News - Page 15 of 40

Mid-Channel Conference Communique on Skates and Rays

13 April 2016

For 37 years the Mid-Channel Conference has provided an international forum for Channel fishermen to agree working arrangements that allow different fishing gears to co-exist. The Conference also takes an active interest in current resource management issues and following the conclusion of this year's meeting, which was held on 4th and 5th April, in St Helier Jersey, the following communique on skates and rays management was released.

Multi-annual Management Plan Logjam freed

18 March 2016

The log-jam caused by the long running, bad-tempered, jurisdictional dispute between the European Parliament and the Council of Ministers over the content of the new generation EU multi-annual management plans has been resolved.

New EU Technical Conservation Regime

18 March 2016

The Commission has recently adopted its long-awaited proposal for a new Technical Conservation Framework Regulation. This will replace the long-lasting but unloved, and frankly ineffectual, existing regulation (EU 750/98) along with a number of subsidiary regulations.

NFFO will provide Referendum Platform

9 March 2016

The NFFO will not take a formal position on the forthcoming referendum on membership of the EU. It will however, invite protagonists from both camps to outline their prospectus for the UK’s fisheries, in or out of the EU. A recent meeting of the NFFO’s Executive Committee, took the view that the role of the Federation is to influence government, whether the UK is inside or outside the EU. It is not to seek to influence the outcome of a democratic process in which all its members have a vote.

Advisory Councils Publish Advice on the Landing Obligation Both warn about chokes ahead

7 March 2016

The North Sea and North West Waters advisory councils have both published their advice on the next phase of the landings obligation. Both have pinpointed chokes as the major problem ahead in mixed fisheries.

Under-10 Capping Appeals

3 March 2016

The NFFO has offered to help those fisherman who have they been told that their licences will be capped under the new Defra rules aimed at reducing latent capacity in the under-10m fleet. An appeals process has been set up and any fisherman who feels that he has been unfairly treated may appeal for a review of the decision.

Economics and Fishing Policy

12 February 2016

The Common Fisheries Policy has to date been driven almost exclusively by conservation priorities. The time has come to think about how to integrate economic thinking into CFP policy, to better achieve the principal objectives of the CFP. These are to ensure that fishing activities are environmentally sustainable in the long term and consistent with the objectives of achieving economic, social and employment benefits, and of contributing to the availability of food supplies.” (Article 2.1 of the CFP Basic Regulation. 1380/2013)

The Science of Sustainability

25 January 2016

Scientists are doing a fantastic job in rubbishing the damaging exaggerations, distortions and selective use facts by some academics, NGOs and environmental journalists, writing about fishing.

Multi-annual Management Plans in the Common Fisheries Policy

25 January 2016

A briefing note for Co-legislators

New research to aid sustainable fisheries management in Marine Protected Areas

20 January 2016

Scientists now have a better understanding of the level of fishing activity that can be carried out within Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) and still remain compatible with conservation objectives thanks to new research.

An Evidence based Approach Continues to be Critical to “Designating Marine Protected Areas for the Right Reasons”

17 January 2016

The NFFO has welcomed Defra’s continued measured approach to the designation of new Marine Conservation Zones.

NFFO President Slams Ray Decision

14 January 2016

In a letter to UK fisheries Minister George Eustice, NFFO President Paul Trebilcock, has bitterly criticised the decision to add small-eyed ray to the list of species fishermen can’t retain.

A Debt of Gratitude

13 January 2016

The MPA Coalition which was formed to protect fishermen’s livelihoods to during the process of establishing a network of marine protected areas, is to say farewell to its Chairman, Dr Stephen Lockwood. MPAC’s work has moved on to a new phase in which a site-specific focus and detailed work on management measures within MPAs has moved to the forefront.

Demersal Landings Obligation applies from 1st January

23 December 2015

The EU landings obligation will come into force on 1st January 2016.

December Council Details

23 December 2015

We are now in receipt of the definitive TAC and quota changes agreed at the December Council. Further details of the deal struck on seabass are also slowly emerging. It is now clear the drift net fishery for bass has not been included in the exemptions granted for hook and line and other bass netters.

European Parliament Derails the North Sea Discard Plan

11 December 2015

Many have predicted that the EU landings obligation - because of the top-down way it has been designed – is a car crash in the making. Not many, however, predicted the car would crash before it got out of the garage.

Bass: Repeating the mistakes of the past

10 December 2015

Everyone makes mistakes. A measure of intelligence is how quickly we learn from those mistakes. We label as stupid, people who fail to learn the lessons of their past errors. How then to describe the European Commission’s failure to learn the lessons of the past? The history Common Fisheries Policy contains a litany of failed measures. In many respects, the current positive outlook for our stocks has been achieved in spite of, rather than because of, management measures. We have gone down so many blind alleys that the law of averages dictated that we would eventually stumble in the right direction. But the journey has been much more painful and taken much longer than necessary.

Who’s to Blame for Landing the Blame?

7 December 2015

In an open letter to the New Economics Foundation, the NFFO has challenged its misguided campaign, “Landing the Blame”, for failing to account for the range of scientific advice that must inform ministers’ decisions on TACs at the December Council.

Fisheries Debate: NFFO Briefing Note

1 December 2015

In advance of the annual round of quota negotiations, the National Federation of Fishermen’s Organisations has prepared the following briefing note for MPs.

The Emerging Technical Conservation Regime

27 November 2015

The main EU instrument governing the rules on technical conservation is a regulation dating back to 1998. (EU 850/98). Arguably this regulation required root and branch revision the day after it was published. It has required multiple amendments and based as it is on the concept of matching each mesh size category to catch compositions it has been responsible for the regulatory discards which arose as a consequence. It has certainly set a benchmark in complexity, and perverse consequences.

The Realities of Bass Conservation

25 November 2015

Peter Caunter operates an under-10m vessel, netting off the south east coast. In this short article he provides an insight into the some of the realities of the bass fishery in his area.

Bass Unity

23 November 2015

The Commission’s proposal on bass – effectively a moratorium on catches – is an overreaction that is not justified by the science, the NFFO’s Chairman, Tony Delahunty, has said in a statement released by the NFFO.

Bass Requires Action not Overreaction

23 November 2015

The Federation writes to the Minister on the need for a proportionate response to bass management.

Pew response fails to address EU fishing sector concerns over misleading information

20 November 2015

It is disappointing that your response fails to address the issues that we have raised. We drew attention to the startling divergence between the International Council for the Exploration of the Seas (ICES) view and Pew's claims about fishing pressure and the state of the stocks off North Western Europe.