POST BREXIT LANDING OBLIGATION JUNE 2020

One of the benefits of leaving the Common Fisheries Policy will be the potential to rethink and redesign the landing obligation. Initially the industry will continue to work under EU retained law, but after 1st January there will be scope to redesign and implement new arrangements tailored to the conditions in UK fisheries. Both Defra and the NFFO have begun work to identify deficiencies in the EU landing obligation and how these could be addressed to inform a more effective and workable UK discard policy. The contents of this paper were discussed at a recent Defra/MMO/NFFO landing obligation forum.

Ministers have indicated that they wish to retain the principle of the landing obligation but are open to refinements in the way that it works in practice. Defra have arranged a meeting/conference call for Friday 5th June, to discuss how the landing obligation might work after 31st December 2020.

Post Brexit Landing Obligation

In preparation for that meeting we have prepared a draft list of points (below) which amount to NFFO policy in this area.

Address CFP Design Deficiencies

• A requirement to land all quota species in all circumstances (except when an exemption is in place) is unenforceable – a well-designed discard policy focused on reducing unwanted catch, with the understanding and support of the fishing industry, by contrast, is an achievable objective
• EU legislators’ focus was on legislation, not implementation (someone else’s problem); there is a need for a more integrated fisheries management approach in which discard policy has a place but is not the main driver
• The potential for chokes in mixed fisheries remains a deep rooted and ongoing problem
• The LO has led to loss of visibility of catches in some fisheries and in some circumstances – leading to a degradation in the scientific advice and the quality of fisheries management decisions
• The LO depends on extensive use of exemptions – these are temporary and require annual re-visitation – absorbing too much time and effort
• The LO was developed in an artificial moral panic, with inadequate account taken of the views of those who would be subject to the new rules
• Discard policy should not be legislated for in inflexible primary legislation
• Successful implementation requires an ability to adapt and adjust – which is not available within the CFP’s rigid decision-making process

Priorities

• Secure adequate quota to reduce potential for chokes (TAC decisions, UK proportion of shared stocks, internal allocation and transfer arrangements)
• Re-brand the LO without losing emphasis on reducing unwanted catch
• Reposition and reaffirm discards policy as a facet of fishing management (not the priority) - the principle priority/objective should be to maintain fishing mortality within safe limits and maximise sustainable yields
• Recognise the diversity of circumstances in which discard policy is applied
• Maintain high-survival and de minimis exemptions where sufficient evidence is available – replacement for STECF role – but on a more reasonable time cycle
• Re-connect with fishers – policing by consent – this requires dialogue at all levels
• Maintain focus on reducing unwanted catch, through hearts and minds rather than blunt policy instruments and heavy-handed enforcement
• Reaffirm emphasis on the importance of accurate catch information and its connection to sound management decisions
• Remove TAC status where it serves no purpose – eg. Irish Sea whiting
• Muscular positioning on this issue when dealing with the EU during bilateral negotiations – UK discard policy will be separate, distinct and more effective in practice than the CFP
• Further development of gear selectivity and avoidance strategies as practical ways of reducing unwanted catch
• Explore voluntary use of REM subject to safeguards on ethical, legal and practical aspects, where this is a valid option
• Focus on what economic incentives are being created when regulating – minimise scope for unintended consequences
• Management Plans as envisaged by the Fisheries Bill could be the right vehicle for regionally and sectoral sensitive discard policies
• Explore scope in Fisheries Bill for a charging scheme that would allow landing of unavoidable overshoots without creating an economic incentive to target
• Measures to ensure that non-UK vessels fishing in UK waters comply with UK discard policy

NFFO June 2020

Fisheries and Brexit report.

Click on the video to access the report.

Liberation from the EU’s common fisheries policy (CFP) was one of the most touted and prized benefits of Brexit. Fishing communities were among the most vocal supporters of Leave in the referendum. Yet sea fishing – even after the addition of fish processing – accounts for a negligible proportion of UK GDP and is heavily dependent on easy access to European markets, whereas UK consumers prefer fish that is imported from Europe. That economic insignificance combined with mutual dependence suggests that a deal on fishing should be easy for both sides to agree. 

However, the EU has made a trade deal with the UK conditional on continued access to UK waters after Brexit, demanding an agreement on fishing rights that replicates the status quo. It has been mooted that the EU will delay a deal giving the UK’s financial services sector access to its market if there is no agreement on fishing rights. The UK, meanwhile, is asserting its post-Brexit right to become a sovereign fishing power – an independent coastal state – and is offering the EU annual negotiations over access. 

This stand-off has the potential to derail the entire talks. During the Covid-19 pandemic, the industry has suffered badly in its key markets: the closure of restaurants in the UK and the shutdown of valuable seafood exports to continental Europe. Specific compensation schemes to support fishers through the crisis have been introduced across the UK, but it is still not clear what will be left of the industry once business returns to something more like normal. In this short report, we look at the economic and political significance of the fishing industry for the UK and the EU, how fishing features in the Brexit negotiations and the longer-term implications of Brexit for the future of the fishing industry.

