Swapping degrees for sardines!

Two stories hit the web today - both relate to the exploitation of fish from big foreign vessels. The first looks at an unusual offer from the Russian government to buy in a legal fishing opportunity off the coast of Senegal, while the other reports on foreign vessels making a mockery of local Goan fishing laws - sound familiar? - some things are slow to change it seems!

The Russian government has expressed interest in undertaking big-scale fishing in the waters of several African countries in exchange for free university scholarships.

The Senegalese News Agency, quoted the Russian embassy, said the Russians, apart from giving the scholarships, would also provide vehicles, construction material and office equipment to selected African countries.

The targeted countries are Morocco, Mauritania, Senegal, Guinea-Bissau and Namibia.

The Association of Russian Fishermen currently operating in several West African countries was quoted as saying that the agreement would help them to “optimise” their catch.

The association reportedly seeks to attain 400,000 tonnes of fish - mainly sardines and mackerel - and in turn hand over $160 million to the African countries.

The Russian offer comes at a time when many West African countries and particularly Senegal, are pushing out foreign fishing companies which have been flaunting fisheries regulations over the years.

Early this year, the international environmental watchdog Greenpeace disclosed that 44 giant Russian trawlers were massively exploiting fish resources within Senegal’s maritime territory and called for an immediate end to the practice.

The watchdog explained that the vessels had each the capacity of harvesting about 250 tonnes of fish per day and were “dangerously threatening to deplete the fisheries resources” in Senegalese waters.

Insiders said the Senegalese government has been losing over $4 billion annually to illegal fishing.

Story courtesy of Africa Review web site:


Sadly, in this story it seems the directorate of fishing is either complicit or unable or unwilling to do anything about illegal fishing!

TEAM HERALD 

teamherald@herald-goa.com

PANJIM: Local fishermen on Monday accosted six trawlers from Karnataka which were found allegedly fishing in Goan territorial waters, even as the huge catch from these boats was being auctioned till late night by the Directorate of Fisheries.

Four of the trawlers were found off the Panjim coast, while two were caught off Vasco. Three of the trawlers were found berthed at the Malim jetty across Panjim late in the evening. 

An angry sounding Chairman of Mandovi Fisheries, Menino Afonso, said, “We sailed one hour from Panjim before accosting four of the trawlers fishing in Goan waters. These are having 350 hp engines, more powerful than our boats which run on 140 hp engines. This is illegal.” 

Afonso maintained each trawler had caught plenty of fish and the same was being auctioned by the Directorate of Fisheries. 

Director of Fisheries Nandkishor Verlekar remained present at the Malim Jetty till late night and was unavailable for a clear comment from his cell phone due to the auctioning chaos in the background. 

The Chairman of the Mandovi Fisheries said 15 days ago they had written to the Fisheries Department to station two officers to check outside trawlers fishing in Goan waters, but nothing was done in this regard. 

“While we have been given white colour code for our boats, these trawlers from outside don’t follow the same protocol. We also found out that none of the fishermen had identity cards. It looks like all the rules are for Goan fishermen only,” Afonso said while ridiculing conditions imposed on Goan fishermen.

“If fishermen from Karnataka and Tamil Nadu cast their nets in our waters how are we supposed to earn our livelihood? We will have to dock our boats and go home,” he said.

Mandovi Fisheries and other organizations of the boat owners have now called upon the authorities to pass a stern message to the Karnataka Government about their trawlers fishing here. They have threatened to block the Mandovi channel by docking their boats in the middle till the Government takes note of their grievances and takes firm steps to check the menace. 

Afonso said they have given a complaint to the Directorate of Fisheries and are waiting to see what action they will be taking against these trawlers. 

Story courtesy of the Goan Herald online.

