News Headlines
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Coalition Proposes New Approach to MPAs
The MPA Fishing Coalition has had its first meeting of the year with DEFRA, MMO, IFCAs and the statutory nature conservation bodies. MPAC took the opportunity to present an alternative approach to marine conservation zones to the one currently being pursued by government.
25/01/12 l Full story |
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Effort Control and Selectivity in 2012
The difficult, thankless, task of managing effort (days at sea restrictions) under the EU Cod Management Plan in the 2012 effort year (from 1st February) has begun, with a recent meeting of the English Days at Sea Group, on which the NFFO sits.
25/01/12 l Full story |
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Under-10m Pilots
Progress on resolving the problems of acute quota shortage in a number of under-10 fisheries hinges on pilot projects planned to begin in April.
25/01/12 l Full story |
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2012 - A critical year ahead
All the signs are that 2012 will be a pivotal year for the fishing industry.
The reform of the CFP and the review of the EU Cod Management Plan are two developments this year with a huge capacity on their own to shape our future – for either good or ill.
05/01/12 l Full story |
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MPA Fishing Coalition Takes Stock
Completing the second year of its existence, MPAC, the alliance of fishing organisations which was formed to defend access to fishing grounds during the establishment of a network of marine protected areas in UK waters, has recently taken stock of progress made so far.
04/01/12 l Full story |
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TAC Decisions and NGO Naivity
The Marine Conservation Society has apparently pronounced itself “appalled” at the recent December Council TAC decisions where these varied considerably from the Commission’s proposals.
22/12/11 l Full story |
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South East NFFO Regional Committee
The NFFO’s South East Committee has recently been reinvigorated through the election of a new Chairman who is determined to ensure that the South East regains a voice in national and European platforms. After an initial meeting in Shoreham it is intended to hold meetings in Leigh-on Sea and in Rye early in 2012. The South East has largely been sidelined in recent years and the NFFO is working to rebuild its previously very strong and active Committee.
22/12/11 l Full story |
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North East NFFO Regional Committee
The NFFO’s North East Committee has had an exceptionally busy year. Chairman: Ned Clark, North Shields/Cullercoates Email: nedclark@aol.com
The Federation’s North East Committee is active in the following policy areas:
21/12/11 l Full story |
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The Common Fisheries Policy: A Failed Experiment in Centralised Control
TACs and Effort Move in Opposite Directions
The Council outcomes and the process through which they were reached provide ample evidence of why the CFP must change in the forthcoming reform.
19/12/11 l Full story |
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North Sea
The main North Sea joint stock TACs were agreed with Norway in late November and with the exception of saithe, reflect the positive ICES advice for 2001, which in turn reflects the general picture of stocks rebuilding and heading towards or already in the region of maximum sustainable yield. Saithe is an object lesson in the pitfalls of fisheries science and management because it had been regarded as an exemplar species and had achieved low fishing mortality and high levels of biomass in the five preceding years.
19/12/11 l Full story |
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December Council: South West Focus
Paul Trebilcock Cornish Fish Producers and NFFO Chairman-elect
“The December Fisheries Council finished in the early hours of Saturday 17 December in Brussels, when the TACs and quotas for 2012 were finally agreed.
19/12/11 l Full story |
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South East: TACs and Quotas
Tony Delahunty, Chairman of the NFFO South East Committee, represented the South East’s interests at the December Council said:
“It is clear to me that the industry must stay engaged with the process in Brussels and especially at the December Council. These decisions have a direct impact on fishermen’s livelihoods and the viability of vessels of whatever size. It is often forgotten that arguments about the share of the quotas, after the TAC has been decided, is often secondary to fishermen’s livelihoods to the overall size of the cake.”
19/12/11 l Full story |
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Irish Sea Fishermen “Deflated by EU Decisions”
Alan McCulla Chief Executive of the Anglo-North Irish Fish Producers Organisation
After two days of negotiations in Brussels, the conclusion of the EU’s Fisheries Council in the early hours of Saturday morning has left Northern Ireland’s fishermen feeling deflated.
