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Thursday 25 October 2012

UCC Scientists involved in Major Discovery in the Atlantic

Irish research has led to the discovery of a volcanic landscape along the Mid- Atlantic Ridge, a vast underwater mountain range that extends almost the entire length of the ocean.

The discovery team has named it Moytirra, after the great battle between the Fir Bolg and the Tuatha Dé Danann in Irish mythology. According to the channel, some of the study sites were so deep that the ROV — limited by its 3,000m tether to the ship — could investigate only chimney tops and cliff sides. "We really were pushing the machines we had to the edge," said marine biologist Patrick Collins of NUI Galway. "And that’s a credit to the ROV pilots — they pulled it off."

The programme will be broadcast this Sunday at 6pm on the National Geographic channel on Sky (channel 526) and also UPC (channel 215).

Ajax bound away!

After a major gearbox failure at the start of the last trip, the Newlyn netter Ajax is finally given the thumbs up form the engineers at Penwith Marine Services evidenced by the AIS image which shows the boat thankfully steaming away from Newlyn on route to the fishing grounds west of the Scillies.

Wednesday 24 October 2012

Defra data

The most recent set of landing figures provided by the MMO have a whole 1 tonne of hake landed in Brixham from February to August this year. Which seems strange as the Newlyn netter Ajax alone has been landing regular quantities in excess of 1 tonne for much of the year?

A simple explanation will hopefully be forthcoming - it could be that because the fish is landed in Newlyn and shipped by road to Brixham that for the purposes of the MMO the fish remains in Newlyn? Seems likely!

UK secures major step towards reform of the Common Fisheries Policy

CFP in Brussels - the latest news from Defra

The Government has secured another major step towards fundamental reform of the broken Common Fisheries Policy today following agreement on the future of the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund.

Following a day and a night of lengthy negotiations in Luxembourg, UK Fisheries Minister Richard Benyon played a pivotal role in brokering a preliminary agreement, which will fund radical changes to the Common Fisheries Policy through the EMFF.

This agreement will allow funding to be used to support measures such as paying for more selective catching gear that will contribute to eliminating discards, or to fund innovative research projects to improve the economic and environmental sustainability of the fishing industry.

Richard Benyon talks to local Newlyn fishermen a few years ago when he was first appointed.

UK Fisheries Minister Richard Benyon said:

“I came to Luxembourg determined to ensure that UK fishermen and taxpayers get the best possible deal from these important negotiations. I am delighted that the Council has agreed to allocate the vast majority of the new EU funding stream towards implementing CFP reform.

“The priority for me has always been to make the changes that will be so vital for a reformed Common Fisheries a reality, and this outcome signifies a major step towards that vision. We are moving ever closer to the UK goal of being able to create healthy fish stocks, a prosperous fishing industry and a healthy marine environment.”

Notes

Under the current arrangements funding has been channelled into measures which have increased fishing capacity and led to widespread overfishing. It has also led to unsustainable practices such as the discarding of perfectly edible fish.

The new proposal puts safeguards in place to prevent this. Funding will now be directed towards delivering a reduced capacity in the fisheries sector, providing support to fishing communities and managing the transition to a sustainable fisheries policy.

The European Commission published its proposals for the EMFF on 2 December 2011, as part of its package on reform of the CFP. In addition to three discussions on the EMFF in Council, negotiations have taken place at official level in working party meetings since January.

Fishing deal: EU ministers criticised

From the BBC:

EU ministers have reached a provisional deal to reshape the Common Fisheries Policy, long blamed for overfishing. The deal has been hailed by the UK environment ministry Defra but criticised by the EU fisheries commissioner and environmentalists. A Commission source told BBC News the new funding arrangements would continue to promote overfishing. He said measures to support selective nets that avoided discards would be outweighed by funds for bigger engines. The deal took away with one hand but gave with the other, the source said.

Under current arrangements EU funding has increased the capacity of fleets and led to widespread over-exploitation of fish stocks. The new plan is to help fleets switch to more sustainable fishing. It is part of the 10-year reform of the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP). The reform aims to eradicate "discards" - the practice of dumping tonnes of perfectly good fish back into the sea - dead - in order to meet quota targets. But EU Fisheries Commissioner Maria Damanaki says the ministers' deal is weaker than the Commission wanted.

Greenpeace environmentalists say ministers have sold out to the economic interests of the industrial fishing sector by also agreeing to continue subsidies for the modernisation of vessels and their engines, which will increase capacity rather than reducing it. Greenpeace believe the majority of the funds will still be taken by large fishing companies to increase capacity through new boats and engines.
The group's EU fisheries policy director Saskia Richartz said "there is already not enough fish for all the boats out there, so it makes no sense at all for governments to continue throwing subsidies at the EU's oversized fleet. "Wasting taxpayers' money on what causes the problem in the first place is ridiculous - it is like paying someone to rob you." UK government upbeat The size of the European Maritime Fisheries Fund (EMFF) is yet to be decided in EU budget talks for the next financial period, 2014-2020. The UK Fisheries Minister Richard Benyon said: "I am delighted that the Council has agreed to allocate the vast majority of the new EU funding stream towards implementing CFP reform. "The priority for me has always been to make the changes - that will be so vital for a reformed Common Fisheries [Policy] - a reality, and this outcome signifies a major step towards that vision. We are moving ever closer to the UK goal of being able to create healthy fish stocks, a prosperous fishing industry and a healthy marine environment."

The original Commission proposal will be reviewed next by the European Parliament and may be further amended before becoming law. The Commission source told the BBC that it would be left largely to the discretion of member states to apportion the money as they saw fit. The UK would probably use the cash to make fishing more sustainable, but France would be likely to give most cash to large-scale fishing firms to increase the power of their fleets, the source said.

Roberto Ferrigno from the green group WWF said EU governments "are keeping to business-as-usual by using taxpayers' money to subsidise a spate of destructive, unrealistic and unjustified fishing and aquaculture activities. "EMFF funds should instead support measures aimed at improving data collection and scientific knowledge of fish stocks, promoting the dissemination and adoption of selective fishing gears; and ultimately improving the state of fish stocks, the well-being of coastal communities and the fishing industry."

Full article from the BBC here:

The Young Man and the Sea - where are they?

From Maria Damanaki's blog:

Discussions ongoing among EU ministers in the Councilshow that views are still divided on the future financial instrument for fisheries and maritime affairs, which theCommission proposed in December last year. So we are continuing discussions to find the best way forward to secure the implementation of the reform.

This reform of the Common Fisheries Policy and the funds that will serve to back it have to contribute to offering a better future to our youngsters.

The future of fishing is ahead of you.....

"If we do not manage to attract the young in the sector, the reform itself will be more difficult: they are the ones who can bring innovation, that are open to the diversification and are better aware of the need for sustainability.

The fund that I proposed is designed to offer a number of opportunities for youngsters: for instance for training and for diversifying their activities through pescatourism. But I understand that entering a profession that is extremely hard work, dangerous and where your income can fluctuate so much, requires a lot of commitment. It is a choice dictated by the love for the sea.

I want to go a step further and give a positive signal to all regions that want to attract the young into fisheries and support aid to young fishermen to buy a second hand vessel with a maximum of 15% of the price of the vessel and 50 000 EUR.

What I propose is a reform for the future; without including our young in that future, there won’t be a reform.