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Megs 'n monk on Monday's morning market

Cracking quality from the inshore trawler Inisfallen...

while up at the Western end of the market traditionally the preserve of the net boats, the Ajax's final trip of the year produced well over a hundred boxes of good sized hake...

all bright-eyed and bushy tailed...

complete with QR code tallies...

plenty of megrim soles with the beam trawler Trevessa IV...

and a big run of ray from the inshore trawler Shiralee...

wide open gills on a big cod, inside, the gill plates are as sharp as razor blades!...

best bass boats had a good weekend on the Runnelstone Reef...

and this is typical of the finest line caught cod on the market, not a scale out of place...

the sardines are showing again...

alongside the fish market for the last time this year...

the boys on the Ajax over-end a tier of nets ready to go ashore for repairs...

 

as Tom keeps watch under the early morning moon and stars.

Trawling trials aim to cut fish wastage

A good-news story from the North Sea!

FISHING trials centred on addressing the issue of discards, involving five Grimsby-registered vessels, have produced positive results.

The throwing away of fish at sea – an issue highlighted by television cook Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall provoking widespread concern – has been virtually eliminated in the study.

Discards of sole, cod, plaice, megrim and angler fish were drastically reduced.

Operated on behalf of the Department For Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, the Marine Management Organisation report details how the practice could be an alternative method of managing fisheries, at a time when the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) is undergoing reform.

The trials encourage fishermen to fish more selectively and land all of what they catch.

Participating vessels were provided with additional quota that amounted to three quarters of the typical discards.

As a result the average discard rate in the North Sea cod trawl dropped from 38 per cent to 0.2 per cent.

Vessels were not permitted to discard any of the species in the trials, including those below the minimum size.

Undersized fish catches were also low, suggesting more selective fishing.

James Cross, chief executive of the MMO, said: "This is really good news for all those interested in a long-term, sustainable future for our fishing industry.

"By working with fishermen to develop innovative solutions, we hope to reduce waste of our marine resources, while increasing healthy seas and fish stocks for the future."

Fisheries Minister Richard Benyon is keen for the trials to be rolled out to other fisheries in advance of CFP reform.

Full story courtesy of the Grimsby Telegraph.

Crystal Sea II - the biggest twin rigger in the West

Skipper David Stevens supervises loading a refurbished set of trawl doors aboard the twin rigging trawler, Crystal Sea II.  The using of two trawls together rather than one equivalent larger trawl has proved highly successful for white fish boats. As yet, there are still only a small number of boats rigged this way s in the South West despite the huge increase in catch rates seen by those practising the dark art of twin rigging!

The video below, commissioned by Notus, an electronics company that provides monitoring gear used by many of the bigger vessels gives an excellent overview of the work and setup involved.



Big Brother goes to sea!

In previous postings Mogen Shou and others have made reference to the use of CCTV aboard fishing vessels to monitor exactly what the boat catches and when. Danish trials using CCTV on a small number of selected vessels proved popular with some - but there are still a sizeable number of boats who feel this is a step too far with shades of an oppressive Orwellian regime looming ever larger.

Allowing for the law of unintended consequences, one potential positive outcome of the trials would be to provide concrete and irrefutablee evidence of the abundance of some species! - time will tell.  Fishermen and fisheries advisers in the EU are desperate for change to happen sooner rather than later in terms of responding to initiatives like these - especially as the annual generally fraught CFP talks take place later this month to set next year's TACs.


Danish fishermen recently ran a pilot study allowing CCTV to monitor there every move - a sort of nautical Big brother only this time the stars of the show ere mainly North Sea fish floundering on deck rather than wannabes floundering on some decking!


The trials were widely reported in Scotland where a similar pilot study has since been carried out.

This report fro STVs News web site:

Scientists placed cameras onboard seven boats like the Fru Middelboe in a pilot study - allowing them to monitor all the fish that were caught and thrown away.

Aqua Scientist Lotte Kindt-Larsen from Denmark Technical University said: "We normally don't have access to this kind of data except for having observers onboard, but now we are filming everything and we have data for every day they go out."

