Do you know your fish?

How well do you know your fish?

To Morrison's fishmonger - that's what it says on the label - this is not cod - c'mon Morrison's!

Spotted for sale on the wet fish counter in Peterhead, the UK's top fishing port.

Immediate response from one blog reader:
@ThroughTheGaps absolutely amazing. I don't know if a man can laugh or cry!

Through the Gpas supports John's Fish Fight - John's Fish Fight which has been set up to encourage the consumer to eat more Scottish Haddock. Ocean Venture's haddock are MSC, with full traceability straight from the North Sea.

Despite the public being led to believe that there are no cod left in the North Sea, the boat is currently experiencing very heavy cod fishing...

one of the boats featured in the Trawlermen series on the BBC, this shot shows her fishroom literally full to the deck with cod - after only a few days at sea.

Farewell to my industry - a letter from the heart

26 February, 2013 - Editor’s Note:

The following is a letter from Mike Lindquist, industry veteran and long time friend of Diversified Business Communications, publisher of SeafoodSource and SeaFood Business. 



Pure and simple, I am going to miss you; the wildness, the half million dollar deals with a verbal PO, the "Drink Like A Fish" parties, watching our baby industry grow up and friendships that began 35 years ago.



In the summer of 1978, I got "the phone call" from a close college friend working on a salmon processor in Bristol Bay. If I could be at Clark's Point on Bristol Bay within 24 hours, he had a job waiting for me on the salmon processor. I was 19 years old and the great adventure, within the industry that I became deeply committed to, had begun.



I worked for six springs and summers leaving Seattle on salmon and herring processing vessels, primarily the Aleutian Dragon plying the waters between Cold Bay and Norton sound, paying my way through college. The wildness, opportunities and great money steered me to Japanese studies and international marketing at the University of Oregon between seasons. My internship was in Tokyo and I graduated with only the seafood industry in focus.



I landed my dream job at Washington Fish and Oyster (Ocean Beauty Corporate). I had great mentors for the fast paced Alaskan production of fresh and frozen that we moved throughout the USA, Japan and Europe. A few years later I was offered a great opportunity with JJ Camillo in San Diego and had the privilege of working for Maurice Camillo, one of the true gentleman of our industry. He and his close-knit group of business buddies, schooled me on reputation, integrity, and setting your sights high.


It's been an industry that I have embraced; the smell of fish is the smell of money. I've had the opportunity to watch my friends go from salesmen to company owners and leaders and small companies become giant multinationals.



Recently I was diagnosed with stage 4 melanoma and a very short life expectancy. The seafood industry has been my world, and as I say goodbye I would like to give you my bucket list:

 
 1. Shun the scum in our industry; starve them out of business and say good riddance. In order for our industry to play even, we need the rotten apples discarded. 

2. Make the various NGOs accountable to you rather than accountable to them. Their methods, testing and certification needs to be standardized.

  3. Create national marketing for seafood in a team effort across all fisheries to move our industry to a more highly visible protein sector.

  4. Embrace our industry, get involved, enjoy all of it as it's one of the few truly ever-changing markets that is sometimes crazy, full of opportunities and on the rise.


I have decided to spend the remaining time with my family; to travel with them, make great meals together, drink good wine and enjoy each day. I am hoping you also can include some this while you perfect the “art of the
deal” in your busy world.



Best Fishes,

Michael Lindquist

- See more at: http://www.seafoodsource.com/newsarticledetail.aspx?id=19664#sthash.1zSxmTX8.dpuf

Less than 1%? - get your facts right HFF!

Marine Protected Areas (MPAs)

With a Coastline of over 12,000 km the UK has a large marine area, rich in marine life and natural resource. The UK Government vision is for ‘clean, healthy, safe, productive and biologically diverse oceans and seas’ and to this effect the UK has signed up to international agreements that aim to establish an ‘ecologically coherent’ network of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs).

In the UK, MPAs have primarily been set up to help conserve or recover nationally significant or representative examples of marine biodiversity, including threatened or declining species and habitats of European and national importance.

Currently, 7.8% of UK waters out to the 200 nautical mile fishery limit (or median line, as applicable) have some form of protection under Natura 2000 designation.

The current proposed new sites would raise that figure to just over 22%, with the likelihood that more will come later as the data improves and objectives are clarified.

Our map below shows the areas already protected and are proposed as part of this first tranche proposal.

For data, maps and more information look on the Seafish web site.

Become a Vessel Tracker antenna partner - free, for life!

vesseltracker.com is currently looking for Antenna Partners to help enhance global AIS coverage. 

Antenna Partners receive a list of ongoing benefits. All you need is a 24/7 internet connection and a location close to an ocean, port or waterway.

Up for an award - Pirate Fishing Exposed: Video

Pirate Fishing Exposed - The Fight against Illegal Fishing in West Africa and the EU (4 minute) from Environmental Justice Foundation on Vimeo.

Sierra  Leone, a small coastal state in West Africa, has seen a dramatic drop in Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) or 'pirate' Fishing following a groundbreaking investigation by UK-­‐based NGO Environmental Justice Foundation. 

During the dramatic two-­‐year investigation set out in the new report Exposing Pirate Fishing, EJF documented rampant illegal fishing in Sierra Leone by vessels exporting fish to the EU. 

