Live from the EU - Seminar "State of Fish Stocks and the Economics of Fishing Fleets"

The Directorate General for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries of the European Commission (DG MARE) is organising a Scientific Seminar on the status of European fish stocks, fisheries management systems and the economic performance of the EU fishing fleet.

Presentations will be made by senior experts in fisheries biology from DG MARE, ICES (International Council for the Exploration of the Sea) and STECF (Scientific, Technical and Economic Committee for Fisheries), among others.

The meeting will be opened by our Director General, Mr Joao Aguiar Machado, and closed by Mr Karmenu Vella, European Commissioner for Environment, Maritime Affairs and Fisheries. The sessions will be chaired by Mrs Hélène Clark, Director for Fisheries Policy Atlantic, North Sea, Baltic and Outermost Regions.

You will also be able to follow the sessions, thanks to the twitter coverage of @EU_MARE and the dedicated hashtag is #EUFishEcon, as well as the access to the live webstreaming on the day of the seminar 

(https://webcast.ec.europa.eu/scientific-seminar-2017).

AGENDA

Seminar "State of Fish Stocks and the Economics of Fishing Fleets" 

Van Maerlant Building, rue Van Maerlant, 2-18, (room VML02) 1040 Etterbeek, Brussels, Belgium, 26th September 2017 – 9h15-13h00 

Session moderator: Hélène Clark, European Commission, 
Director, Fisheries Policy Atlantic, North Sea, Baltic and Outermost Regions 

• Registration and welcome coffee (from 8.30 onwards) 
• Welcome João Aguiar Machado, DG MARE Director General 9.15-9.30 
• Comparison of EU and US fisheries management systems Ernesto Penas Lado, DG MARE Principal Adviser 9.30-10.00 
• Questions and discussion 10.00-10.15 
• Economic performance of the EU fishing fleet Michael Keatinge, STECF, Chair of the STECF WG on Economics 10.15-10.35 
• Questions and discussion 10.35-10.45 
• Coffee break 10.45-11.15 
• Long-term trends with respect to Maximum Sustainable Yield (MSY) Ernesto Jardim, JRC , Senior Fisheries Scientist 11.15-11.35 
• Biological status and developments of the main stocks - Northeast Atlantic Eskild Kirkegaard, ICES Advisory Committee Chair 11.35-11.50 - 
• Mediterranean Clara Ulrich, STECF Chair 11.50-12.10 
• Questions and discussion 12.10-12.40 
• Concluding remarks Karmenu Vella, European Commissioner for Environment, Maritime Affairs and Fisheries 12.40 Closing 13.0

Throughout the whole event, simultaneous interpretation will be provided in English and Spanish.

Top story in the Fishing News this week

English under-10s struggle to earn a living. Tough controls and loss of grounds threaten future.

Under 10m vessels make up the greatest percentage of the UK fleet.

A mounting regulatory burden and heavy-handed enforcement are threatening the inshore fleet in England, reports Tim Oliver. Fishermen say the increasing amount of regulation and licence restrictions imposed on them by IFCAs and the MMO, plus lack of quotas, loss of grounds to MPAs, windfarms, cable laying, dredging and other restrictions are making it impossible to make a living. They say IFCAs and the MMO enforce regulations rigorously, with no margins for genuine mistakes, and there is no trust and a lack of communication between IFCAs and the industry.

Regular posts on the Fishing News Facebook page and conversations with fishermen attest to the frustration and anger they feel over the way the inshore industry is managed. Few young men are entering the industry and there are fears of long-term decline as the average age of fishermen increases – despite the new era Brexit promises. The problems are particularly acute in the South and South East.


Fishermen at Wells-next-the-Sea in Norfolk have forcibly expressed their alienation from the fisheries authorities in this hard-hitting notice.
One young inshore fisherman, Pete Williams of Emsworth near Portsmouth, said he is finding it so impossible to fish viably that he has put his under-10m boat, Sarah C, up for sale. He said he knows of five fishermen who have left the industry this year and last year, and of another five who are likely to do so this or next year. He told Fishing News that the endless restrictions and loss of fisheries year-after-year were destroying the versatility the inshore fleet needs to survive. He was particularly critical of the Sussex IFCA, which he accused of treating fishermen with ‘complete contempt’. He has lodged a formal complaint against it over its recent confiscation of cuttle traps.