19/12/11 l Full story |
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Effort Control in 2012: Back from the Precipice
The UK, with strong support from France, Germany, Spain, Netherlands and Denmark, managed to overturn the Commission’s perverse interpretation of the Article 13 effort buyback provisions which, if implemented, would have left the main whitefish and nephrops fleets with only a few weeks fishing in 2012.
19/12/11 l Full story |
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Table of TACs - Internal Stocks
Click full story to see the full table of TACs.
19/12/11 l Full story |
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Table of TACs - External Stocks
Click full story to see the full table of TACs.
19/12/11 l Full story |
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The Precautionary Approach and Fisheries Policy
The precautionary approach is now well embedded within fisheries science and fisheries policy, and has been since the late 1990s. Stock assessments are expressed within a framework that identifies limit and precautionary reference points for those stocks where the data allows. And EU policy justifies its approach to data deficient stocks by reference to the precautionary approach.
14/12/11 l Full story |
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Commissioner Damanaki and Europeche
For the first time since she took office two years ago, Commissioner Damanaki met recently with Europeche, the principal European level representative body for the European fishing industry. Readers will arrive at their own conclusions about what that delay says about the Commissioner’s priorities and predilections.
09/12/11 l Full story |
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EU Norway Agreement – Brief Summary of Outcomes
North Sea Joint Stocks
Cod -1% (plus up to 12% extra for vessels in the Catch Quota scheme)
Haddock +15%
Whiting +15%
Saithe -15%
Plaice +15%
05/12/11 l Full story |
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Effort Control: Confusion, Confrontation but Precious Little Conservation
It would be hard to imagine a fisheries policy instrument than the EU effort control regime that causes so much confusion and grief for so little return in conservation terms. After one false start, with the 2002-2008 Cod Recovery Plan, days-at-sea restrictions were repackaged and sold to ministers as a more flexible system of kilowatt days.
05/12/11 l Full story |
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Mixed Fisheries
Many of the really difficult issues facing our industry arise from how to manage mixed fisheries. From a fishing vessel perspective mixed fisheries offer an opportunity to catch a range of species that have market value.
But multi-species, multi-gear and multi-jurisdiction fisheries were never going to be easy to manage and the most intractable problems we face from a fisheries management point of view can often be traced back to the core issue of how to maximise catch of healthy stocks whilst providing protection for vulnerable species.
01/12/11 l Full story |
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The Dubious Science of Marine Conservation Zones
NFFO’s Dale Rodmell participated in 3 out of the 4 regional MCZ projects and closely works with the MPA Fishing Coalition. He gives his views on the current state of the Marine Conservation Zone planning process.
29/11/11 l Full story |
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Simplification Agenda
Once the year-end quota and effort negotiations have concluded and we begin the New Year, it can be anticipated that discussions on the reform of the Common Fisheries Policy will take off in earnest.
23/11/11 l Full story |
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Reform of the Common Fisheries Policy
Submission Prepared by the National Federation of Fishermen’s Organisations in response to Commission Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and the Council on the Common Fisheries Policy
23/11/11 l Full story |
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First Round of EU Norway Talks
The first round of negotiations towards the annual fisheries agreement between the EU and Norway was held recently in Brussels. A second and hopefully final round will be held in Bergen later this month. An NFFO delegation, as usual, attends both rounds of the negotiations.
18/11/11 l Full story |
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Constructive Meeting on Marine Spatial Planning
A constructive meeting with the representatives from the Marine Management Organisation was held in the NFFO offices recently to discuss the arrival of marine spatial planning and in particular, the first two draft marine plans. These will be for the East Coast Inshore and the East Coast Offshore.
18/11/11 l Full story |
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MPA Fishing Coalition Welcomes Minister’s Revised MCZ Timetable
The MPA Fishing Coalition has welcomed UK Fisheries Minister, Richard Benyon’s announcement that further time will be allowed to designate a network of marine conservation zones in UK waters, to allow additional time to collect evidence on their location and boundaries.
17/11/11 l Full story |
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An Absolute Priority
In direct meetings with the UK Fisheries Minister, Richard Benyon, the NFFO has emphasised that securing a halt to cuts in permitted days-at-sea must be an absolute priority for the UK, at the forthcoming December Council
The EU Cod Management Plan has been evaluated by the Commission’s Scientific, Technical, and Economic Committee for Fisheries and found to be flawed in fundamental ways, including the weakness of the link between reducing fishing effort and a consequent reduction in fishing mortality.