EJF  has been working in partnership with local fishermen in Sierra Leone since the beginning of 2010 to document and report illegal fishing. The  groundbreaking project based near the rich fishing grounds of Sherbro Island in the south of the country, involves local fishermen calling an EJF coordinator on a mobile phone when they witness trawlers fishing illegally. A speedboat boat is then deployed so that photo, video and GPS evidence of the boats' illegal activities can be gathered.

Read EJF's new report about illegal pirate fishing, find out more on www.ejfoundation.org
and Sign out to our petition!

Pirate Fishing film by EJF, @AJEnglish and @grainmedia nominated for an@RTS_media award http://bit.ly/VzeVlM 

This film by EJF exposes the continued role of the European Union and East Asian countries in facilitating a market for seafood illegally caught in West Africa. Following a two-year investigation by EJF this film and the associated report “Pirate Fishing Exposed” highlights how local fishing communities are fighting back to combat this illegal trade.

Through the Net - French Subtitle from Environmental Justice Foundation on Vimeo.

Will Reform Finally End The Plunder of Europe’s Fisheries?

Maria Damanaki, Europe’s crusading fisheries minister, is making major headway in changing a cozy, “old boys” network that over-subsidized the European fishing industry and brought about the severe overfishing of the continent’s marine bounty.

European Parliament/Pietro Naj-Oleari

“We need to change our policy if we want to continue to eat fish,” said Maria Damanaki, EU Commissioner for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries.

In recent decades, European fisheries policy has been a slowly unfolding environmental disaster. Pumped up by tens of billions of euros in European Union subsidies, fishing fleets ballooned to 100,000 vessels, including many industrial-scale ships that severely depleted waters in Europe and beyond.

The goal was to prop up a politically powerful fishing industry — regardless of scientific warnings that fish stocks were in peril — and the results have been predictable. Numerous studies have shown that roughly 80 to 90 percent of many European fish stocks are being fished unsustainably. In the Mediterranean Sea, for example, scientists reported last year that 52 of 65 fish stocks are in critical decline. The situation has deteriorated so severely that from 1995 to 2010, fish landings in the EU fell from 8 million to 5 million metric tons.

Now, however, serious reforms are being launched, thanks to Maria Damanaki — a crusading EU Commissioner for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries — and alarm and outrage in the European Parliament. The parliament voted earlier this month to back Damanaki’s key reforms, including reducing catch quotas to sustainable levels; cutting subsidies and targeting them at fisheries that stay within the so-called “maximum sustainable yield”; ending the practice of fishing boats discarding a quarter of their catch, as they toss back less desirable species for more profitable ones; and tightening up woefully lax or non-existent enforcement of fisheries regulations. Earlier this week, fisheries ministers from member states met in Brussels and accepted some of Damanaki’s proposed changes.

European Parliament/Pietro Naj-Oleari “We need to change our policy if we want to continue to eat fish,” said Maria Damanaki, EU Commissioner for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries. “What we had in the past was an aggressive policy against fish stocks, the oceans, and the environment,” Damanaki said in an interview with Yale Environment 360. “We need to change our policy if we want to continue to eat fish.”

Joining Damanaki in the push for a radical overhaul of EU fisheries policies have been two powerful women in the European Parliament — Ulrike Rodust, a Social Democrat from Germany, and Isabella Lövin, a Green Party member from Sweden. “Damanaki, Rodust, and Lövin are the three strong women behind fisheries reform,” says Rainer Froese, a prominent marine biologist with the Geomar-Helmholtz-Center for Ocean Research in Germany. “Without them, the reform would not have happened. The old boys networks [of fishery interests] would have prevailed. The proposal by the EU parliament marks a historic watershed of fisheries management. Finally, Europe is on its way to implementing sustainable, healthy, and profitable fisheries.”

Though momentum is clearly on the side of Damanaki and the reformers, the battle is far from over. In the coming weeks, the parliament; the Council of Europe, composed of the EU’s 27 member states; and the EU Commission will attempt to forge a joint strategy. The parliament wants to introduce a ban of discards starting in 2014. It sets 2015 as a deadline for managing fish stocks within the bounds of “maximum sustainable yield,” with the aim of beginning to regenerate fish stocks by 2020.

“I’m very confident that we can agree on a text in the first half of 2013,” says Damanaki.

But the thicket of European bureaucracy, coupled with powerful push-back from fishing interests in European countries already experiencing widespread unemployment, guarantees a battle to weaken Damanaki’s and the Parliament’s proposed reforms.

There’s “a great risk that the ambitious decisions by the European Parliament are being watered down by the friends of overfishing in the council of member states, for example Spain and France,” says Thilo Maack, oceans and biodiversity campaigner at Greenpeace Germany.

“The Council has been much more reluctant to embrace change, so we look towards the Parliament to hold the line and fight hard in the negotiations,” Pushback from fishing interests guarantees efforts will be made to water down reforms. says Uta Bellion, director of the European Marine Program of the Pew Charitable Trust. She notes that reforms will be considered by the very same ministers who “are greatly to blame for the current state of EU fisheries.” But she is confident that Damanaki will be able to push through major changes. “Her tireless engagement for ambitious reform has been a door-opener for change,” says Bellion.

Since taking office in 2010, Damanaki — a former left-wing politician in Greece who was arrested and tortured while helping lead an uprising against Greece’s military junta in 1973 — has built on rising public demand for a departure from past fisheries policies. Virtually all major environmental groups active in the EU — including Greenpeace, the Pew Environment Group, and WWF — have battled for reforms, joined by prominent chefs like the UK’s Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and Germany’s Tim Mälzer.


