The Commission’s first package on the reform of the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) includes some significant improvements, but is not the radical proposal that was expected. Most of the positive changes relate to the conservation aspects of the policy.
The proposal for a new basic Regulation makes the internationally agreed targets for the recovery of fish stocks – reaching levels above and beyond MSY by 2015 – a legal obligation and could see the end of overfishing in EU waters, if it receives the support from the European Parliament and the EU Member States. However, the proposal fails to adequately recognize the need for a healthy marine ecosystem as a prerequisite for viable fisheries and does not commit decisions on fishing opportunities to follow scientific advice.
It is also encouraging to see the emphasis on higher selectivity and that the proposal partially addresses the wasteful practice of discarding. The move towards catch quotas instead of landing quotas is a very positive one, but a full discard ban would have been better than the piece-meal approach taken by the Commission, applying the ban to only a few species. This will not address the bycatch of non-commercial species, nor tackle discarding of some species in mixed fisheries.
The most radical element of the proposal is the mandatory requirement to use transferable fishing concessions (TFCs) to regulate access to resources. While this may help to reduce overcapacity in the EU fleet, it is a blanket application of a single tool. TFCs are not a conservation tool, and will not ensure sustainable fisheries without a number of other measures, including strict fishing limits and a high level of control and enforcement.
The proposal also fails to ensure that capacity reduction is addressed in a qualitative way, i.e. that the most unsustainable and damaging vessels are removed from the fleet, unless it is carefully implemented together with access criteria promoting environmentally and socially responsible fishing.
TFCs should only ever be implemented within a framework of proper criteria and safeguards, rewarding those who fish in the most sustainable manner. As it stands now, it will be up to Member States to consider these aspects, while the application and time frame of the concessions are set out at EU level.
Finally, in terms of aquaculture, the promotion and development suggested by the Commission may lead to the same problems of over-establishment, environmental effects and poor profitability as in the catching sector. The reformed CFP must ensure that aquaculture develops to be a net producer of fish protein, and does not rely on or lead to the overexploitation of feed fisheries, if it is to contribute to future food security.
The proposed legislation has now been forwarded to the European Parliament and to the Council of Ministers for further negotiation and amendments, following the ordinary legislative procedure. The final result is not expected before mid-2013.
As one of the founding members of OCEAN2012 – an alliance of organisations dedicated to transforming European fisheries policy to stop overfishing, end destructive fishing practices and deliver fair and equitable use of healthy fish stocks – FISH will continue to engage in the process leading up to the final decision on CFP reform, together with our partners in the Baltic Sea region.
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Discusses agricultural technology in various cultures from the Stone Age to 476 A.D., including China, Egypt, Mesoamerica, and Greece.
Risk Management for Agriculture addresses the issue of price risk as a management function versus a marketing function. Price risks impact not only the marketing of a product but the cash flow and the overall financial health of the business. Derivatives such as futures contracts, options contracts, and swaps need to be viewed as tools that can be used individually or in combinations to control price risk. Each of these derivatives and subsequent combinations are examined closely and comprehensively within the text. Price forecasting is addressed as well as fundamentals of futures hedging and options hedging. A complete glossary of terms at the end of the text to help reinforce the terms that are used throughout. Although price risk is the focus of the text, there is also a chapter devoted to the management of other agricultural risks. Students and professionals will benefit from this text that takes a comprehensive, management approach to price risk.
Maynard Murray was a medical doctor who researched the crucial importance of minerals - especially trace elements - to plants and animals. Beginning in 1938 and continuing through the 1950s, Dr. Murray used sea solids - mineral salts remaining after water is evaporated from ocean water - as fertilizer on a variety of vegetables, fruits and grains. His extensive experiments demonstrated repeatedly and conclusively that plants fertilized with sea solids and animals fed sea-solid-fertilized feeds grow stronger and more resistant to disease. 
This is a story of resistance against all odds, of Cuba's remarkable recovery from a food crisis brought on by the collapse of trade relations with the former socialist bloc and the tightening of the U.S. embargo. Unable to import either food or the farm chemicals and machines needed to grow it via conventional agriculture, Cuba turned inward toward self-reliance. Sustainable agriculture, organic farming, urban gardens, smaller farms, animal traction and biological pest control are part of the successful paradigm shift underway in the Cuban countryside. In this book Cuban authors offer details-for the first time in English-of these remarkable achievements, which may serve as guideposts toward healthier, more environmentally friendly and self-reliant farming in countries both North and South.