Fishing for Litter to cover entire Swedish coastline

Litter is still one of the main environmental problems that effects marine environments today. Fishing for Litter (FFL) is a project that started in 2005 in Scotland that aims to directly remove garbage from the sea but at the same time raising awareness to stakeholders, the public and the packing industry.

The project has grown since 2005 and has expanded to South West England, the Netherlands and the Baltic Sea. Fishing For Litter is creative in that it directly involves the fishing industry. Fishing boats are provided with bags, which they then fill with garbage that ends up in their fishing gear. When they are full, these bags are deposited on land. The garbage is then sorted, weighed and collected for disposal.

Fishing for Litter launched in three Swedish ports in autumn 2011 in cooperation with the Foundation Keep Sweden Tidy, and as of April 2012 FFL goal was to cover the entire Swedish Coastline. Presently, 13 harbors and 46 boats are involved. So far over 7 tonnes of garbage have been landed and about 56% of it is plastic. FFL in Sweden also arranges conferences, seminars and different exhibitions to constantly inform stakeholders and the public about the ongoing issue of marine litter.

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EU Fisheries Ministers decide on TACs for 2013

Last night Fisheries Ministers finally reached an agreement on TACs for 2013. Although a compromise agreement was reached which aims at putting the majority of fish stocks at an exploitation rate in line with Maximum Sustainable yield by 2015, TACs for many fish stocks were still set higher than proposed by the Commission, which largely followed scientific advice.

For many stocks the agreed reductions in TACs are not sufficient to ensure recovery or sustainable exploitation rates as recommended by scientific advice, particularly for North Sea cod stocks, haddock in Faroese waters and West of Scotland, southern hake in Iberian waters, sole in the Irish Sea and Bay of Biscay, and Norway lobster in Bay of Biscay and Western Iberian Seas.

For stocks which have a lack of scientific advice but show decreasing trends, the Council decided on a 5% reduction, a much smaller reduction for many stocks than proposed by the Commission or advised by scientists for precautionary purposes.

It is positive to see that the Council seems to take the international obligations to reach MSY by 2015 seriously. However, for far too many stocks TACs continue to be set at much higher levels than what is recommended by scientists.

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FISH moves to new premises

The Fisheries Secretariat (FISH) will be moving to a new office later this week.

From 20 December, FISH staff can be found in a new office on Prastgatan 9 in Gamla Stan in Stockholm. This may limit our availability over the next few days, but by the beginning of the new year we should be up and running as normal again!

Please amend your contact details for us.

Our new address is:

Prastgatan 9
SE-111 29 Stockholm
Sweden

Phone: +46 8 250790

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North Sea cod recovery plan shelved?

Ministers agreed a roll-over of Black Sea catch limits today, despite continued problems with illegal fishing of turbot. They also came to an agreement that essentially scraps the 2008 cod recovery plan which is widely judged to be ineffective.

The Fisheries Council meeting that began today will discuss the 2013 fishing opportunities for the majority of stocks in EU waters. An agreement was reached on quotas for some Black Sea stocks and on the future management of cod stocks in the North Sea.

In the Black Sea, only sprat and turbot are regulated through EU annual fishing opportunities and the quotas are shared between Romania and Bulgaria. The Council agreed on a roll-over of the 2012 quotas for both stocks, going against the Commission’s proposed reduction for turbot (COM 74 tonnes; Council 86,4 tonnes). There are problems with illegal and unreported landings in the Black Sea turbot fishery, and the Council has earlier agreed on measures to reinforce control and monitoring in the region.

The Council also came to an agreement on the future management of North Sea cod stocks, discussing proposed amendments to the long-term management plan that has been in place since 2008. The objectives set out in the plan have not been reached and recent evaluation by STECF (2011) has shown that it is flawed and ineffective, unlikely to deliver even by 2015. The fishery is also still riddled by high levels of bycatch and discarding.

The Council’s discussions were focused on the two main measures to limit fishing: effort and total allowable catches. The automatic reductions of both as long as stocks fail to recover were rejected today, essentially scrapping the recovery plan. This was seen as a great success by the UK government, as well as the Scottish industry.

The discussions will continue over the coming days. Ministers still have to agree on fishing limits for the majority of EU stocks for 2013, including cod, haddock, hake, sole and Norway lobster.

