Some news just in from across the channel - just as in Cornwall, the tip of Brittany is on red alert for high tides and massive seas (again!).
On 10th December, the European parliament refused to adopt a complete ban on deep water fishing, but recommended new measures be taken to limit this activity, which essentially concerns the waters off Scotland and Ireland. Under pressure from various lobbies and campaign groups, such as Greenpeace and Bloom, several European supermarket chains announced recently that they would no longer stock the species under threat.
Today, a major announcement was made by Scapêche, which is owned by the Intermarché chain and runs France’s biggest commercial fishing fleet. From the start of 2015, they will no longer fish below a depth of 800m. This decision was welcomed by the various NGOs, which continue to campaign against these methods of fishing. The Head of WWF France considers that even 800m is too deep and will lead to certain species disappearing, while Greenpeace greeted it as a step in the right direction, preferring to see a limit of 600m put in place. For Bloom, Scapêche has been forced to listen to what the general public wants following a lot of adverse publicity in the media.
