News

A Telling Exchange

2 December 2013

Last week, George Monbiot, renowned environmental journalist for the Guardian, launched a full frontal attack on Seafish.

Making use of their PFDs

22 November 2013

Members of Clovelly Shellfishermen's Association making use of NFFO lifejackets. (PFDs)

Government Designates 27 Marine Conservation Zones

21 November 2013

The Government has announced details of the 27 marine conservation zones (MCZs) which will be designated in a first round. Further areas will be designated in two further rounds in 2015/16 and 2016/17.

Challenges Ahead for the New Fisheries Minister

15 November 2013

All the signs are that George Eustice will be a competent and hardworking fisheries minister. Time will tell if he will be an outstanding one. At the recent stakeholder meeting with UK ministers in Edinburgh, he displayed an impressive grasp of the key issues and much of the detail, despite only being in his post a matter of weeks. This bodes well for the autumn negotiations, culminating in the December Council. Again, time will tell.

Accessing More Quota For Small Boat Fishermen – Industry Cooperation Delivers Net Results For Fishing Fleet

13 November 2013

A pilot project, which has provided 26 percent more quota to small boat fishermen as well as helping to reduce discards, has been branded an unprecedented success by members of the Ramsgate Quota Group who have called on DEFRA to extend the project wider in 2014.

Crab faces Extinction: No it Doesn’t – The Pantomime Goes On

12 November 2013

As Jonathan Leak, the Sunday Times’ Environment Editor, was the journalist who last year announced to the world that there were only 100 adult cod left in the North Sea – when the real figure was 23 million – perhaps we don’t need to panic too much yet about his latest apocalyptic pronouncement “Crab faces Commercial Extinction in parts of Britain.”

ACRUNET Partners Gather for Significant Meeting in Vigo

31 October 2013

The 4th ACRUNET (Atlantic Crab Resource Users Network) partner meeting was hosted by Centro Tecnológico del Mar (CETMAR) at its headquarters overlooking the historic port of Vigo. The meeting was opened by the Managing Director of CETMAR, Paloma Rueda Crespo who welcomed the delegates to Vigo.

New Project Sets out Positive Uses for Discards

18 October 2013

A discards research project “Utilisation of discards in bait”, funded by Seafish and Defra, has identified new uses for species commonly discarded due to weak or absent markets.

PO and Under-10 Cooperation Shows the Way

14 October 2013

Cooperation between the Fish Producers Organisation and the Ramsgate under-10metre Pilot Group is going well. The PO has been able to facilitate quota swaps and transfers that have kept the Ramsgate vessels fishing throughout the year with minimal discards.

NFFO Executive Plans Autumn Work Programme

30 September 2013

The NFFO Executive Committee met recently to plan the Federation’s work programme for the autumn

NFFO Announces new Chairman-Elect

27 September 2013

The National Federation of Fishermen’s Organisations has announced that Tony Delahunty, a fisherman from Selsey in Sussex and member of the NFFO Executive, has been unanimously elected to the position of Chairman Elect.

Charlie Dawson MBE 1936-2013

16 September 2013

Charlie Dawson was Chairman and then President of the National Federation of Fishermen’s Organisations from 1988 to 1993.

West of Morecambe Fisheries Fund Opens For Applications

2 September 2013

The West of Morecambe Fisheries Fund, established to support fishing communities operating in the eastern Irish Sea, has opened for applications from the fishing industry.

Fisherman uses net to share life at sea

23 August 2013

Tweeting Trawlerman Tweets From The Deep to Show Reality of Life as a Fisherman

For the Love of Fishing

16 August 2013

A blog written by fisherman David Warwick

127 Marine Conservation Zones: Ditching Dogma

15 August 2013

Behind the current stand-off in the media between conservation lobbyists and Fisheries Minister, Richard Benyon, over the pace at which Marine Conservation Zones (MCZs) are designated, lies an outdated view of how to use conservation areas to achieve environmental protection.

Skipper Expo International Bristol 2013

15 August 2013

An exciting new commercial fishing show focusing on the industry in England and Wales is being held in Bristol in October 2013.

The Tweeting Fisherman David Warwick

14 August 2013

David Warwick has been a fisherman since the day he left school more than 25 years ago. Originally he fished with his father off the Northumberland coast, catching crab, lobster, cod and salmon. Shortly afterwards, David moved north to study for his skipper’s ticket at Fraserburgh, a now-mandatory qualification needed to captain a boat. While in Scotland David began fishing out of Fraserburgh and Peterhead ports. Then, in 1996, he re-joined his father and they built their own trawler, beginning a successful commercial partnership.

MMO taking a critical look at itself

12 August 2013

The Marine Management Organisation is taking a critical look at its own performance in a number of key areas with the intention of improvement. This was the key message to emerge from the recent meeting between the NFFO and the MMO at its headquarters in Newcastle.

Fisherman uses Net to send “Tweets from the deep”

7 August 2013

Trawlerman to Show Harsh Reality of Life at Sea To Help Tackle Industry’s Negative Reputation

Discards Ban

7 August 2013

The political decision by the Council of Ministers and European Parliament to place an obligation to land on all quota species carries many implications, some potentially good, some potentially harmful.

Under-10s: Taking Stock

30 July 2013

Now that the shape of the reformed CFP is known in broad terms, and the UKAFPO legal challenge to the Government’s proposed redistribution of underutilised quota is out of the way, this seems like a good time to take stock of where we have got to on the important under-10m quota issue.

Toughest Fisherman Takes to Twitter

29 July 2013

Fish lovers across the country are being asked to put their questions to TV’s toughest fisherman as part of a new initiative to highlight the complex and dangerous nature of life at sea.

New Data Reveals North Sea Is Teeming

15 July 2013

Leading UK Fishing Body Says Dramatic Species Recovery Across North East Atlantic Is ‘Nothing Short of Remarkable’