“They’re boarding us, checking us, searching us and posting it all over social media as soon as a fisherman is fined or warned. They’re treating us like millionaire criminals, when actually we’re all struggling and on the verge of going under because of all the draconian, stupid regulations that have come in over the past few years,” he told Fishing News.

“They’re talking about bringing in a netting permit next year, so not only will we be regulated by the CFP, quotas, minimum mesh and landing sizes, and conservation areas, but we’ll be managed by the amount of netting gear we use in the IFCA areas. People are going to go bust.

“All the fish markets are struggling in the South and South East, most of the inshore fleet and co-ops are struggling, and the IFCAs are just fining people left, right and centre and dealing with us in a very heavy-handed way.”

Safety threat

He said the IFCAs did not understand the practical realities of fishing and ‘how close to the wire we’re being forced to sail to make a living. They think if they close an area, we can just go somewhere else, but the reality is it’s making it more and more unsafe for small vessels to work because we’re being pushed out of sheltered waters.’

He said fishermen all along the coast chat to each other and they are all ‘sick to death of the way we’re being treated’. “They’re making me ill and affecting my family life, my wife and daughter because we’re having to live this nightmare.”

Eric McLeod who runs shellfish merchants Viviers UK, based in Portsmouth and Billingsgate, has regular contact with inshore fishermen from throughout the region. He said the way fishermen are being treated is ‘terrible’ and needs involvement from the top level in DEFRA, the MMO and the fisheries management establishment.

“What Pete Williams says is true – you can hear the same views from all the established, experienced fishermen,” he told Fishing News.

“We’re losing fishing grounds to MCAs, MPAs, windfarms, cables – they’re even telling you what hours you can fish,” he said.

The IFCAs, he said, were run by academics and other people with no knowledge or experience of the fishing industry – hardly anyone from the fishing industry is on their committees and fishery officers now call themselves ‘enforcement officers’.

“It’s unacceptable to the fishing industry, and the way it’s going, it’s on its way out. When I came ashore in 1985, there were 30,000 fishermen – it’s down to 10,200 now, maximum.”

The number of boats has fallen to 6000 – a reduction of 28% since 1996, according to UK Fisheries Statistics.

“Dozens of boats are on the market and they’re not selling. There are very few young people entering the industry and doing their courses. It’s terrible what’s going on and the government needs to know.”

Tim Dapling, chief executive of the Sussex IFCA, said he could not comment specifically on Pete Williams’ case as it was the subject of a formal complaint. But he said he did not recognise the overall relationship between fishermen, and rejected claims that the IFCA is heavy-handed and does not communicate with fishermen.

“I completely refute these comments, they don’t reflect the situation here or the feedback we get from fishermen,” he told Fishing News.

“Fishery officers have regular contact with fishermen and the IFCA receives positive feedback from fishermen on the shellfish permit, which provides a lot of detailed info on how the scheme is working and receives considerable support.

“I can’t comment specifically on these remarks but more generally, perhaps, there is a need to look at the broader context rather than isolated comments.”

IFCA under fire in official complaint

A fisherman from the Solent has slammed his local IFCA over what he says is heavy-handed action over the removal of his cuttle traps from Chichester Harbour at the beginning of September.

Subscribe to Fishing News online here.

Pete Williams was unaware his traps had been lifted until he saw the Sussex IFCA post on Facebook. Pete Williams, who operates the Sarah C SE 121 from Emsworth in the Solent, has told the Sussex IFCA in a formal complaint letter that he is ‘seriously not happy’ about the way the IFCA has behaved. He said he had no communication from the IFCA about the removal of the traps and only found out about it from a post the IFCA put on Facebook. He accused the IFCA of publicly flaunting what it appeared to regard as an ‘achievement’.

The traps were removed because some of the identification tags had come off the traps.

“I do not find this good practice. I hold a shellfish permit, and I comply with your regulations,” he told the IFCA.

He said he had placed the traps to allow the cuttlefish eggs to come off. The buoy was clearly labelled/marked and each trap had a tag on. He had not lifted them as he wanted the eggs to hatch. He could see the traps were still in position and had no need to lift them.