Background reading on the state of MPAs around the oceans make for interesting reading.


“If you look at the common [EU] fisheries policy, it is a colossal failure,” Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson, president of Iceland, which has yet to join the EU, said last month at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. “It is paradoxical that we [Europeans] present ourselves as the most enlightened policy leaders while in our backyard in the last 40 years there has been a colossal destruction of fish stocks.”

As the EU shoveled billions of Euros of subsidies to the continent’s fishing fleets to build new boats, regulators also set quotas for allowable catches at a level 40 percent higher than scientists had recommended, according to Ulrike Rodust, the chief negotiator for fisheries for the European Parliament. Stocks of famed species such as giant bluefin tuna plummeted, as did swordfish, mackerel, cod, hake, and dozens of other species from the North Sea to the Mediterranean. A 2012 EU report estimated that 78 percent of the continent’s fish stocks were overfished.

One of Damanaki’s first observations upon taking office was that European governing institutions were not responding to the public outcry about Damanaki wants to ban the widespread practice of throwing unwanted fish back into the sea. over-fishing but were largely concerned with making the owners of large, industrial fishing vessels happy. “When I took office, only the owners of big vessels were represented in Brussels,” she recalled. “It was one of the first fights to bring representatives from small vessels, which operate more sustainably, into our advisory councils.”

Current subsidies to the fishing industry in the EU are 1.9 billion Euros ($2.48 billion) annually, complemented by 1.4 ($1.83) billion Euros in exemptions from fuel taxes. These are considerably smaller than in the past, as fishing fleets have been wildly overbuilt and are chasing far fewer fish. Today, the EU has 83,000 vessels, far more than can fish Europe’s waters sustainably.

Damanaki wants to enact laws and regulations requiring fisheries managers to rigorously follow the advice from scientists such as those from the International Consortium for the Exploration of the Seas (ICES), a multilateral scientific body that carries out stock assessments. She is seeking a ban on the widespread practice of throwing unwanted fish back into the sea dead. This practice, called discarding, has led to the waste of 1.7 million tons per year, almost a quarter of the total catch, according to EU estimates. Damanaki also has pushed for reducing the large subsidies and has asked that future payments be tied to even stricter sustainable practices.

At first, the fishing industry staunchly opposed Damanaki’s reforms. Now, however, fishing interests, which are facing determined political opposition, are taking a more constructive approach. The industry “shares the Commission’s concern that sustainability be at the heart of the future Common Fisheries Policy,” Javier Garat, president of the trade group Europeche, wrote to the president of the EU Parliament in early February. But he said the industry opposes “the radical aim to ban the practice of fish discards and the obligation to register and to land all caught species” starting from 2014, because it foresees massive storage problems when fishermen bring back all the fish caught and not just the species they were seeking. The objective of achieving maximum sustainable yield levels by 2015, is “too rigid and unrealistic,” according to Garat.

Damanaki says she wants to be seen as somebody who cares about fishermen and the fishing industry, too. “If we have their cooperation then implementing the reform will be much easier,” she said, noting that the A 2012 EU report estimated that 78 percent of the continent’s fish stocks were overfished. industry understands that it has little future if overfishing continues.

“In my country, there was a lot of irresponsible spending,” said Damanaki, referring to her native Greece, “and what we do with the oceans is similar — the fish is our capital and we are spending it too fast. I want to make sure we have money in the bank in the future.”

A key point of contention is discards. If fishermen are no longer allowed to throw unwanted fish back into the ocean, this affects the whole production chain. The industry wants to postpone the ban, due to go into effect in 2014. The commissioner says that she is open to phase the ban in incrementally, but not to postpone it. “I am sure that we will see a lot of smart solutions once the ban is in effect,” she said. “There will be larger storage facilities for fish that are landed and new ways to commercialize formerly unwanted fish.” Less valued species could be used for food for aquaculture, she said, or sold to countries like China, where fish unwanted by Europeans are often seen as a delicacy.

Battles over reductions in subsidies also are inevitable. “We can’t spend money any more just to build bigger vessels, send them in the oceans and they have nothing to fish there,” Damanaki says. She wants EU money given specifically to smaller, locally owned vessels and used to buy more selective fishing gear that avoids catching unwanted species.

MORE FROM YALE e360 The Unfulfilled Promise of the World’s Marine Protected Areas

Biologists and conservationists maintain that establishing marine reserves offers the best hope for recovery for our overstressed oceans, Bruce Barcott writes. So why is such a small area of the world's oceans protected?

READ MORE Another challenge is to coordinate enforcement of the new fisheries laws, which is largely carried out by member states. “If the decisions are not followed up on a member-state level, all the ambitious targets were in vain,” says Greenpeace campaigner Thilo Maack. He wants countries that don’t follow the new rules to be harshly punished and excluded from the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund, which doles out subsidies. Experts say that a sizeable number of vessels will need to be scrapped.

Finally, Damanaki and the EU Parliament want to make sure that tougher laws in the EU don’t exacerbate an already destructive trend — European vessels grossly overfishing waters in the developing world, as has been happening off of Africa.

Conservationists are generally optimistic that Damanaki and her allies can, at last, fix Europe's badly broken fisheries system. Biologist Rainer Froese said numerous fights lie ahead, but that “it will not be an uphill battle anymore, as it was in the past.”