Each year one million tonnes of fish are dumped back dead into EU waters - either legally because legislation stops skippers landing what they have caught, or illegally when fishermen throw away small fish for larger, more profitable ones.

The Danes say their study has shown the quantity of discards decreases when cameras are installed.
Powerful environmental groups who warn of critically low fish stocks have given their backing to the scheme.

WWF Marine Policy Officer Louize Hill said: "The use of cameras onboard is fantastic. WWF has advocated the use of observers on fishing boats for a long time to record what is actually being caught because with the present system we can only record what's landed."
The discards row has left fishermen branded as environmental villains – one of the reasons why Fin Svendsen, the skipper of the Kingfisher was keen to sign up to the scheme.

Mr Svendsen said: "I think it's a good idea to have onboard because then we can show how much we catch without discards."
But clearing their name is not the fishermen’s’ only incentive.

The Danish Government want to allow boats with cameras to land and sell more fish - a move they say is achievable because existing quotas already deduct discards from the amount fishermen are allowed to catch.

If there are no discards then fishermen could catch the full amount.
To do this they need the European Commission's backing, which means they will have to persuade the rest of Europe that it is a good idea.

Ministerial Adviser Mogens Schou said: "It's of course crucial that other member states and the EU commission can see that there's an advantage and it's also crucial I think that we can see it can be a driver for fishermen to be more accountable for what they fish."
Scotland is already showing interest in the proposal with a pilot scheme launched last month.
Scottish Fisheries Secretary Richard Lochhead MSP said: "It will show the policy makers, particularly in Brussels who are often very heavy handed, what actually happens onboard the fishing vessels and the impact that their regulations can have."

However, not all Scots fishermen are convinced by the introduction of the cameras - seeing it as spying by Brussels.

Scots skipper David Milne said: "We have satellite monitoring, we are going to electronic log books in 2011 and we feel it's just an infringement of our human rights to have someone watching us day in day out at our work."

But for the Danes, cameras are a way of freeing fishermen from the bureaucracy of Brussels - with CCTV they say there is no need for the 2,600 rules which currently govern every aspect of fishing.
It remains to see if Denmark’s seafaring neighbours in Europe will be similarly convinced.

This video gives a guided tour of how the system was set up for the trials.

CCTV cameras on fishing vessels ensure that all fish caught are counted. Fishermen can have increased quotas, control can be reduced, and consumer be assured of sustainability.

CFP reform - what the industry needs to do in order to move forward in charge of its own destiny.

Mogens Schou has added a further comment to the ongoing debate being held on LinkedIn:


"The reformed CFP (at present council’s general approach) has a Janus face looking into the past with ongoing micro management and into the future with results based management. As a framework regulation the transition to the new policy requires a prudence and “understanding of the principles” implementation. A critical factor is the phasing in of industry responsibility and phasing out of public regulation – especially the risk of deregulation being too slow, thereby stalling the incentive effects of CQM. See http://www.blog.clientearth.org/reform/ “reaping the benefits of the CFP”.

Now, my point is that industry driven large scale trials may set the standard for the implementing regulations. Such trials are already done in CQM - Catch Quota Management trials conducted by Denmark, UK and Germany since 2008 and now covering about 30 % of cod catches in the North Sea (see www.fvm.dk/yieldoffish ). I see a number of opportunities to deal with the new CFP issues this way. A support from funders to the industry in designing, following and reporting such trials could be a very concrete way of moving the new management ahead - before the deadlines set in the CFP and in a way that ensure that regulations do not only protect the fish but also provide the food output and economy we want. How to deal with the discard ban and the necessary exemptions, how to tackle the choke species problem, how to establish community pooling ensuring the matching of quotas with catches – etc, how to establish comprehensive data from commercial vessels etc"

Mogens Schou

Advisor to the Minister of Fisheries

Slotsholmsgade 12 CPH

msc@fvm.dk; +45 22 61 05 75