investors who follow in the wake of Bregal. >click to read< By Captain Ryan Bradley 15:57
European parliament votes to ban ‘fly shooting’ fishing in part of Channel
While the European parliament does not have the power to ban the fishing method, MEPs said the vote on Tuesday sent an important message to decision-makers about the impact of fly-shooting on coastal fishing communities. The vote on an amendment to the common fisheries policy, involving access to territorial waters, will now be considered by the European Commission, the parliament and EU member states. Last year the UK was accused of allowing vessels using the fishing method “unfettered access” to the Channel without proper assessment of the impact on fish, the seabed or the livelihoods of coastal communities. >click to read< 15:12
UK fishing industry reports Brexit woes
As well as the issue of quotas for wild-catch fisheries, the report finds, the UK’s seafood industry has been struggling with increased paperwork for exports to the European Union and labour shortages following new restrictions on recruiting staff from the EU. In winter 2021, the APPG on Fisheries released a survey to collate experiences of Brexit as reported by members of the fishing industry. Responses revealed significant and shared concerns around financial losses and the long-term viability of individual businesses, fishing fleets, and other parts of the industry including processors and transporters. >click to continue< 15:30
Fisherman on a Mission to Save the Kaiki, Greece’s Iconic Fishing Boat
In 2007, the European Union announced a new policy to bring a balance between fishing resources and all the related activities surrounding it, including the destruction of Greece’s iconic ‘kaiki’ fishing boats, in an effort to address the depletion of fish in the Mediterranean. In reality, this means the physical destruction, or “cutting,” of fishing boats that are more than ten years old, with the offering of compensation for the loss of fishermen’s ancient livelihood and their wooden boats,,, About 13,000 kaikia have been deliberately destroyed since 1994 after the EU directive called for the demolition of the small wooden fishing boats which Greek fishermen have used for millennia. Video, photos, >click to read< 09:24
Portuguese dragger again accused of illegal fishing on Grand Banks; NAFO can’t enforce quotas
A Portuguese offshore factory-freezer dragger has been accused for the fifth time in six years of illegal fishing on/near the Grand Banks, hammering home, yet again, that the enforcement regime that oversees foreign fleets outside Canada’s 200-mile limit is a joke (on Newfoundland and Labrador). The latest accusation (not actual court charge) against the F/V Nova Virgem Da Barca was issued on March 28th when enforcement officers from the Canadian Coast Guard ship Cygnus boarded the dragger on the tail of the Banks (fishing zone 3N) where she was fishing redfish. The officers issued a “notice of infringement” against the captain for misreporting catches, with “supporting documentation from the inspection and infringement forwarded to the European Union for investigation and follow-up.” Canada cannot charge a foreign dragger with illegal fishing. >NAFO<, >click to read< 15:42
Scots seafood firm blames coronavirus and Brexit as it closes doors after 12 years
Bosses at The Ethical Shellfish Company, based on the Isle of Mull, said the decision had caused “considerable anxiety and heartache” but claimed they had been left with no choice after a period of poor trading. In a blog post shared on Monday, fisherman and founder Guy Grieve claimed the coronavirus pandemic had played a role in the company’s decline, but that its fate had been sealed by the UK’s decision to leave the European Union. When Scotland entered lockdown in March 2020 the company pivoted away from supplying restaurants and chefs like Nick Nairn with fresh seafood and began selling to people cooking at home. TESC was forced to sell its own fishing boats to keep the company afloat during the pandemic but Grieve says the usual supply backup dried up as a result of Brexit. >click to read< 08:15
British Fishermen Feared Pro-Brexit Campaigners Would Betray Them—and They Did
Few communities in the United Kingdom were as supportive of Brexit as fishermen. Politicians pushing for the country to leave the European Union capitalized on the widespread perception that EU regulators favored fishermen from the continent over those from the United Kingdom when allocating fishing quotas. They promised that post-Brexit, UK fishermen would have unfettered access to domestic waters. Perhaps unsurprisingly, an estimated 92 percent of the UK fishing community intended to vote for Brexit in 2016. >click to read< 09:32
U.S. Bans Russian Seafood, Alcohol in Downgrade of Russia’s Trade Status
The United States will join the European Union and Group of Seven (G7) countries in downgrading Russia’s “most favored nation” trade status, President Joe Biden announced Friday. As part of a new executive order from Biden, the administration will also ban alcohol, seafood and diamonds from Russia in response to its invasion of Ukraine, which is currently in its third week. The move is part of a series of actions by the U.S. and Western nations to chip away at Russia’s economy through sanctions and bans. >click to read< 11:15
Putin blows up Brexit
Whisper it, but Britain and the EU are getting along. While the years following the U.K.’s vote to leave the European Union have been characterized by one-upmanship, failures to communicate and outright disagreements, the days since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine have seen politicians and officials on both sides of the Channel come together to coordinate their response. Disputes about trade rules in Northern Ireland and fishing quotas might be unresolved, but as Vladimir Putin’s forces batter Ukraine, everyone has more important things to worry about. >click to read< 14:49
Who wants the disappearance of fishermen? The answers are here.