14/11/11 l Full story |
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Sam Signs off as RAC Chairman
Past NFFO President Sam Lambourn has recently retired as Chairman of the North West Waters Regional Advisory Council in order to devote more of his time to the operation of his fishing vessel, the 12 metre Lyonesse.
03/11/11 l Full story |
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NFFO Executive
The NFFO’s Executive Committee met recently in York to deal with a heavy workload of issues confronting the fishing industry.
27/10/11 l Full story |
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NFFO South West Committee Elects New Chairman and Vice Chairman
The NFFO South West Committee elected John Butterwith as its new Chairman at its meeting on 19th October, replacing Rob Penfold who stands down after leading the Committee for the last 3 years. John has been highly active on behalf of the Committee as its Vice Chairman and most recently chaired the South West Fishing Industry MCZ Planning Group which put forward industry positions to the Finding Sanctuary project. He is joined by Steve Parker who was elected as Vice Chairman at the meeting.
21/10/11 l Full story
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Cod Plan: Uncertain Future
A meeting convened by the European Commission to consider the future of the EU Cod Management Plan, in light of its evaluation by STECF/ICES, has failed to shed much light on the immediate future.
At the recent meeting in Brussels, representatives from the North Sea and North West Waters RACs, including the NFFO, highlighted the need to make urgent changes to the plan as its provisions continue to tie the fleets into large, preordained, annual reductions of effort and TACs. STECF’s report published in July, questions the validity of this approach on the basis of the evidence so far.
10/10/11 l Full story |
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NFFO South West Committee Returns to “Usual Business”
The NFFO South West Committee meets next in Exeter on 19th October. The meeting comes after a period of intense work focussed on limiting the harm to the industry coming from the Marine Conservation Zone planning process. The Committee formed the core of the South West Fishing Industry Marine Conservation Zone (MCZ) Planning Group which met frequently during the Finding Sanctuary Project in order to inform industry representatives involved in the project with the local knowledge and views to influence the site selection process.
04/10/11 l Full story |
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NFFO Shellfish Policy
After careful consideration, the NFFO's Shellfish Committee has adopted a policy on the crab, lobster fisheries, following a recent meeting in Derby attended by a wide range of port representatives.
Landings of crab and lobster fisheries are worth around £ 40 million annually to the UK, yet shellfish policy has languished, with no discernable direction, as high level policy options have been discussed and re-discussed. The Federation's policy attempts to break this logjam by proposing a number of incremental steps that if adopted, we believe would lead towards a more economically resilient shellfish fleet and a sustainable future.
03/10/11 l Full story |
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South East Committee Prepares for MPAs
The fishing industry in the South East must prepare itself for a dialogue with fisheries managers at individual site level. That is the message sent out from the NFFO’s South East Committee when it met recently in Shoreham. There was recognition that a handful of local representatives had worked tirelessly to ensure that our voice was heard in the Balanced Seas regional project but it was agreed that there was still much to do to defend access to critical fishing areas.
27/09/11 l Full story |
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NFFO Shellfish Policy: Discussion Paper
The idea of capping effort in the UK crab and lobster fisheries has been in circulation for many years without making any significant headway. The scientific argument for a cap is that whilst we don’t know with any degree of precision how close we are to the tipping point, the continuous expansion in fishing effort in the crab and lobster fisheries (measured in terms of the increasing number of pots in the water) could seriously jeopardise stocks if the current favourable environmental conditions are discontinued.
16/09/11 l Full story |
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South East
Fishermen in the South East have asked the NFFO to reinvigorate its South East Committee. They feel that the divisive issue of under-10m quota management has eclipsed a wide range of other issues of importance to fishermen in the South East. The NFFO as a result is to convene a meeting of interested fishermen in Shoreham on 22nd September to discuss the best way forward.
12/09/11 l Full story |
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Stocks Meeting
A major consultative meeting was held in Brussels on 8th September as a prelude to the autumn decisions on TACs and quotas for next year. Chaired by the Director General, Lori Evans, the meeting reviewed the main themes in this year’s ICES advice, discussed the main economic trends in the fisheries and took initial reactions from an industry panel which included the NFFO. All the main European fisheries organisations and a large number of NGOs were present.
