MMO Harbour Orders and the G7 World Leaders Summit

Carbis Bay and St Ives The Marine Management Organisation (MMO) have been involved in the preparation for the 47th G7 Summit, which is being held between 11 – 13 June at the Carbis Bay Hotel, near St Ives, Cornwall.

The G7 is made up of the United Kingdom, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the USA, with the EU participating in discussions. This summit marks the first official foreign visit of US President Joe Biden and will be of particular importance as world leaders focus attention on the ongoing challenges posed by Covid-19 pandemic and climate change.

The MMO is responsible for processing applications for Harbour Orders in England and for certain ports and harbours in Wales. Last month the MMO Harbour Orders team made The St Ives (G7 2021 Summit) Harbour Order which came into force, ahead of the G7 Summit.

St Ives G7 Summit 2021 HRO signed map Harbour Orders are a form of local legislation which either amend existing or introduce new harbour legislation. They are made as a statutory instrument under the Harbours Act 1964 and confer powers on the Statutory Harbour Authority (SHA) for the purpose of improving, maintaining or managing a harbour.

When considering whether a Harbour Order should be made, the MMO must consider whether the application secures the improvement, maintenance or management of the harbour in an efficient and economical manner or of facilitating the efficient and economic transport of goods or passengers by sea. The MMO however is not responsible for the regulation of the day to day functioning and activities of port and harbour authorities.

Cornwall Council (as SHA for St Ives Harbour) required the Harbour Order to extend the harbour limits of St Ives for a temporary period to enable the safe management of harbour activities in St Ives bay during the G7 period. The Harbour Order also enables a restricted zone to be established under the Aviation and Maritime Security Act 1990. The restricted zone would temporarily limit access to the waters adjoining the area around where the G7 Summit is to be held in order to provide additional security to the attending world leaders.

As police assistance will be required to manage the St Ives Bay area during the G7 Summit period, the Order also permits existing police officers to be appointed by a Justice of the Peace to act as constables over the extended harbour area before and during the G7 Summit period.

The St Ives Order is the 9th Harbour Order which the MMO has made as law this year. For further information about Harbour Orders made by the MMO and other applications that we are processing, please see our Harbour Orders public register

If you’d like more information on Harbour Orders please email the MMO team harbourorders@marinemanagement.org.uk

Information is also available online Harbour Orders - GOV.UK

'Tiz a fine #FishyFriday morning in Newlyn.

It's that time of year (June) traditionally when many trawlers take time out for an annual paint-up and overhaul for all those jobs that are critical to keeping the vessel 'shipshape' as many of the fish they normally target have spawned and moved well offshore - the Nowell fleet of beam trawlers including the Louisa N are no exception to this practice...

owner and part-time skipper Mike Nowell has slipped off his shore-side office footwear and donned his work boots for the day to steam the boat, sans derricks, on the short journey to Penzance dock to continue the work...

rust, the enemy of any vessel attacks bare steel withing minutes of being exposed to oxygen in the atmosphere...

the boats aren't the only thing getting a makeover, the harbour offices are being refurbished to include a 30 seat conference room which can be hired from July...

with relatively benign neap tides the hake netters have been seeking their elusive quarry...

with some of them also working tangle nets to fish for turbot...

plaice don't come much bigger than this beauty...

or in better condition than these big reds...

pristine white ray belly-side up...

trawlers always pick up the odd lobster on a trip, scallops are equally rare - they would never have made it to the market when I was on deck, two seconds with the gutting knife and a still-pulsing scallop along with a dash of seawater would be sliding down my throat...

that's if a certain young Billy 'Saffron' Bunn didn't spot the scallop first...

superb ray specimen...

Brackan kept up the haddock tally this trip...

while Tom targeted those delicious JDs...

and a few more reds...

though there still seem to be good shots of lemons for those trawler skippers who know where to tow...

a gathering of gurnards...

no doubt Cap'n Cod would have liked a few full boxes rather than just a covering of the ever-elusive mackerel...

for boats working away north of Lands End there is always the chance of a few langoustine...

bass are still in short supply it seems...

while Dovers are there for the taking fo you have the quota to 'retain them' on board...

grey mullet shoal up at this time of year, though the days when the Sennen Cove men and others around the coast landed huge shots from beach seines are few and far between...

the evil greater weaver, definitely one not to stand on buried in the sand at the likes of Sennen beach, but a superb tasting fish nonetheless...

tubot charged...

