News - Page 4 of 40

Ukraine

14 March 2022

The resistance of the Ukrainian people to Russian invasion will go down in history as a beacon of courage, unity, and human values against authoritarian dictatorship. At home we have a duty to support that resistance and provide security and succour for those displaced by the conflict.

UK Women In Fisheries

25 February 2022

UK Women in Fisheries is a network for all women who work in UK fishing, be you vessel owners, fleet managers, fishermen, fishmongers, processors, fishing conservationists, charity workers, trainers or workers somewhere else in the fishing industry.

Crab and Lobster Die-Off

11 February 2022

The disturbing scenes of thousands of crabs and lobsters washed up on the beaches on the Yorkshire and Teeside beaches have caused widespread alarm and major media interest. The finger of blame has been pointed, at various times and from various quarters, with different levels of credibility, at seismic surveys, a disease that also affects dogs, pyridine from spoil dredged from the Tees and a toxic algal bloom.

Green Light for Vigilantes

7 February 2022

Marine Management Organisation wins legal case against Greenpeace and then bottles it.

NFFO writes to Minister on Bass Delay

21 January 2022

The NFFO has written to Fisheries Minister to express exasperation that flexibilities in bass bycatch arrangements will not be made available to UK fishermen until halfway through this year.

Joint Fisheries Statements: NFFO First Reactions

18 January 2022

The four UK fisheries administrations have published the first draft Joint Fisheries Statement for consultation. Together with the Fisheries Act (adopted in December 2020) the Joint Fisheries Statement lays the legislative and policy foundations for a distinctive UK approach to fisheries management outside the Common Fisheries Policy.

PRESS RELEASE: Collaborative Fisheries Research

6 January 2022

The newly formed Fisheries Industry Science Partnership (FISP) Network, led by the Fishmongers' Company's Fisheries Charitable Trust, Fishing into the Future and the Fishing Animateurs, is encouraging the fishing industry to come forward with their ideas for scientific studies that address issues with data deficient fisheries and develop industry ideas that support the science used in decision-making in the UK.

Fisheries Agreements for 2022

23 December 2021

Fisheries agreements have been reached for 2022 with the EU and Norway.

6-12 mile Limit Licence Dispute

14 December 2021

The dispute over licences for EU vessels to fish within the UK 6-12-mile limit appears to be resolved, although whether this constrains the wilder rhetoric surrounding the issue remains to be seen.

High Profile Science Debunked: Trawling Carbon Impacts and MPA Benefits for Fisheries Food Production

10 December 2021

Major findings from two high profile scientific papers published in 2020 and 2021 on marine protected areas, fisheries food production and trawling carbon emissions generated by sediment disturbance have been comprehensively debunked.

Home & Dry – Stability Campaign

10 December 2021

The latest Home and Dry campaign, led by the Fishing Industry Safety Group, focuses on the issue of vessel stability.

Negotiations Approach Endgame

8 December 2021

Five separate strands within the complex intertwined negotiations for fisheries agreements for 2022 are approaching their endgames. There seems to be a determination by all parties to avoid the extended, painful, process witnessed earlier this year which stalled agreements for 2021 until 5 months into the year to which they apply.

Hilborn Eviscerates Flawed Report

22 November 2021

U.S fisheries scientist, Ray Hilborn has again applied his forensic approach to the latest “research” alleging global overfishing. We will let the man speak in his own words:

New Chairman for NFFO

15 November 2021

Longstanding member of the NFFO’s Executive Committee and vice-chairman of its South- East Committee, Paul Gilson, has been elected as the next chairman of the National Federation of Fishermen’s Organisation. He has also been chairman of Leigh and Southend Fisherman’s Association for many years. The NFFO chairman is appointed for two years before usually being elevated to the president’s role.

French Domestic Politics and Fishing

31 October 2021

It is simply not possible to satisfactorily explain the current turbulence between the UK and France over licences in fishing terms alone.

NFFO Announces new Deputy

28 October 2021

The NFFO is pleased to announce the appointment of its former Chairman, Mike Cohen, as the Federation’s Deputy Chief Executive.

Defence of Scallop Dredging

27 October 2021

The NFFO has written to the Prime Minister following recent comments made to a class of schoolchildren and broadcast on Twitter

Time to Stop Posturing

14 October 2021

A recent event in Lorient, Brittany, provided some insight into the main themes in post-Brexit fishing relations. The seminar mainly involved French fishing industry figures and fisheries administrators, with a smattering of other EU notables and a handful of participants from the UK fishing industry, including the NFFO.

NFFO Demands Transparency over TCA Deal

30 September 2021

The UK fishing industry was shocked at the scale of the UK’s capitulation on fishing on Christmas Eve, 2020. This was a decision made at the highest reaches of Government. And it was made, despite the promises, commitments and assurances made during the Referendum Campaign and throughout the negotiations with the EU. Additional quota shares secured from the EU came nowhere close to what any self-respecting coastal state might expect as their legal right. Access to fish in UK waters – a key bargaining lever in annual fisheries negotiations – was ceded to the EU for 6 years (at least). We even failed to secure an exclusive 12 mile limit, something that most coastal states take for granted.

100 million reasons to be careful: Fisheries Science Partnerships

24 September 2021

The NFFO has warned that the Government’s plans for spending the £100 million promised by the Prime Minister in the wake of the TCA fiasco in December 2020 to help regenerate the fishing industry, could be siphoned off – with little benefit for grass-roots fishermen.

Annual Fisheries Negotiations: Preparations for 2022 under way

21 September 2021

Only a few short months after the annual fisheries agreement for 2021 between the UK and EU was concluded, preparations are under way for talks about total allowable catches and associated rules which will apply in 2022.

Austin Mitchell MP

20 August 2021

The fishing industry in England never had a truer, more constant friend in Westminster than Austin Mitchell MP. His commitment to and interest in the fishing industry ran well beyond his constituency interests and lasted beyond his long career as MP for Great Grimsby. Austin was outraged by the UK’s acquiescence to the exploitative relationship on fisheries between the UK and the EEC in 1973 that lay at the heart of the Common Fisheries Policy from its origins. He was rightly suspicious that history would repeat itself in the negotiations leading to the Trade and Cooperation Agreement with the EU in December 2020. Austin played a significant part the industry’s titanic opposition to the UK Government's attempts to limit time at sea for every fishing vessel in the country, to meet EU fleet reduction targets on the cheap. His rousing speech was the centrepiece of a rally of 3000 fishermen gathered organised by the NFFO in Westminster Hall in July 1992. In hundreds of smaller struggles, and parliamentary debates, Austin was on our side. Gifted with an infection sense of fun, he was none-the-less an impassioned and eloquent parliamentary performer, always taking time to ensure his arguments were soundly based in fact. Sheer force of personality made him a unique and highly visible player in Westminster, even if his maverick political positions on a range of issues denied him the high office that his talents equipped him for.

The Trust Issue

12 August 2021

The NFFO takes stock 8 months after the Trade and Cooperation Agreement

HPMA Selection Process Rigged to Harm Fishing Communities

19 July 2021

The government’s process to select Highly Protected Marine Areas (HPMAs) needs a rethink. It is deliberately relegating human use issues to a second tier to be considered only once sites have been identified exclusively based on a set of ecological criteria. Instead, it should prioritise the search for sites that fulfil ecological criteria in areas where there are synergies with existing human uses of the marine environment.