09/09/11 l Full story |
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Online Survey Opens New Era for Fishermen’s Knowledge
In a determined attempt to break with the era when fishermen’s knowledge was invariably relegated to the “interesting but unusable” category, the NFFO has introduced a simple-to-use online survey which allows individual fishermen to contribute to the scientific understanding of stock and fleet trends.
07/09/11 l Full story |
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Marine Conservation Zones Reach Significant Waypoint
With the site recommendations by the four English regional MCZ projects due to be published on 7th September, a significant stage in the process has now been completed. A new phase now begins.
06/09/11 l Full story |
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Fisheries Science and Fishermen
An important change is underway in the relationship between fishermen and fisheries science.
02/09/11 l Full story |
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Busy Autumn Ahead
The Federation is gearing up for an extremely busy autumn. Although the number of stocks under long term management plans is increasing, theoretically reducing the significance of the December Council, the Commission’s suggestion that all stocks suffering from “data deficiencies” should be subject to a 25% reduction in TAC, ensures that we will have to fight to block this perverse and entirely counterproductive approach.
02/09/11 l Full story |
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Twelve Words and Two Failed Cod Plans
Twelve words have rocked the foundations of the EU Cod Management Plan and have undermined the whole basis of the EU’s strategy for rebuilding the cod stocks in the North Sea, Irish Sea and West of Scotland.
30/08/11 l Full story |
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Battle Lines Drawn on Transferable Fishing Concessions
Extreme positions are being adopted and incendiary language used on the issue of transferable quotas. The question of how quotas have become tradable legal rights in the UK, and whether this is a good or bad thing is being conducted, in heated terms, between those who see tradable concessions as a panacea for the failures of fisheries policy and those who see it as a type of crime.
11/08/11 l Full story |
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Sold Out for Bureaucratic Neatness
Defra’s public response to the NFFO’s broadside on the imminent transfer of administration over English and Northern Irish vessels which exhibit “ a Scottish fishing pattern” to Marine Scotland fails to address any of the substantive points made by the Federation.
10/08/11 l Full story |
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EU Technical Conservation Rules: Mission impossible?
The EU rules which cover technical conservation measures, such as mesh size, minimum landing sizes, and the selectivity of fishing gear generally, have to date been dealt with through the Technical Conservation Regulation
10/08/11 l Full story |
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Celtic Sea Points the Way
Work going on within the North West Waters RAC, on a long term management plan for the Celtic Sea demersal stocks, points the way forward for the future management of mixed fisheries.
05/08/11 l Full story |
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Minister Prepares to Sell out English Fishing Interests
New devolution concordat will hand over control to Scotland
The National Federation of Fishermen’s Organisations is furious that a secret agreement between Defra and the devolved administrations will hand over control of parts of the English, and Northern Irish fleets to Marine Scotland, if they operate what is deemed to be a “Scottish fishing pattern”.
03/08/11 l Full story |
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Irish Sea Cod Enigma
The stubborn refusal of Irish Sea cod to respond to a whole array of conservation measures is one of the fisheries enigmas of our time.
Miniscule TACs, effort control, more selective gear, the eradication of the Northern Irish directed fishery for cod, a seasonal spawning closed area – all measures that have been applied over the last decade without noticeable return.
02/08/11 l Full story |
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Under-10m Pilot Quota Schemes
The Industry/Defra working group charged with developing solutions to the quota problems facing parts of the under 10m fleet, met again recently to review responses to the Defra consultation and discuss ways forward. The group is comprised of representatives from NFFO, NUTFA and UKAFPO, although, of course, the Federation has overlapping membership with both organisations.
01/08/11 l Full story |
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CFP Reform “Wide Open”
The final outcome of the CFP reform is wide open; that was the impression left by Lowri Evans, Director General of DG Mare, the EU Directorate that deals with fisheries and marine affairs, when she met with UK stakeholders in London recently.