Article courtesy of by Christian Schwägerl

Norwegian fi sheries management, our approach on discard of fi sh

The point of this report is to highlight the need for an integrated and flexible approach to managing mixed fisheries - which in the case of many UK fisheries are extremely mixed.

Sustainable management of modern fisheries:

The management of modern fisheries has a number of objectives. The most basic 
objective, upon which the others must be based, is to manage the fisheries in such a way that the fish resources can be sustained at a viable level both biologically and economically. In order to achieve a sustainable harvest, the Norwegian management of living marine resources is based on the best available scientific advice. The International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) plays a critical role in assembling and analysing information about the status of fish stocks and the provision of scientific advice on management measures.

Your fishing industry needs your help.

A wee something in DEFRA's inbox....I await a reply !


We are now paying a very high price for fuel (up 8p since December) and are receiving the lowest prices for cod, haddock and other species for many years(down approx. 30%). Along with quota leasing costs, misleading tv chefs and the huge amount of imports coming into this country the fleets are now balancing on the edge of unviability.

With freedom of speech there is little can be done with a spouting cook, nor with the current CFP and quota system can there be a quick fix on quota leasing, BUT there is a way the British government can stand up for the industry that they have brushed aside for years..... Raise the levy or import tax on foreign fish imports. Norway has increased it's quota for cod so much in northern Norway that they are managing to deliver cod to the fish yards of Britain via the Humber for less than it costs us to lease the quota to catch them. 

It costs Scottish fishermen approx. £1.80/kg to lease cod quota, then you have fuel, food, equipment, commission, landing dues, levies, all on top of this before even trying to get a wage for the crew. Norway can deliver cod for £1.60/kg undercutting the market and making it unviable for UK fishermen to land them at the current price we receive. The same is to be said of haddock from Iceland and Faroe. 

These countries have shown no respect to the EU regarding the mackerel stock which they are now fishing against all scientific and ICES advice, but the sanctions you have threatened them with have never been enforced.

Help your fishing industry now... Enforce the sanctions on Iceland and Faroe and increase the tax on imports.

Robert Buchan John A Buchan

More responses to HFF from North of the border!

Roger Harrabin the BBC environment correspondent quote "A big task to restock the oceans after more than 100 years of destructive industrial fishing" Who has supplie this information to this very mislead man, what a silly statement to make, what a frustrating battle we have against these misguided individuals but we must win, this tells the british public that we are industrial pirates with no fish left and we must be stopped, we are family run boats mostly and we will not tolerate these statements making us out to be sea rapers,, Chaz

in Hugh Fearneley Whittingstall,s 1st programme he played a game on the beach called "the fully protected game".hugh stated only 0.001% of the UK waters were fully protected the word "fully"is very important here in scottish waters there is many areas closed off to fishing ie west of scotland wind sock(more than 12years closed) coral edges around rockall/scottish haddock box sw of rockall.long hole we also have 3 month seasonal closures in place at papa bank/coral edge/stanhope, to add to these closure,s there are 10 realtime closures every month,last year there was 173 rtc,s closed thats nearly 9000sq miles of fishing grounds its self,then we have 5 new marine protected areas that were put in place last year which are.antorn dohrn seamounts/east rockall bank/pobie bank/solan bank reef and the hatton bank mpa which is a massive 15.694 sq miles its self,if you were to add up all these closures up you have quite a few sq miles close off to fishing...and deepwater fisherman who have fished the west coast of scotland for many years look like getting a ban on trawling in the deep water... hugh uses the word"fully" saying that because a angler can cast a line or a lad can shot a creel then in these area,s then they are not fully protected....complete rubbish ..what is Hugh real deluded agenda because it looks very antifishing to me............jc

Krill con!

Davie Tait ‏@DavieTait

Aye don't let the TRUTH get in the way of a Greenpeace campaign eh HFW??#fishfight #trawlermen #HFWtellsLIES

This is what fishermen are up against! - How Marine Protected Areas can devastate a fishing community!

Please anyone involved with the bay and the fishing industry around this area tell us how it will affect you post it on here and we will put all your points forward HAVE YOUR SAY NOW! tell your friends! hurry we only have until the 31st of march!!!!

The fishermen of Hythe bay and the local areas have been trying to work with balanced seas so we can have marine protected zones in place to safe guard the future of our grounds and fish stocks. But now it has come to light that the rich fishing grounds that we were willing to give up for help in this project have been ignored. Now the proposed zones put forward by the wildlife trust are being considered. The problem with these zones are they just shut off big local areas which the local fishermen rely on to make a living. These proposed zones also contain no science that they need any recovery,in fact the science behind the species recommended for protection within the site their numbers have increased over the year. This then leads to the question why do we need such zones that show no signs of recovery needed? Why do we need such zones that shuts off so much ground to fishermen that rely on them. Why can't the real stakeholders (the fishermen) have a real say on where these zones should be placed, after all we know the grounds better than anyone else. We have worked hard and many of us have given up our free time to help with this project, taken our time to come up with zones that not only protect the grounds in the best way but have taken in to consideration that the local fishermen rely on there local grounds to survive which I think is a consideration that has been over looked by the rest of the groups involved with balanced sea.