In recent months, worrying signs have multiplied indicating a desire, sometimes obvious, to make fishermen disappear or, very often, to marginalise them to make way for more lucrative activities in the Blue Economy.,, We are witnessing at sea, with the stranglehold of environmental NGOs on MPAs, the same phenomenon denounced by the historian Guillaume Blanc, in his book “Green Colonialism“: the grabbing of land in Africa, This is the case with the evolution of the marine world towards a “Blue colonialism” which is shamelessly displayed, multiplying MPAs prohibited to fishing, a subsistence and eminently sustainable practice of many oceanic peoples, and which, in Europe and elsewhere , only rarely involves small-scale fishermen in decisions about the oceans, of which they are nevertheless secular managers. >click to read< 07:52
Brexit: The betrayal of the fishing industry has been incredible and shameful
The British fishing industry is not likely to forgive its betrayal on Christmas Eve 2020. That was when the UK government struck a deal with the European Union that respected none of what the National Federation of Fishermen’s Organisations called “the promises, commitments and assurances made during the Brexit referendum campaign and throughout the negotiations with the EU”. And these were not any old promises and commitments. They were made publicly and at all levels in government, including by the Prime Minister himself. >click to read< 07:48
A European Revelation On Climate That Biden Should Heed
Believe it or not, the European Union is set to include nuclear and natural gas on the list of industries eligible for “green” investments. Someone, please pass the smelling salts to the Sierra Club. Wonder of wonders, nuclear and natural gas make the cut. All of this has implications for the U.S., where the Biden Administration is still fantasizing that solar and wind power can soon replace all fossil fuels. If Europe can admit the truth, how about the White House? >click to read< 09:14
Factory Trawler Kirkella may be sold or moved abroad’ after devastating fishing deal
The Kirkella has been standing idle since December 2020 when the UK lost its rights to fish in Norwegian waters following Brexit. UK Fisheries, who operate the Kirkella, said that the new deal struck with the Scandinavian country leaves the crew with a quota amounting to just one week’s work. The fishing pact will see fleets from both countries able to catch up to 30,000 tonnes of cod, haddock and hake in the North Sea according to the government. But the owners of the Kirkella said it won’t be enough to sustain their ship or crew of 30. >click to read< 10:03
UK secures fishing access and quotas with Norway
Today (21 December 2021) the UK, negotiating as an independent coastal State, has reached an agreement with Norway on fisheries access and quotas for 2022. These discussions mark the start of a new arrangement between the UK and Norway, in which both parties permit some access to each other’s waters and exchange a number of fish quotas in the North Sea and the Arctic. The agreement on mutual access will allow respective fleets more flexibility to target the stocks in the best condition throughout the fishing year, supporting a more sustainable and economically viable fishing industry. >click to read< 09:07
France wants EU to start legal case against UK
Speaking on Friday, Minister for European Affairs Clement Beaune told reporters that France had obtained 93% of the post-Brexit fishing licenses it claims the UK should have granted to its trawlers. According to Maritime Minister Annick Girardin, who spoke alongside Beaune, France was still pushing for a further 73 licenses to fish in British waters. Paris says it will not drop its protests until all of the outstanding licenses are granted. >click to read< 13:30
Plymouth’s fishing industry is being ‘screwed over
The fishing industry has been “screwed over” by Brexit deals and unnecessary bureaucracy, according to Plymouth MP Luke Pollard. Promises to take back control of British fishing waters were a big part of the Leave campaign before Brexit when the government suggested more than £140 million worth of the fishing quota would be regained from the EU. Analysts suggest the real figures are a small fraction of that. Mr Pollard said a number of factors are hitting the fishing industry in places like Plymouth. >click to read< 08:37
French minister says, We still want a ‘few dozen’ more fishing licences
France has received 93% of the fishing licences it requested but wants Britain to issue a few dozen more, It comes after the UK and Jersey Governments on Saturday granted further licences to French fishing boats in an apparent attempt to resolve the long-running dispute over their post-Brexit rights to trawl British waters, and as technical talks over several more vessels continue. “We still have a few dozen to obtain, around 60. We are looking at every file that remains. We will not let down any of these fishermen.” >click to read< 14:36
EU deadline in UK-France fishing row set to expire
An EU deadline for Britain to grant licences to dozens of French fishing boats is set to expire today, with Paris threatening legal action unless a last-minute compromise can be found. France says that 104 of its boats still lack licences to operate in British and Channel Island waters that should have been granted under a Brexit deal Britain signed with the European Union in December last year. Britain denies discriminating,,, >click to read< 11:49
Scrapping fishing boats will ‘destroy industry and communities’
The State’s smaller fishing trawlers and the communities depending on them will become part of folklore under the Government’s plans to scrap some of the fleet, the Oireachtas has been warned. Under the plan from Minister for Agriculture and the Marine Charlie McConalogue, backed by European Union funds, 60 small and medium-sized trawlers would be permanently decommissioned. “We will see the complete destruction of our fishing industry resulting from [this], as it is requires the wiping out of a third of the 180 vessels operating in Ireland’s offshore demersal/whitefish fleet, leading to the ultimate destruction of our Irish demersal fishing fleet,” >click to read< 22:38