26/07/11 l Full story |
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Strange Silence Alarms Salmon Netsmen
Over the last thirty years there has been constant pressure from the powerful and well-connected salmon angling lobby for the closure of the North East coast commercial net fishery. A continuous stream of spurious conservation arguments, masquerading for self-interest, have been deployed – and in the main been seen off by the NFFO’s Salmon Committee, although not without huge efforts and not without injury.
26/07/11 l Full story |
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What delivers sustainable fisheries?
An interesting and authoritative “global meta analysis” of 345 fish stocks has recently been published. The Washington University research into whether a quota shares system (where quotas are allocated to individual fishing enterprises) is superior to systems that set quota caps for whole fleets in achieving management objectives and sustainable fisheries has turned up some interesting and timely results.
25/07/11 l Full story |
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Fish Robbers and Crass Journalism
Reproduced below is a letter sent by the Federation to the editor of the Times complaining about the distortions of their Oceans Correspondent in portrayal of the fishing industry as pantomime villains.
21/07/11 l Full story |
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NFFO Elects New Chairman
The NFFO has elected Paul Trebilcock, Chief Executive of the Cornish Fish Producers’ Organisation as its new Chairman. Paul will take over the Chair next summer and in the meantime will hold the position of NFFO Chairman-Elect.
19/07/11 l Full story |
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Without Comment
On 25th May the European Commission released its Communication concerning a consultation on Fishing Opportunities. (COM(2011) 298 final).
18/07/11 l Full story |
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Wide Range of Issues addressed at meeting with MMO
THE National Federation of Fishermen’s Organisations (NFFO) and the Marine Management Organisation (MMO) met recently at the MMO’s headquarters in Newcastle.
15/07/11 l Full story |
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MPs Briefed on CFP Reform
The NFFO and the Scottish Fishermen’s Federation recently jointly briefed MPs on the Commission’s proposals for CFP reform and what they could mean for the UK fishing industry.
14/07/11 l Full story |
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Consultation on Reform of the English Fisheries Management Arrangements
This paper responds to the Defra consultation paper Consultation on Reform of the English Fisheries Management Arrangements, April 2011.
12/07/11 l Full story |
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Response to the Commission’s Communication on Fishing Opportunities in 2012
We welcome the Commission’s clarification over the definition of the term “overfishing”. In the public mind the term is associated with extinction or collapse and the Commission has not been careful in the past to make clear that its use has been changed to indicate failure to exploit to full potential. This is an important clarification.
11/07/11 l Full story |
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CFP Reform
We can expect the usual crop of apocalyptic predictions from the mainstream media and professional doom-mongers to accompany the Commission’s launch of its reform proposals on 13th July. We have become used to hysterical assertions based on little more than prejudice and selective use of facts to meet their own agendas.
11/07/11 l Full story |
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Cod Plan: RACs Make Case for Change
The North Sea and North West Waters regional advisory councils have presented their case for radical changes to the EU Cod Management Plan to a meeting of ICES and STECF fisheries scientists, held on 20-24th June, in Hamburg. The scientists have been charged with the task of evaluating the performance of the current Cod Plan.
29/06/11 l Full story |
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BBC Fisheries Coverage
The NFFO holds a seat on the BBC’s Rural Affairs Committee. The Committee’s meetings are attended by the Head of BBC Rural Affairs, as well as many of the producers and journalists who make programmes covering agriculture, fisheries and environmental issues.
15/06/11 l Full story |
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Discard Damanaki
Commissioner Damanaki, at a recent event at Selfriges in London, to which no fishing industry representatives were invited, again put herself in environmental vanguard. The NFFO’s letter below questions whether her self-defined status and her policies line up.
13/06/11 l Full story |
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Chairman’s Report 2011
NFFO Chairman, Arnold Locker, recently gave his annual report to the Federation's AGM.
The Commission will shortly publish its proposals on CFP reform. At the same time, we are also dealing with the biggest change to domestic quota arrangements for a decade. Meanwhile, a review of the EU cod management plan is under way and radical new arrangements in the shellfish sector are under discussion.
13/06/11 l Full story |
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Catch Quotas
A meeting held recently in Copenhagen and attended by the NFFO, assessed the progress made to date in introducing a catch quota system. This is the system that has been on trial for three years in the North Sea and documents all catches (not just landings) using CCTV which records all fish as it comes aboard; this may be one of the ways in which it will be possible to revoke large areas of complex and often counterproductive CFP rules as well as reducing discards.