Girl Lynn all set for a bottom scrub...

tiz a mizzly misty-morn so they won't be seeing much of the sea views just yet at the G7 summit talks......

breakfast is still being served at the Swordfish as the harbour Cafe is currently closed due to Covid restrictions...

works of art at the Collywomple Gllery next to the Chinese in Newlyn

just in time to enjoy this year's first Penzance Art Trail which includes several venues in Newlyn...

good to see Debbie has lost none of her sense of humour despite having a tough year as landlady of the famous Star Inn, birthplace of the first transoceanic voyage by the Newlyn fishing vessel Mystery...

only in Newlyn would you find a carniverous cactus...

the remains of its last meal discarded beside it...

fast-tracked fresh fish speeds away from Newlyn courtesy of Quayside Transport......

trade must be good if young Mr Smart can afford to feed the harbour's resident seal fresh mackerel!

Vacancies on Newlyn Harbour Commissioner & Advisory Boards.

 

What are we looking for?

Newlyn Pier and Harbour Commissioners, NPHC, are actively recruiting for positions on both the Board of Commission and Advisory Board, in accordance with Newlyn Harbour’s Enabling Act 1906 and Harbour Revision Order 2010.

Newlyn Harbour, is one of the largest Fishing Ports in England and is the gateway to some of the richest fishing grounds, a port of refuge and last port of call before leaping to the Isles of Scilly. NPHC has an ambitious vision to support the fishing Industry beyond Brexit by way of improving infrastructure and upgrading facilities for both the catching and processing sectors, whilst nurturing ambition to diversify in order to incorporate marine renewables in this ever-changing world. Therefore, NPHC is looking to recruit motivated and forward-thinking people to continue our exciting, planned growth.

With Newlyn being home to one of the largest fleets within the UK, coupled with a total value of fish landed to our port at circa £25,000,000 pa, we are keen to build on our present revenue streams whilst exploiting potential growth in all marine sectors. Do you want to be part of this?? 

As a Trust Port we are looking for a broad range of skills from all walks of life so if you think you may not be suited, please think again.

The Role:

• 3 Year voluntary appointment (Expenses offered for Commissioners). 

• Experience of ports is desirable but not essential. A varied skill base will be sought ranging from, Finance, Governance, Stakeholder Engagement, Leisure, Fishing, Local Residents and Marine renewables and much more 

• Successful candidates will be required to attend monthly meetings with occasional need to represent the Harbour on National memberships/functions. 

• Candidates will be required to have input to Port Policy and Strategic Planning and be comfortable liaising with stakeholders ranging from MPs to Local Government to residents and Harbour users 

• National locations will be considered due to dial in facility, however in person attendance preferred

Still Interested?

Please send a covering letter and CV to info@newlynharbour.com clearly stating which board you are applying for, Commissioners or Advisory Board or even both. 

Successful candidates shortlisted for interview will be informed the week commencing 28th June with interviews scheduled early July. If applicants have not heard from us before the 30th June unfortunately you have not been successful this time. 

Any questions please contact the email address above and we will endeavour to answer your questions.

Good Luck!

‘Call it a business plan’: North Atlantic supply chain group launches ‘policy FIP’ to drive political will for long-term pelagics management.

Mackerel - fish to fight for.

The North Atlantic Pelagic Advocacy Group (NAPA) - a collective of 50 retailers and supply chain businesses working together to secure sustainable management of key pelagic stocks - starts the clock on three-year countdown to certification-ready pelagic fisheries.

“It is vital a collaborative, long-term approach to managing key pelagic stocks is in place, which in turn will help us to meet the commitments to our consumers to provide ethical, sustainable products. The policy FIP is an excellent vehicle for us to drive this and we would urge Coastal States to think of the FIP as a ‘business plan’. Ultimately, the market needs to be comfortable with the management of these stocks to ensure a future supply base and promote healthy oceans.” - Aisla Jones, Fisheries and Aquaculture Manager, The Co-op.

Following the news that Norway has unilaterally increased its own quota by over 100,000 tonnes – shortly followed by a quota increase from the Faroes – NAPA has announced the launch of the policy FIP for the first time. Representing wholesalers, food service businesses, aquaculture producers, feed companies, suppliers and processors, NAPA’s position is that the market won’t continue to tolerate ‘horse-trading’ and actions that they consider to threaten the overall sustainability of pelagic stocks.

Whilst traditional ‘FIPs’ (Fishery Improvement Programmes) focus on the need to enact data collection or develop management strategies, the NAPA policy FIP acknowledges that the pelagic stocks covered - NEA mackerel and Atlanto-Scandian herring - are in the unusual position of being data-rich, well-understood and with proposed management strategies published. The barriers to enacting sustainable management centre around decision-making and political will: hence the ‘policy’ focus of the FIP.

FIP Description 

There are two fisheries captured within this FIP: the North East Atlantic (NEA) mackerel fishery, and the Atlanto-Scandian herring (ASH) (also known as the Norwegian spring spawning herring) fishery. 