This will affect more than just fishermen, we are just the tip of the iceberg if we fold its a knock on affect for fish mongers, nets makers, commercial refrigeration, delivery drivers etc all the way down the chain to the consumer, as we will have to import fish from overs sea. fish that comes from 6 miles off our shore at higher prices. so if you have a fish restaurant or a net maker ect or you just love eating local fish please tell us your thoughts this will affect you! write to your mps NOW! http://www.writetothem.com/

Malcolm Gosman ......As a fisherman from Ramsgate Hythe Bay and the surrounding area has become an important fishery for me now as the fishing grounds around the Thanet coast line are getting beyond the point of not being viable to fish because of all the wind-farms now erected, there are now in excess of 400 turbines now and that is a lot of ground gone for ever! as for marine protected zones there all right on paper but in practice that's another thing, the only people who no the grounds are the fisherman themselves but as usual we are not heard because we're nothing more than a nuisance they say they listen but they don't! there are so many implications to think of the main one safety! vessels will have to go further to fish which with a small boat is not always best! so for me I'm for and against MCZ's there all right but there needs to be a bit of fair play and for once sit round the table and listen to the people that know the fisherman.

Save the Fishermen of Hythe Bay 400 turbines......i wonder if Hugh has allowed for that in his 0.001%?! Somehow i doubt it, and there's dozens of windfarms like that and bigger around the coast, does anyone know exactly how many there is? They must shut off hundreds of square miles off our fishing grounds...

Paul Beresford

At the last meeting with the MMO the scientific evidence showed that.in the last ten years the spoon worm had increased from 800 per sq meter to 1400 per sq meter. Every one at the meeting agreed that fishing was obviously not affecting these burrowing creatures in any way. They then said they wanted to use this area as a point off interest to see what might grow there if left alone.This area gets changed by wind and tide regular and being so shallow its doubtful nothing will grow. 

Why are these people using our bay and our lively hoods as an experiment? We all agreed on several small areas which we would be interested in seeing what would happen. But as usual they want the whole area. Also we offered them from Dover to Folkestone to three miles out. 

But it seems they only want our best fishing areas!

Julie Girling, MEP fisheries representative for the South West

Latest tweet from Julie Girling on fishing in Brussels:

Julie Girling @juliegirling

News Fisheries Council sounds good but the devil is in the detail. watering down of discard ban will be vigorously opposed by EP in trilogue.

See Julie's web site for more information and contact details - as your regional MEP, let her know how you feel - she is their to represent the fishing industry in the region - make use of her contacts and position!

Julie is a member of the EU Fisheries Council - here is her stance on the industry. If you have any thoughts or comments, let her know!

Save Our Seas

As a member of the Fisheries Committee, I am fully aware of the dreadful situation regarding discards and am working to make sure the new Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) brings to an end fisheries management rules which force fisherman to discard immature or out-of-quota fish or else face prosecution, which in many cases in unavoidable.

Of course, with the reform of the CFP due to take place one of the most important issues for our fisherman is to end the current discards debacle. This process results in 750,000 tonnes of healthy fish being dumped back into the sea annually in EU waters. The European Commission has recognised that fish discards must be brought to an end and the European Fisheries Commissioner, Maria Damanaki, has expressed her desire to end this preposterous activity.

However, the Commission has admitted it may take more than a decade to implement this policy. This is simply not good enough and we will work closely with skippers, fisheries managers, scientists, environmentalists and fellow members of the European Parliament to bring forward plans to replace the ludicrous rules.

In the South West we have a number of innovative practices amongst fisherman such as the Brixham Beam Trawlers where discards have been reduced by 50%. Commissioner Damanaki is very impressed with these results and has committed to review the CFP with small fisheries in mind

Watch Julie talking about 'The Big Fish Fight' HERE

Watch Julie discussing fisheries issues HERE


Fisheries and the ECR

Our manifesto commitments for Fisheries. We will:

• Fight for wholesale reform of the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) to make it more efficient, and address the failings of the current policy. 
• Encourage sustainable practices so that they benefit both the environment and those whose livelihood depends upon the industry. 
• Give communities a greater say over the future of their fishing industries, enabling those with specific knowledge of the local fisheries sector to provide input into fisheries policy and take charge of their own local resources. 
• Bring an end to the scandal of fish discards. Take forward the marine and Coastal access act and ensure that its conservation measures are implemented effectively, including the creation of marine conservation zones. Firmly oppose any resumption of commercial whaling and do all we can to ensure that the international moratorium stays in place.

Bugaled Breizh - the Silent Killer - a film at The Centre, Newlyn

A film about the loss of the Breton trawler Bugaled Breizh that sank in inknown circumstances south of the Lizard just over nine years ago.

The film is bing shown at the following ports:

• Newquay 3rd March

• Newlyn 4th March

• Porthleven 6th March

• Looe 7th March

The facts Hugh got wrong on his programme about fishing

Published on Wednesday 20 February 2013 11:45

I have just watched Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s TV programme, Fish Fight.

Whilst I agree fundamentally with what he’s trying to do, I disagree with the way he’s going about it.

He has a few ‘facts’ wrong.

Firstly: The ground shown at the start of the show was a rocky area hardly likely ever to have been fished by scallopers.

The second ground was flat and sandy, exactly the sort of place scallopers do fish.

The flora and fauna on the first ground cannot grow on the second type of ground as most of the weed, coral and fern type animals require a rocky base for anchorage; they would not get a foothold on sand or gravel so cannot grow there.

This means that this type of ground always looks barren. It isn’t barren by any means as it is full of worms, prawns, crabs, razor-shells and small flat fish and their various predators, most of which will bury themselves as soon as they perceive a threat, such as a couple of noisy divers who are looking for them.