21/05/11 l Full story |
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MPA Coalition warns that MCZ Process has reached
“Critical Stage”
The MPA Fishing Coalition, the body set up to ensure that the fishing industry has a strong voice as a network of marine protected areas are established in UK waters, has warned that the process of implementing marine conservation zones has reached a critical stage.
17/05/11 l Full story |
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Firing on All Cylinders
It is difficult to recall a time when the Federation has had to fight on so many major fronts at once as at present. The fishing industry has become used to facing major challenges but never before have we been confronted by so many life-or-death issues at the same time.
13/05/11 l Full story
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Fishery Science Partnership – New and Continued Projects
Defra recently announced a one-year, £950,000 continuation of the Fishery Science Partnership (FSP) for 2011/12.
13/04/11 l Full story |
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Ten Point Plan for CFP Reform
As the European Commission prepares its proposals for CFP reform, the NFFO has published its 10 point plan for a new CFP.
18/03/11 l Full story |
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NFFO Trust Fund Grants
The NFFO Training Trust Fund, the charity linked to the National Federation of Fishermen’s Organisations, has announced grants worth £50,000 for purposes in line with the Trust’s objectives.
16/03/11 l Full story |
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MCZ Reference Areas: Rushed, Draconian and Unjustified
The NFFO, member of the MPA Fishing Coalition, is calling for an urgent rethink on reference areas, which are intended to form part of the network of Marine Conservation Zones (MCZs) currently under planning in English waters.
09/03/11 l Full story |
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Fisheries Liaison General Manager
The National Federation of Fishermen’s Organisations is seeking to appoint a dynamic General Manager for its commercial arm, NFFO Services Limited. The current General Manager will retire shortly and the NFFO is seeking a committed individual who combines a strong understanding of the fishing industry, with an ability to identify and secure commercial opportunities.
07/03/11 l Full story |
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Can we make better use of all the fish that are caught in
English commercial fisheries?
Marine Theme Objective: Economic and Social Research in the Marine Environment
05/03/11 l Full story |
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Shellfish Policy
A Defra consultation later this year will mark a fork in the road for the shellfish fisheries.
Although the pot fisheries for crab and lobster have been in an enviable position over the last decade, certainly compared to the traumas faced by the whitefish sector, there is mounting pressure to take conservation steps to ensure that they do not go down the same path.
28/02/11 l Full story |
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North Sea RAC fears knee-jerk reaction on discards
The North Sea Regional Advisory Council (NSRAC) has stated its position on discards ahead of a high-level political summit convened by European Commissioner for maritime affairs and fisheries Maria Damanaki.
28/02/11 l Full story |
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Damanaki “Not Listening”
Each Commissioner quickly establishes a hallmark of their time in office. For Joe Borge it was a concern to get the balance between governance and conservation right. For Emma Bonino, it was important to be seen to be tough. For Franz Fischler, it was impatience with the complexities of fishing, which threatened to eat into the time for his real preoccupation – agriculture.
25/02/11 l Full story |
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MCZs: The Opposite of the Big Society
There is a paradox in the way that the present Government is using heavy duty, top-down legislation, inherited from the previous administration to establish a network of marine protected areas in UK waters.
25/02/11 l Full story |
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| Dear Hugh…………
The NFFO has written to Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall with some advice on how to take the Channel 4 Fight for Fish campaign forward and some pitfalls to avoid.
22/02/11 l Full story |
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North East Drift Net Fishery
The North East drift net fishery has come under sustained pressure from the powerful and well connected angling lobby for over 30 years. Most fishermen in Northumbria would agree that it has survived the onslaught of the anglers’ pressures primarily because of the determined and resourceful efforts of the the NFFO Salmon Committee, led by Chairman Derek Heselton.
11/02/11 l Full story
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Small Scale Fisheries – thinking through the issues
Commissioner Damanaki’s (if not necessarily DG Mare’s) enthusiasm for special treatment for small scale fisheries is well known. NGOs like Ocean 12 and the International Federation of Fishworkers, and also some within the UK fishing industry, are also keen to draw a firm line between, on the one hand, small-scale artisanal fisheries and on the other large scale “industrial” fleets.