In correspondence to NEAFC Heads of Delegation in the past days, NAPA has announced the launch of an innovative ‘policy FIP’ - designed to drive political will for cooperative decision-making and secure sustainable management for key pelagic stocks. The novel ‘policy FIP’ covers Northeast Atlantic mackerel and Atlanto-Scandian herring - two stocks which recently lost MSC certification due to ongoing disagreements between Coastal States actors, leading to unilateral quota-setting. This, says NAPA, is an unacceptable threat to the sustainability of these key stocks, and one which has major implications for the purchasing decisions of the market.

Project Lead, Dr Tom Pickerell, commented:

“Horse-trading and unilateral quota-setting is not responsible management. NAPA as a group are calling for political barriers to be put to one side, and for Coastal States to make a simple, responsible decision: to follow the established science. With long-term, sustainable management in place these key commercial stocks can continue to thrive, and NAPA members can serve the global marketplace with confidence and security. Our goal? That Coastal States come together and enact science-based, responsible management.”

NAPA, which has been working on NEA pelagics sustainability since 2019 as a collective, has developed a similar tool for a third key stock: blue whiting. Not-yet-launched, but in the immediate pipeline, is a NAPA MarinTrust ‘improver programme’ for this important aquaculture feed-stock. Tom Pickerell further commented: “this shows the organisation and ambition of the marketplace in signaling the need for sustainable management: NAPA is focused on three stocks, and we have improvement programmes outlined for all of them - they will be independently audited, and we will hold ourselves to account as we strive to hold Coastal States governments to account. Should an agreement between Coastal States prove impossible, then individual supply chain members will be forced to re-evaluate their purchasing of these pelagic stocks.”

Find out more about the policy FIP for NEA mackerel and Atlanto-Scandian herring on FisheryProgress.org here: https://fisheryprogress.org/fip-profile/northeast-atlantic-ocean-mackerel-and-herring-hook-line-trawl-and-purse-seine

Future “looks good” for Cornish sardines

Cornish sardines are among a group of sustainable fisheries being credited for making vital improvements to protect ecosystems and vulnerable marine life on World Ocean Day (June 8).

New data shows that in 2020, 100 improvements were made by fisheries across the globe as part of being certified to the Marine Stewardship Council’s sustainability standard. Over half of these include improvements relating to endangered, threatened and protected species.

The Cornish sardine fishery is working on projects aimed at protecting marine wildlife. Sardine fishermen in Cornwall have collaborated with the Sea Mammal Research Unit to conduct studies using onboard video cameras and an app to better enable reporting interactions with endangered, threatened and protected species.

Cornish sardines also feature in MSC’s World Ocean Day campaign #BigBlueFuture this week, which is encouraging consumers to choose seafood with the MSC blue ecolabel and help protect oceans, livelihoods and fish for the future. 

Cornish sardine fisherman, Tom Pascoe, and the vessel he fishes on, Serene Dawn, can be seen in a new MSC #BigBlueFuture global campaign film, launched this week.

Gus Caslake from the Cornish Sardine Management Association (CSMA) said: 

“The hard work undertaken by CSMA members over the past few years has enhanced the management of not only the Cornish sardine fishery but also of the wider marine environment.

“The future looks good for the Cornish sardine, with excellent stock levels backed up by well-informed management advice.”

Globally, 15 of the improvements made helped enhance fisheries’ understanding and management of impacts on local ecosystems and habitats. This progress comes at a time when there is increasing concern about the unprecedented pressures facing our oceans. As highlighted by a recent UN Assessment report, there are many areas where urgent action is needed to avoid losing marine biodiversity – with tackling overfishing being a central part of this.

George Clark, MSC UK & Ireland Programme Director, said: “Unsustainable fishing practices are a serious threat to the biodiversity and productivity of our oceans, yet we know that with proper management, depleted stocks can recover and damaged ecosystems can once again flourish.”

The G7 effert - where the environmental lobbies want to see fishing heading

 

Government urged to commit to ban on damaging fishing in marine protected areas Oceana and Greenpeace made the call on World Oceans Day.

Campaigners are calling on the UK and devolved governments to commit to ban harmful trawl fishing in marine protected areas.

The call came as conservation organisation Oceana released analysis showing there were 68,000 hours of bottom trawling last year in areas which have been protected to conserve seabed habitats.

Greenpeace has launched a six-month operation with its new vessel Sea Beaver to patrol the UK’s protected areas off the south coast, documenting and taking action to stop destructive fishing.

The two organisations have come together on World Ocean Day to urge ministers to commit to ban bottom trawling in UK marine protected areas (MPAs) as a matter of urgency.

Conservationists warn that the fishing method, in which weighted nets are dragged over the seabed to catch fish, destroys important wildlife habitats on the seafloor as well as releasing carbon that is stored there.

The habitats are important for the health of the seas and species including commercially caught fish.