There is no way that the second ground would ever look like the first. That is like comparing a flat field to a rocky outcrop, totally different topology and therefore totally different ecology.

Secondly; HFW infers that scallopers and beam trawlers do this type of damage to all the seas around the coast of Britain.

This is not true as most scallop fisheries are very localised and make the most of flattish areas, not rocky coasts, which dominate the British coastline.

Scallops do not occur everywhere and the Dover soles and Plaice caught by the beam trawls are migratory and move in and out of areas according to seasonal changes and their breeding cycles. So trawlers are A) not fishing in the same areas all the time and B) not fishing absolutely everywhere at any time.

Thirdly; The circus side-show type ‘demonstration’ he performed at Weston Super-Mare was ridiculous and so unscientific as to be farcical.

But it had the effect he wanted, shock and horror! What a pity he didn’t do something more realistic, still as shocking and horrific but more true to life.

Like following a real set of scallop gear over some of the rocky terrain he wrongly claimed they fish on.

To see the gear being smashed to pieces, tow-pipes bent in half and tooth blades ripped from the frames would hopefully let the public see just how hard it is to make a living from the sea in the first place without having an ill-informed, opinionated TV star trying to gain notoriety a la Jamie Oliver and his assault on school meals!

Also; Much of the fishing happens well away from coastal areas in deeper waters where there is little light at depth and almost no flora at all, so corals and ferns do not grow there and all of the fauna is predatory upon other fauna which is unfortunate enough to be smaller.

Shoals of fish will pass over these grounds on their way to feed or spawn but none stay there all year round.

This results in large areas of the seabed having no fish at all. Many areas will only be populated by certain species at certain times as feeding and spawning grounds and they are dependent upon a supply of whatever that species of fish feeds on.

Much of the phyto- and zoo-plankton at the bottom of the food-chain is affected by run-off from the land and is very susceptible to poisoning by agricultural pesticides and fertilisers and industrial contaminants, even hundreds of miles offshore. Even if this pollution doesn’t kill the fish directly, phosphate and nitrogenous fertilisers can cause plankton to ‘bloom’ in massive clouds which clog the gills of fish and kill them that way.

Furthermore: Much of the damage done to a ground recovers fairly quickly.

His estimate of 100 years is true for some of the wildlife such as coral but not for most of the things that live in the sea. I have seen a fairly barren area of the sea bed suddenly ‘blossom’ with life a year later as a result of the activity of dredging, mainly because it stirred up a lot of the nutrients buried beneath the floor of the seabed and many species came to that area after we had left to utilise that newly available resource.

I know this because when we returned to the same ground a year later there was an abundance of diverse creatures to be found there whereas there were very few the year before. In that instance the dredging had formed a rich and diverse ecosystem where a very sparse one had existed previously.

Much of the over fishing that has occurred over the last 30-odd years has been of a particularly perverse nature.

For instance, in northern Scottish waters, Danish boats have been catching large quantities of sand-eels for many years, not to feed people but to be transformed into pig food and eventually Danish bacon for the British breakfast.

Roughly 100 tons of fish is needed to produce one ton of bacon. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see that that is not a good way to go about things.

Much of the over-fishing is the result of British people eating a very small range of fish, i.e. cod and plaice.

It would certainly help with the pressures on those species if the British palate would try more of the amazing variety of tasty, nutritious fish that live around our coasts. Much of the ‘fish product’ sold in supermarkets in packages and boxes are this type of fish, mashed up and reformed and flavoured and sold as fish-cakes and similar.

Many of the boats which now fish scallops and beam-trawls were at one time fishing for round-fish but either had no licences or had them revoked in fisheries cut-backs. To keep the boats fishing, the owners were forced to start scalloping as there was very little regulation concerning the scallop fishery. Once these boats began to catch scallops the stocks were severely reduced in a very short time. So it was a knock-on effect from other poorly thought out legislation which caused so many boats to become scallopers in the first place.

The Isle of Man has always had a self-imposed off season and a 110mm size limit across the widest part of the shell. The adjacent countries have no closed season and a 100mm limit.

So the Manx fishermen have been doing more, voluntarily, than the EU or UK Govt have ever done through legislation. This is highly commendable and should be remembered in any future discussions on the subject, as the Manx fishermen have been proactive leaders, not reluctant followers.

So you see, this is not a simple problem that can be resolved simply by banning trawling and dredging. But you can bet that that is what will happen as ill-informed and worse, deliberately mis-informed people clamour to protect the seas which they actually know nothing about!

Other than that, I think it is a very good idea to have reserves for the regeneration of various species, but don’t let the idiots in Brussels or even Whitehall or Tynwald decide where or how big these reserves are as they will make a ‘vote conscious decision’, rather than a find a proper balance between the needs of an industry and the needs of the animals themselves. After all, there would be no point in preserving the fishery if it costs the livelihoods of the fishermen.

John Callister

Never a truer word....................

We fishermen world wide are all the same....divided not by geography, or language but by the politics of non fishermen.

Support your local food heroes!

On the wall outside the Sun Inn, nr Edinburgh

Winners and losers - there are always consequences - take fish farming.....

Fish farming, a problem solved, the salvation of fishing and championing the fight against over-fishing and reduced stocks - the way forward?