Report courtesy of UK in a Changing Europe - An award-winning academic thinktank working on #Brexit. We are the authoritative source for independent research on UK-EU relations.

Maverick under tow - both Penlee lifeboats busy yet again!

Penlee lifeboat was kept busy yesterday, first providing the final tow into the harbour for the crabber Harriet Eve and then for picking up the pollack handliner Maverick which had suffered fuel supply problems.  The inshore lifeboat ILB Ivor and Mollie Dent was on standby astern of the tow as the two boats entered Newlyn in poor weather.

Maverick was 50 Miles off and heading home when her main engine cut out. Skipper Dave Smith changed filters and bled system and made a few more miles before same thing happened again. After the 3rd time this happened just 5 miles from Newlyn he decided to call the coastguard in case it happened coming in through the gaps in such scuffly weather.

Top Government advice - eat deep-fried battered Dover sole!

Sometimes you just wonder which planet people live on.

Spotted yesterday in the Guardian (and no doubt in other broadsheets) in a woke world. 

On the back of the fantastically successful campaign encouraging people to go out and source locally caught fish or buy fresh fish online (mostly organised by motivated people in the industry) the the Government paid for this article: 

Every day is like Friday: Why it's time to eat more hake, monkfish and mackerel

which is laudable enough until you read this...

where we are being sold the idea of deep frying Dover sole - DOVER SOLE!!  FFS pound for pound Dovers are often the most expensive fish on a fish counter (in London you would probably pay from £28-£38 per kilo) they have a unique and delicate sweet flavour that is brought out best by careful cooking!

However, if this Covid19 crisis has brought us one thing to celebrate it is the very real increase and interest seen in the consumption of fresh UK caught fish - long may that continue!

Small boats and female workers hardest hit by Covid-19

Small boats and female workers hardest hit by Covid-19 fisheries impact Research shows how supply chains around world have been disrupted by pandemic 

Coronavirus – latest updates See all our coronavirus coverage Seascape: the state of our oceans is supported by The David and Lucile Packard FoundationAbout this content Fiona Harvey Environment correspondent 

Workers sort anchovies at a fish factory in Durrës, Albania Workers sort anchovies at a fish factory in Durrës, Albania. Women make up at least half of the workforce in fisheries and fish farms. Photograph: Gent Shkullaku/AFP via Getty Images Small fishing boats, fish markets and female workers are among the categories worst affected by the economic impact of the coronavirus crisis on the world’s fisheries, research has found. 

Supply chains around the world have been disrupted by the Covid-19 pandemic, and artisanal fishing – small boats – has borne the brunt, according to the annual report on fisheries by the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO). While industrial fishing fell only by about 6.5% in April, a large proportion of small vessels around the world have been in effect confined to port, and their markets are uncertain. 

In parts of the Mediterranean and the Black Sea, more than 90% of small-scale fishing fleets have had to stop fishing owing to a lack of markets and falling prices. 

The closure of restaurants, hotels and catering has cut off markets for small boats and led to falling prices, and the resulting disruption has led to an increase in waste, according to an appendix to the annual report, published on Monday for World Oceans Day. 

Share your story What are you doing to protect your ocean? We want to hear about the things you are doing to help protect your ocean. You can get in touch by filling in the form below. Only the Guardian can see your contributions and one of our journalists may contact you to discuss further. 

Tell us Advertisement Some of these effects are hard to quantify as yet. The main report was prepared before the coronavirus crisis hit, so the appendix contains only preliminary information rather than extensive research, but it indicates a growing difficulty for many small fishing fleets around the world.
Women make up at least half of the labour force in fisheries and fish farms, and have been particularly affected by the Covid-19 crisis, according to the report. The economic impact of restricted sales and the difficulty of finding routes to market has been compounded by the closure of processing operations and markets, where many women are employed, and by the risk of infection they face when working in fish processing warehouses or markets. Many have had to work longer hours under unsafe conditions.
Countries are urged to keep their supply chains running and their borders open to trade in fish – about 38% of fish is internationally traded – to help small-scale fishers cope amid the crisis. 

While small fishing fleets have faced hardship, some massive industrial trawlers have kept up their operations – Greenpeace recently tracked the movements of some mega trawlers around the UK coast – to the consternation of local fishing fleets. 

Philip Evans, oceans campaigner at Greenpeace UK, said: “This continuing industrial fishing activity is in the context of an ocean in crisis, with many fish populations already on the brink of collapse. Once the pandemic is over, attention must turn again to reforming global fisheries governance and placing at least 30% of the world’s oceans off limits to fishing activity, to give fish populations space to recover from decades of destructive industrial fishing activity.” 

 
What lies beneath: our love affair with living underwater Read more Around the world, fish consumption reached a record high last year, according to the FAO’s report. Per capita consumption hit 20.5kg for the year and is expected to increase, with total fish production predicted to rise to 204m tonnes in 2030, which would be an increase of 15% on 2018. 

Fishing was worth about $400bn (£316bn) around the world in 2018, according to the report, of which close to half was from fish farming, in which China is the global leader. 

“Fish and fisheries products are recognised not only as some of the healthiest foods on the planet, but also as some of the less impactful on the natural environment,” said Qu Dongyu, the director general of the FAO. 