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Skagerrak discard ban report presented in PECH

When the report on the Skagerrak discard ban was discussed for the first time in the Parliament Fisheries Committee on 17 December, MEPs raised issues in both the report and the Commission’s proposal on possible increases in TACs, control systems and minimum conservation reference sizes.

On Monday the 17 December, the report on the Discard ban in theSkagerrakwas presented in the PECH Committee in the European Parliament. The German MEP Kuhn presented his report and the Committee members gave comments and raised questions to the Commission about the proposal. The discussion mainly focused on the issues of raised quotas under a discard ban, control via CCTV systems to be mandatory or not, and harmonisation of minimum conservation reference sizes.

It became clear that there are concerns in the Committee about the report from Kuhn, as well as the principal proposal from the Commission.  Commission also said that they themselves had questions on unclarities in the Kuhn report and amendments and that this needed to be sorted out in bilateral discussions with the rapporteur.

Upon questions raised, the Commission answered and admitted that some parts of the text is unclear and needs to be changed. For example, regarding article 3 on exemptions from discards and whether this is up the fishermen to decide depending on chances of survival. Such species should be evaluated and via delegated acts be exempt from the discard ban and not be up to the fishermen.

The current timeline for this legislation:

1. Date for amendments: January 9 (to be confirmed)
2. Vote in PECH committee:  18/02/2013
3. Indicative plenary date, 1st reading:  12/03/2013
4. Implemented by January 2014 at the earliest

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Fisheries Committee shows leadership on Common Fisheries Policy

The European Parliament Fisheries Committee (PECH) has adopted the Rodust (S&D, DE) report on the CFP reform basic regulation, along with a number of amendments which will improve the long-term sustainability of fish stocks.

Votes on restoring fish stocks above MSY levels went through (amendment 2), with fourteen MEPs in favour and nine against. If this is supported at plenary and by the Council, all European fish stocks will be managed so that by 2015 “fishing mortality rates are set at levels that should allow fish stocks to recover, by 2020 at the latest, above levels that are capable of producing the maximum sustainable yield”. All recovered stocks should then continue to be managed within this framework.

Moreover, policies were adopted which aim to assess and eliminate fishing overcapacity (amendment 55). These will require Member States to provide annual capacity assessments which demonstrate that their fleet is in line with the available fishing opportunities. A mismatch would force Member States to submit plans to the European institutions on how to overcome this, and non-compliance could lead to subsidy funds being withheld.

A discard ban for all harvested species (amendment 32) was also supported by the committee. This will be implemented in three phases, beginning in 2014 and concluding three years later.

There was also good news for small-scale fishermen, with the amendment calling for them to be given preferential access to fish resources being voted through (amendment 20). Transferable fishing concessions (TFCs) were also limited to a maximum of 12 years, makes them voluntary, and limits their application to EU waters (amendment 48).

PECH has not always seen as a sustainable committee, with some MEPs criticised for being beholden to specific vested interest groups. However, a sea-change has taken place during recent years, with science and sustainability now being used as a cornerstone for decision-making by a majority of committee members. Chris Davies (ALDE, UK) was delighted with the committee, stating that “(I) can hardly believe how well the votes are going on fisheries reform. Clear majorities for sustainable policies.”

Ulrike Rodust was in celebratory mood after the vote and declared that “in plenary, I expect a large majority, the negotiations with the Council! I’m excited!” While Isabella Lovin (Greens/EFA, SE) thought it was a “fantastic outcome in PECH committee! We won ending to overfishing, discard ban for all harvested species and protected areas!!”

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Basic regulation compromise amendments agreed

The Fisheries Committee (PECH) has moved a step closer to finalising its position on the CFP reform basic regulation. 104 compromise amendments have been agreed by the political groups on the Rodust (S&D, DE). The vote will take place on 18 December.

Initially, over 2500 amendments had been proposed by members of the committee. The political groups have since been negotiating amongst themselves compromises, for when different MEPs have suggested amendments to similar areas of the Commission proposals.

How the Fisheries Committee votes often acts as a weathervane for the entire Parliament, as they are the MEPs in their party group who specialise on fisheries issues and thus influence their colleagues. Therefore their position will likely provide an indication as to how the plenary will vote in February or March next year.

Key issues will be what date is set for MSY in terms of reducing fishing mortality (F) and reaching a target population size (B), priority access to low impact fishing vessels, the discard ban and capacity measures.

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