This is how it unfortunately looks underneath a fish farm. We filmed this on the 20.01.2011. Is this how we want the sea floor in Norway to look? Something needs to be done quickly to remedy this situation.

Deleted from HFW's Fish Fight web site - an open letter from Dr Ruth Brown who works for the British Antarctic Survey, a governemnt funded (not charity funded) organisation looking after the Southern Ocean

Dear Mr. Fearnley-Whittingstall,

my name is Ruth Brown, you met me in February 2012 when you came to Bird Island, South Georgia, to film an episode of ‘Fish Fight’, and I appeared in this episode which aired on Thursday last week (21st Feb) on Channel 4. I am writing to protest about the unfair and unflattering light in which you portrayed me, and the glaring inaccuracies in information that you presented to viewers.

In your program you implied that the research I do is paid for by licence money received from the krill fishing industry, and that I am therefore unable to speak freely about my opinions of that industry. This is not true. I work for British Antarctic Survey, who do not receive any money from fisheries and are funded by the Natural Environment Research Council, a government body that funds independent scientific research. British Antarctic Survey fund and manage all work that is carried out on Bird Island, yet were not mentioned once in your program.

During your interview with me, I repeatedly told you that the data I collect on penguins and other seabird species is handed over to CCAMLR (the Convention for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources), an international consortium that manage all fishing activities in the Southern Ocean. CCAMLR use this data to inform their decisions about fishing practices and to ensure that Southern Ocean fisheries are sustainable. I find it remarkable that in a program dedicated to fisheries in the Southern Ocean, you did not once mention CCAMLR, the international body that governs fisheries in the Southern Ocean.

In your program you mentioned that penguin populations are declining, with the implication being that this is a result of competition with the krill fishery for their main prey food, krill. This is at best misleading. It is true that macaroni penguin populations at South Georgia are in decline, and I would direct your attention to a recent paper on the subject (Trathan et al 2012 ‘Ecological drivers of change at South Georgia’ Ecography 35 (11), 983-993), which discusses the possible causes of this decline. The authors conclude that the most likely reason for declining populations of macaroni penguins at South Georgia is an increase in the population of Antarctic fur seals, which also feed on krill. Indeed, fur seals have undergone a population explosion at South Georgia in recent years despite the presence of the krill fishery, a fact which was not mentioned in your program.

In your program you asked me how much krill an individual penguin consumes in a single meal. The amount of krill consumed by animals in this ecosystem is an important point. The estimated total amount of krill consumed by macaroni penguins in a year is around 1.6 million tonnes, and the estimated total amount of krill consumed by Antarctic fur seals in a year is around 6.8 million tonnes (Trathan et al 2012). In contrast, the average annual krill catch by the South Georgia fishery is 43,500 tonnes (Trathan et al 2012), and is therefore insignificant compared with the amount of krill consumed by the animals. These figures were not mentioned in your program.

Whilst you were on Bird Island, one of your production team (Lucy Meadows) told us that the krill boat on which you filmed experienced zero by-catch. In my opinion this is an astonishing and noteworthy fact, given the high levels of by-catch seen in other fisheries. However, this fact was not mentioned in your program.

In your program you suggested that populations of great whales in the Southern Ocean have fully recovered following the end of commercial exploitation. This statement is misleading. Whilst some species of whales have recovered to pre-exploitation levels, others have not, and a very modest amount of research on your part would have shown you this (see, for example, Lotze et al 2011 ‘Recovery of marine animal populations and ecosystems’ Trends in Ecology & Evolution 26 (11), 595-605).

In conclusion, the episode of ‘Fish Fight’ which covered fisheries on the Southern Ocean was poorly researched and misleading. Many important facts were left out, as they would clearly have compromised the pre-conceived journalistic slant of the program. You and your production company (KEO films) repeatedly ignored the research and opinions of scientists and conservationists who have spent decades studying the ecosystem around South Georgia, believing that you are better placed to comment on that ecosystem than they are.

I am an enthusiastic supporter of campaigns for sustainable fishing in general, and of the ‘Fish Fight’ campaign in particular. It therefore saddens me that you have chosen to tarnish this noble cause with what can only be described as a tawdry piece of hack journalism. I am ashamed that I was a part of it, albeit unwittingly.

Sincerely, Dr. Ruth Brown.

Fish discards ban 'may be diluted'

Richard Lochhead ‏@RichardLochhead big challenge in today's Brussels talks on fish discard ban is how to build in flexibilities that don't become big loopholes that some want Details 22 hrs

Richard Lochhead ‏@RichardLochhead Big day tomorrow - will EU fish ministers be brave & agree historic fish discards ban without loopholes - c'mon @simoncoveney you can do it! Details 

Current tweets from Richard Lochhead who represents the Moray Constituency as a Scottish National Party (SNP) MSP in The Scottish Parliament and is also the Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs and the Environment in the Scottish Government. 

also from Ulrike Rodust:

Ahead of the EU fisheries ministers' meeting tonight, S&D Euro MP Ulrike Rodust warned that the European Parliament will not accept a watered down reform of EU fisheries policy. Said Ulrike Rodust who leads the negotiations for the European Parliament: "Some Member States are trying to push the Irish presidency to include more loopholes in the text they agreed last June. The Council is going in the wrong direction. It is moving further and further away from the ambitious European Parliament's vote earlier this month. "EU fisheries ministers should remember that a wide majority has voted for a discard ban without any exemptions. We are willing to find a reasonable compromise, but I think it will be difficult to accept a text which would allow throwing back certain species of unwanted fish overboard without any limitations at all". 