But more effort is needed to improve the management and rebuilding of fish stocks, or increased consumption will come at the expense of serious damage to fish populations. More than a third of fish stocks globally are fished at unsustainable levels, according to the FAO. 

There has been some success in the past year in fostering more sustainable fisheries, according to the report, which points to tuna fisheries, of which two-thirds are now fished at sustainable levels. While insufficient, that represents substantial progress, as the proportion fished sustainably has risen by 10 percentage points in two years, the report says. 

“The improvement, the fruit of contributions from many stakeholders, attests to the importance of active management to reach and maintain biological sustainability, and serves to underscore how urgently we must replicate such approaches in fisheries and regions where management systems are in poor shape,” said Manuel Barange, the director of the FAO’s fisheries and aquaculture department. 

Despite the report’s upbeat findings, concerns remain around the fishing of tuna, as the Guardian has reported, highlighting the difficulty in squaring the global demand for a sustainable source of protein and the poor governance that prevails in many fishing areas.

Full story courtesy of the Fiona Harvey, Environment corespondent at the Guardian

UK seafood funds make final COVID-19 payments

Qualifying fishing and aquaculture businesses will receive a further and final payment from the U.K. government’s GBP 10 million (USD 12.5 million, EUR 11.2 million) Fisheries Response Fund, the Marine Management Organisation (MMO) has announced.

Eligible businesses will be contacted by the MMO and payments will be made directly into business accounts by 15 June.

The fund, which was introduced on 17 April in response to COVID-19, has so far made payments to more than 1,200 fishing and aquaculture businesses affected by the crisis. June’s installment will be the final payment from this fund.

Funding of GBP 1 million (USD 1.3 million, EUR 1.1 million) was included for the Domestic Seafood Supply Scheme, a grant program for projects to support the sale and consumption of locally-caught fish.

This joint endeavour between the Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs (Defra), the Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (Cefas), the fishing industry, and MMO awarded grants to the first successful projects this week. The judging panel is due to review further projects on 8 June.

“We mobilised quickly to be able to put both of these funds in place and ensure the cash from the Treasury and the Maritime and Fisheries Fund was invested directly into the fishing industry at the earliest opportunity,” MMO CEO Tom McCormack said.

Meanwhile, some 128 seafood processors have received support totalling GBP 5.6 million (USD 7 million, EUR 6.3 million) from the Scottish Government’s Seafood Resilience Fund, which has now also closed to applications.

Again launched in April, the processor fund has been assisting businesses impacted by the collapse of international markets and the shutdown of the United Kingdom’s foodservice sector.

According to the Scottish Seafood Association (SSA), the speed and delivery of the resilience fund saved several businesses from failure.

“By and large, the COVID-19 shutdown affected most Scottish processors, and without the fast action of the Scottish government would have led to job losses right across the seafood supply chain,” SSA Business Manager Jimmy Buchan said. 

Stephen Thomson of East Lothian-based processor JK Thomson, which received a GBP 100,000 (USD 125,442, EUR 111,659) grant, also praised the scheme.

“I would say the timing of this fund and the speed in which it was paid – so soon after the application went in – was vital. When we filled in the application form, things appeared to be very bleak, and to know the Scottish government was behind us was very comforting, and gave us great encouragement,” he said.

Other COVID-19 funds that have been assisting the Scottish seafood industry include the Sea Fisheries Intervention Fund, to support boat owners, and the Aquaculture Hardship Fund to help shellfish and trout farmers. 

Full story courtesy of Jason Holland.

New e-commerce platform launched to boost UK seafood sales

KuulFoods, a retail arm of software developer KuulGroup, has unveiled a new sales solution specifically aimed at giving the means to increase online trade to U.K. seafood companies.

Funding for the platform was provided by the Fish on Friday’s COVID-19 Rapid Response Grant Program (RRGP), which was developed by the Fishmongers’ Company’s Fisheries Charitable Trust (FCFCT) and Seafarers UK to assist food charities, fishing and seafood businesses impacted by the ongoing coronavirus situation.

KuulFoods said that it has been working closely with Fishmongers’ Company since the start of the crisis to build the solution. Coming at no cost to the user, it runs online orders and payments and includes a reporting tool for all sales, orders, revenues, and stock.

Adapted from another piece of technology used in the hospitality sector, the system has been designed to make it easy to sell seafood products online – both B2B and B2C – with little tech knowledge and no major investment. Businesses can choose to customize their online shops to fit with their company branding, or they can link their e-commerce page to a social media account.

The intention is to add to the solution with a customer app and a fully integrated electronic point of sale (EPOS) function in the summer.

KuulFoods’ Gary Pleece told SeafoodSource that the solution is a long-term program and is now onboarding its first customers.

“The e-commerce solution is good to go with a few enhancements in production. The in-store version will be ready in circa eight weeks,” he said.

According to the Fish on Friday project, the RRGP prioritizes initiatives that demonstrate collaborative working among stakeholders, with preference given to COVID-19 grant applications under GBP 10,000 (USD 12,259, EUR 11,195).