07/02/11 l Full story
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Effort Control generates perverse outcomes
Intense discussions between the NFFO and Defra over the shape of the days-at-sea regime for 2011/12 have yet to reach conclusion.
07/02/11 l Full story
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Independence and Integrity
One of the guiding principles insisted upon when the NFFO was established in 1977 was that it should maintain its integrity and independence by being financially independent of government or other large bodies which have agendas of their own. In practice this has meant reliance on what NFFO members have been willing, or able, to pay in subscriptions, or what the Federation has been able to earn for itself.
03/02/11 l Full story
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RACs and ICES Plan increased Cooperation
ICES and the RACs are planning to establish regional task forces to tackle the problem of weak stock assessments impaired by deficiencies in the data used to estimate abundance and advise on management measures. The regional task forces will also provide a platform for increased cooperation and dialogue. Fisheries managers from the member states will be invited to participate to strengthen the initiative.
31/01/11 l Full story
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A Decade of Paralysis
If the CFP fails to find a way to regionalise its decision-making it will drift into a decade of paralysis.
31/01/11 l Full story
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Irish Sea Shores up its Position
Approaching the turn of last year the Irish Sea faced an appalling prospect. The Commission had proposed a 19% reduction in the TAC for prawns – the economic mainstay of the Irish Sea; it had also proposed that the Area VII nephrops TAC should be divided into functional unit mini-TACs, constraining a vital flexibility for the fleets; also the EU cod management plan agreed in November 2008, prescribed a 25% cut in days at sea to be implemented in 2011.
28/01/11 l Full story
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Dutch Progress Conservation Measures for the Dogger, Cleaver Bank and Frisian Front
First discussions towards defining management measures for the Dutch sector of the Dogger Bank, the Cleaver Bank and Frisian Front were progressed at the FIMPAS workshop held in Den Helder, Holland, between 24th and 26th January.
28/01/11 l Full story
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North Sea Marine Plan
The first marine plan in covering much of UK waters in the southern North Sea will start its two year planning process from April. Officially termed the Eastern inshore and offshore areas, workshops held by the MMO recently in Peterborough, Norwich and Hull signalled the start of engaging with stakeholders, firstly to inform how the public engagement process will take place.
17/01/11 l Full story
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A Turning Point in European Fisheries?
Will Hugh Fearnely-Wittingstall’s Fight for Fish campaign mark a turning point in the Common Fisheries Policy? Or will the celebrity chef now move on to turn the spotlight on some other aspect of food production, leaving us pretty much where we are? In particular, what will the campaign, backed by last week’s major Channel 4 focus on fish and fishing, achieve in terms of reducing discards?
17/01/11 l Full story
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The Mixed Blessings of Celebrity – The Fight for Fish
This week sees the start of a major Channel 4 campaign focused on fish and fishing. In a series of TV programmes over the coming week celebrity chef big guns, Jamie Oliver, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, Gordon Ramsay, Heston Blumenthal and Arthur Potts Dawson, each focus on some aspect of the fishing industry and of fish consumption, mixing campaigning zeal with practical recipes using underutilised species.
10/01/11 l Full story
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Overcapacity: European Court of Auditors’ Study
The European Court of Auditors has instigated an investigation into fleet overcapacity within the CFP. The study is a follow-up to its 2008 report into the CFP, which was one of the most stingingly critical of any EU policy since the Court was established.
05/01/11 l Full story
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North West Waters RAC Spells out its requirements for Regional Management
At a recent meeting with the Lori Evans, Director General of DG Mare, the Commission’s fisheries directorate, the NW Waters RAC spelt out what it would like to see under a regionalised Common Fisheries Policy.
04/01/11 l Full story
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ICES agrees to Discuss RACs’ Initiative on Weak Assessments
It is a bald reality these days that, in making fisheries legislation, ministers will rarely stray far from the scientific recommendations.
04/01/11 l Full story
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Crucial Year Ahead
2011 will be a crucial year for the fishing industry. The Commission’s proposals for the reform of the CFP are expected mid-year, around about the same time that the process of designating a network of marine conservation zones in UK waters reaches a critical stage.
04/01/11 l Full story
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