Analysis by Oceana, using the vessel-tracking data platform Global Fishing Watch and cross-referenced from the European Fleet Register, suggests 68,000 hours of fishing took place in 2020 in UK MPAs highlighted for their seabeds.

That is up 10% from 2019, despite the impact of Covid-19 on fishing activity, the organisation said.

If they cannot protect this small portion of our seas, what hope do we have for the rest of our ocean?

The data shows that 19 of the 64 offshore areas designated to protect seabed features and habitats such as rocky reefs, gravel habitats and cold-water corals experienced more than 1,000 hours of bottom trawl fishing in 2020.

Oceana said that since leaving the EU, UK ministers have the power to ban the most destructive industrial fishing vessels from MPAs immediately, but are continuing to license the activity.

Melissa Moore, head of UK policy at Oceana in Europe, said: “We are calling on UK and Scottish ministers to commit to ban bottom trawling in our marine protected areas, rather than licensing it.

“With the ecological and climate emergency we are in, swifter action is needed and the UK, along with all G7 countries, should lead the way to ensure marine protected areas are truly protected.”

Greenpeace said its Operation Ocean Witness, which will operate out of Newhaven, East Sussex from June until autumn, will document destructive fishing practices still permitted in UK seas and the wildlife in the oceans, and engage with fishing communities along the south coast.

Greenpeace oceans campaigner Chris Thorne accused the Government of calling itself a “global ocean champion while allowing destructive industrial fishing vessels to operate freely in our protected areas”.

“We’ve heard enough rhetoric, which is why we’re launching Operation Ocean Witness. 

“We will do our Government’s job for them, holding the most destructive fishing vessels to account and making sure our Government can’t hide the destruction taking place in our oceans, which so often remains beyond the horizon and out of sight for most of the public.”

He called on the Government to deliver on its promise to better protect the UK’s seas after Brexit, adding: 

“A world-leading network of marine protected areas, where all bottom trawlers and supertrawlers are banned, would revive our seas and coastal communities, unify our divided nation and make Britain a genuine leader in marine protection.”

A Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs spokesperson said: “We are committed to achieving a healthy and sustainable marine environment.

“Now we have left the EU, the Marine Management Organisation is consulting on additional safeguards for four of our precious marine protected areas, including banning activities that harm wildlife or damage habitats.”

Full story courtesy of the Standard here:

Workshop; Legal Challenges Faced by Coastal and Fishing Communities, Brexit and the New British Fisheries Policy (Tuesday, 8th June 2021)

 

Legal Challenges Faced by Coastal and Fishing Communities, Brexit and the New British Fisheries Policy (Tuesday, 8th June 2021)

Register here.

This workshop aims to bring together leading fisheries experts from academia, industry and policy to share their expertise, views and experience on the challenges that Brexit and the consequences for the United Kingdom in leaving the Common Fisheries Policy. How can we support and provide legal certainty to British and European fishing and coastal communities regarding the legal challenges posed by the UK’s new fisheries policy?

The goal of the workshop is to share and discuss ideas and emerging findings, share feedback on best practices, discuss legal issues and establish a dialogue between stakeholders and policymakers. A programme will be published online shortly before the workshop.

Register to join in with the meeting here - The workshop is open to all with an interest in fisheries and Brexit.

The “Legal challenges faced by coastal and fishing communities and the new British Fisheries Policy” is led by Dr Jonatan Echebarria Fernández of City Law School (Principal Investigator), Dr Tafsir Matin Johansson of World Maritime University (Senior Expert Consultant) and Mr Mitchell Lennan of the University of Strathclyde (Impact Assistant). The project is funded by the City Law School Higher Education Innovation Fund (HEIF).

The outcome of the workshop will lead to the publication of the “Fisheries in a Post-Brexit World – Economic, Legal and Policy Implications for the UK and the EU” monograph by Routledge. World leading experts from Academia, the fishing industry, and international organisations have confirmed their participation.

The following speakers have confirmed their participation:

1.Gerard van Balsfoort (European Union Fisheries Alliance / EUFA, Europêche) 

2.Catherine Barnard (University of Cambridge) 

3.Andrew Serdy (University of Southampton) 

4.Mercedes Rosello (Leeds Beckett University) 

5.Miguel Núñez Sánchez (Spanish Ministry of Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda) 

6.Richard Barnes (University of Lincoln) 

7.Elizabeth Bourke (National Federation of Fishermen’s Organisations) 

8.Seán Marriott (University of Lincoln) 

9.Rod Cappell (Poseidon Aquatic Resource Management) 

10.Ciarán O’Driscoll (European Movement Ireland) 11.Jimmy Buchan (Scottish Seafood Association)

The two panels will be chaired by Elaine Fahey (City Law School) and Jason Chuah (City Law School).

You can find and download the full programme here [PDF].

Please note that the workshop will be recorded.

Attendance at City events is subject to our terms and conditions.