Tag Archives: European Union
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
Impounded fishing trawler docks in Shoreham – Donegal skipper thanks supporters
The scallop dredger Cornelis Gert Jan left Le Havre on Wednesday after being held there since last week, when France accused it of fishing in its waters without a proper licence. “We are pleased to have this matter resolved and delighted that our crew and vessel are now able to return home. The crew have acted with calmness and professionalism throughout the entire incident. photos, >click to read< Donegal skipper ay centre of fishing row thanks supporters – In a message to west Donegal independent councillor, Micheál Cholm Mac Giolla Easbuig, Mr Ward said: “Just busy now trying to get all ready to get to sea. “Please tell everyone at home that I am so grateful for all their messages and support.” >click to read< 09:51
France lets UK fishing trawler depart – Vessel reappears on licensed list amid claims of an admin error
A director of a British fishing trawler that was impounded by French authorities in a row over post-Brexit fishing rights, said he was relieved the vessel had been allowed to leave and would set off for home later. The Scottish-registered scallop dredger, the Cornelis-Gert Jan, had been held in Le Havre. >click to read< – British Trawler detained in fishing row reappears on licensed list amid claims on admin error – When the Cornelis-Gertjan was detained last week the owners claimed their vessel was legally fishing for scallops in EU waters. Now the Cornelis-Gertjan is back on the list and in the spreadsheet section marked ‘EU Waters Access’ it says “YES”. Video, >click to read< 14:32
UK boat detained by France amid fishing rights row
A British trawler has been seized by France and another has been fined, amid an escalating row over post-Brexit fishing rights. French maritime minister Annick Girardin said the ships were cautioned during checks off Le Havre overnight. She said the first did not comply right away and the second was not allowed to fish in French waters so was detained. >click to read< 08:28
Brexit, an “ocean of possibilities”? British fishermen mixed
A heavy weather warning was announced this weekend in the North Sea. Rain and wind are already sweeping Peterhead and its pink granite dwellings. Located in the east of Scotland, the UK’s largest fishing port in terms of fish caught sees its boats returning for shelter. Except Peter Bruce, who will stay at sea until the last moment. ” We use so much gasoline to reach the whitefish fishing grounds that it is not financially worthwhile to come back for six to eight days.”,,, While Peter Bruce usually fills his holds with 50 tonnes of fish, he sometimes has to make do with 35 tonnes. Particularly since the 1is January. >click to read< 14:53
Danish Fisheries Hit by Crisis in Aftermath of Brexit
Fishermen’s urgent plea to Boris Johnson over Brexit and funding
The government has set aside a £100million investment fund for the industry, and has promised to replace funding that came via the EU. Now the local fishermen, who number around 600, and the workers who depend on the industry, want to see Brixham land the money to safeguard the future of their historic industry.,,, Fishermen were some of the strongest supporters of breaking away from the European Union, convinced by the potential to take back control of the UK’s waters, and harvest more of the fish in them. But many now see the government’s trade deal and fishing agreement with the EU as falling far short of what was promised. >click to read< 08:55
Parts of UK fishing industry feel ‘stabbed in the back’ by Brexit deal
One of the major selling points of Brexit was that it would limit access to foreign trawlers and increase quotas for the UK industry. In the end, only minor changes took place, phased in over five years. Skipper Paul Corin voted for Brexit. Now he feels betrayed and has had to sell his family-owned trawler to keep the business alive. “The exports improved after Brexit with a lot of hard work from people, but the increase in quota that we were promised just didn’t materialize. This was a family boat, but we had to sell to a bigger company. We just didn’t have enough quota to keep the vessel running and make a profit,” Corin explained. “I think we were all stabbed in the back, we were promised lots of stuff and it hasn’t materialized and it’s not going to materialize,”,,, video, >click to read< 13:00
Michael Gove’s startling Brexit admission: ‘EU will continue to have access to UK waters
Despite Downing Street calling a “mutual compromise”, it does seem Prime Minister Boris Johnson capitulated on one of the most contentious areas of Brexit trade talks: fishing rights. The UK wanted any fishing agreement to be separate from the trade deal with access negotiated annually in a similar fashion to Norway’s agreement with the bloc. Norway is an independent coastal state, with the rights and responsibilities under international law associated with that status. Stocks shared with the EU are managed through annual bilateral negotiations. Each autumn these talks set total allowable catches on the basis of scientific advice. This contrasts starkly with the position of the UK fishing industry within the EU’s Common Fisheries Policy, something the EU wanted to maintain at all costs. >click to read< 08:14
Scottish fisherman – “cheaper and quicker” to export to Asia than France because of Brexit rules.
Jamie McMillan hit out at the “waste” caused by UK’s withdrawal from the single market, which means three hours of paperwork every morning to get his shellfish to the EU. Since Brexit, a single delivery by McMillan can need more than 80 pages of forms,,, McMillan said: “It’s just madness. It’s a waste of paper, a waste of time, a waste of environment, a waste of cost.” He has 22 employees but is worried Brexit could cost them their jobs, because his sales are down 40 per cent since Brexit. He had turned to Asian markets to save his business. >click to read< 18:02
Britain, EU reach agreement on 2021 fishing rights
The European Union and Britain on Wednesday (June 2) reached an agreement on fishing rights for 2021, the European Commission said. The accord was finalised in a phone call between the EU’s Commissioner for Environment, Oceans and Fisheries Virginijus Sinkevicius and British Secretary of State for the Environment George Eustice. “This agreement provides predictability and continuity for our fleets with definitive TACs (trade and cooperation agreements) for the remainder of the year. >click to read< 16:39
Frustration as F/V Pesorsa Dos returns to local fishing grounds
Local fishermen are up in arms after the German registered gill-netter F/V Pesorsa Dos reappeared in the waters to the west of Shetland. Last year, the Spanish owned vessel was in the centre of a huge controversy after the crew of the Alison Kay (LK57) posted a video that appeared to show the gill netter trying to foul the local trawler’s propeller. Following Brexit and the “hugely disappointing” trade deal, the UK has become an independent coastal state, but EU vessels continue to have full access to UK waters until 2026. >click to read< 18:26
U.S. lobster exports to China rebounded in 2020
While the coronavirus pandemic tanked U.S. lobster exports overall in 2020, international trade data suggests the industry’s once-thriving U.S. to China trade pipeline may be making a comeback. International sales of U.S. lobster fell by 22 percent last year, from $548.4 million in 2019 to $426.9 million in 2020. The market saw declines in sales to each of the country’s top 10 international buyers, with the notable exception of China, which bought more than $127 million of U.S. lobster, or a roughly 49 percent increase over 2019, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. >click to read< 10:34