Europe's fisheries ministers may dilute plans for a total ban on the practice of discarding fish at sea, as they meet in Brussels. An outright discards ban was widely welcomed when backed by the European Parliament last month, but it is being resisted by France, Spain and others. Ministers will consider a compromise text, that a European Commission source described as "quite unacceptable".

It would delay fisheries reform beyond the current proposal of 2016-2019. It would also allow maybe 7% of fish to be discarded, exempt some species from the ban altogether, and give fishing crews extra catch quotas for an interim period.

It would also allow blue whiting, one of the most abundant stocks of the North East Atlantic, to be dumped if it is inadvertently caught. Boarfish may also be exempt.

Some ministers are striving to soften the provisions of the reform package to protect their fleets from sudden change.

But the Fisheries Commissioner, Maria Damanaki, urged ministers not to compromise. "The politicians must listen to what the public is telling them," she said. "The public does not want fish to be just thrown away." She said all caught fish should be landed; if they were of low value, they should be turned into fish meal.

Ms Damanaki was presented with a petition signed by nearly a million people demanding an end to discards, and for fishing at a level that allows stocks to replenish.

Campaigners were surprised and delighted last month when MEPs voted by a margin of around 4-1 in favour of sweeping reforms. The majority was far greater than had been predicted.



The Irish Fisheries Minister, Simon Coveney, who is chairing the meeting, said: "It is imperative that European Fisheries Ministers collectively take this progressive but challenging decision now and co-operate in agreeing appropriate and effective measures to eliminate discards with ambitious timelines."

But he is obliged at the meeting to find a joint position that the Council can negotiate with the Commission and parliament - and compromise will be difficult as several nations, including the UK, consider than any slipping from a total ban would be wrong.

The "progressive" nations fear that any discussion of exempt species would open the door for further exemptions.

In a review of global discarding, the UN noted that the north-east Atlantic had the highest discard level in the world, estimated at 1.3 million tonnes - the majority attributed to the EU. The Commission estimates that 23% of all fish caught by EU vessels are discarded.

Discussions at the Fisheries Council may last into the night, although on a less contentious note, ministers are likely to re-commit to better technology to prevent unwanted fish being caught in the first place.

Full story courtesy of the BBC

Dutch and German freezer trawlers

Two big Dutch and one German freezer trawler can be seen fishing south of Mount's Bay in the last twenty four hours. Twenty years ago a big fleet of English and Dutch freezer trawlers fished the huge shoals of mackerel in the Western Approaches. Since then, climactic change has seen the mackerel move further and further northwards until now they are largely concentrated around Scotland and well into Iceland's 200 mile limit.

Illegal fishing: what happens at sea too often stays at sea

The problem of illegal fishing is enormous and Greenpeace has been working hard to combat illegal fishing for many years, as we try to protect our oceans and ensure future generations have fish and fishing jobs. We have sent ships into the open ocean year after year, to monitor fishing activities with governments as diverse as Palau and Mozambique. In some ways, this work is taking off today as Interpol’s first-ever conference on illegal fishing begins in Lyon, France. Rainbow Warrior In The Indian Ocean

The Greenpeace ship, Rainbow Warrior is observing fishing activities in the Indian Ocean where poor management has left many stocks over exploited including albacore tuna and many sharks.

It is estimated that between $10 and $24 billion worth of fish is caught illegally All too often, these fish are taken from developing countries and end up as cheap seafood in rich countries. Illegal fishing, especially in tuna and shark fisheries and trade takes income and food away from coastal communities. The lucrative tuna trade unfortunately encourages cheating in order to maximise profits, especially as overfishing causes fleets to move further and further to chase shrinking fish populations. Esperanza In The Pacific zoom

Greenpeace is hoping to change all of this. To coincide with the Interpol conference, we are releasing the findings from our most recent ship tours in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. We are also renewing our call to governments to stop illegal fishing, specifically by:

• Ending the practice of transferring fish catches at sea 
• Enforcing existing regulations and improve surveillance of fishing ships 
• Mandating that fishing ships have proper electronic identification devices, such as AIS on. 
• Reducing fishing fleets

We hope that global law enforcement will join us in the fight to leave future generations healthy, living oceans. Sharing data and best practice information is a good place to start as would be the prosecution of individuals and companies involved in illegal fishing. We need your help to show the global fishing industry that our oceans are not Las Vegas - what happens at sea shouldn’t stay at sea. You can tell your seafood companies to improve their sourcing policies here. We’ll keep you posted on how our work to defend our oceans develops.

Reproduced courtesy of the Greenpeace web site.

Monday evening in Newlyn

Building materials wait for a good forecast and some fine weather to make the trip across to the Scillies...

Cap'n Downing scratches his head faced with a gear challenge...

as the boys get stuck in...

and the big wrenches come out...

the ex-Newlyn beamer George Johannes is back in town...

good to see the crab boys have finally benefited from some new harbour services, no expense spared!...

as the bait goes aboard the Intuition...

Crystal Sea II waits for an ice berth....

Sapphire II almost there Mike!!...

heave away! haul away!...

before turning the boat round to remove the other beam...

up on the slip...

as the sun goes down...

time for a beer in thee Tolcarne...

before heading home and enjoying some cracking local mussels courtesy of Trelawney Fish.