“Should we stuff the environment and pressure wash the eggs off?” he asked.

The pen on the buff had probably come off because he had to lay it in 3ft of water to comply with harbour authority arrangements to avoid navigational issues. This meant the buff rubbed on the sand every time the tide went out.

The missing tags had probably come off because of bad weather, but 50% of the traps had tags on when they were hauled. “You could clearly see that they were my traps and they made no effort to contact me to fix this problem.”

He said if the IFCA had phoned him to say some of the tags had come off he would have replaced them, or advised them that they would be removed entirely by the end of the week. He had only used 16 traps since June, to be sustainable, and the IFCA had lost 25% of them when they lifted them.

The traps have been taken to a distant ‘secure location’ and because he does not have a vehicle suitable for transporting them, he has now lost his entire cuttle fishery.

He said the IFCA had ‘yet again’ adopted a ‘heavy-handed approach, with a lack of respect, care or consideration for a licensed fishing operation and business in this area’.

“It has caused me unnecessary stress and I am financially out of pocket. This issue could have been resolved very easily, and quickly, instead you have taken my traps, not alerted me and left me in a predicament where I cannot access the cuttle fishery next year,” he told the IFCA.

He has asked for his pots to be returned, along with back rope, anchors and weights, to the location from where they had been removed, and compensation for the lost pots. He had been intending to use the back ropes for prawn pots so was now suffering loss of earnings.

He accepted the traps had to be tagged, and he could have done this if the IFCA had contacted him.

NFFO chief executive Barrie Deas, who was copied in on Pete Williams’ complaint letter to the Sussex IFCA, said rules have to be enforced but enforcement should be done ‘in a reasonable, balanced, proportionate way’.

He said there was a concern that things seemed to escalate very rapidly and that in Pete Williams’ case a phone call or a warning would have been appropriate.

“There may be a manpower issue – I’m not talking about IFCAs specifically,” he said. “At one time there was somebody on the coast fishermen could talk to who would have understood the fishing patterns, and I think we’ve lost something there.

“The first stop shouldn’t be heavy-handed action, it should be dialogue. If there are problems, they should be resolved before things escalate. The way to achieve that is to have dialogue. Penalties should be the last resort not the first resort.”

Tim Dapling, chief executive of the Sussex IFCA, said he could not discuss the case because it was the subject of a formal complaint.

Read more from Fishing News here.

Monday morning's market in Newlyn

Huge orange handrails are being added to the pier ladders to meet ever more stringent H&S regulations...

a fairly light landing's board this morning with just the two beamers and an inshore trawler putting fish ashore over the weekend...

giving plenty of space for the boxes...

as Harbour master Rob Parsons makes mental notes the state of market dress code...

just one of the big monk tails landed...

along with a good shot of JDs from Tom on the harvest Reaper...

while Dumps on the Lisa popped a few bass ashore...

the Silvery Sea managed to hook into a small albacore tuna with his lines -  maybe there is more of a tuna fishery out there waiting to be exploited?...

to go with the more traditional mackerel scene...

either way, Gary has his work cut out recording...

a big haul of line caught and tagged bass form the Cynthia

the cuttle catch were kept separate this morning at the far end of the as work begins to shut down half the market prior to starting the major market refurb next month...

Elisabeth Veronique is about to take ice before setting sail...

shorter handrails have been installed alongside the landing cranes.

Remember the great storms of 2013-14? - will those Caribbean hurricanes make it to the UK?

WindyTV provides a superb animated forecast (you choose any one of a dozen parameters like wind or wave height) - this sequence takes in the entire North Atlantic showing how the hurricanes and low pressure weather systems track NE across the Atlantic to the western shores of the UK.

Here's a reminder of the winter of 2013-14 when the UK was hit by twelve huge storms from October to February that traversed the Atlantic in ever-increasing ferocity culminating in the Valentine's Day storm that created so much destruction to ports like Porthleven.

It was not only UK fishermen that suffered of course where many boats were forced to stay tied up in port for weeks at a time. In France, a handful braved the forecasts and tried to put together a trip of fish. Rémy Baranger, a skipper of Loctudy in Finistère, sent these videos taken over the last few days of that February storm aboard his trawler, Phoenix 1. They were south of Ireland when the trawler from Loctudy encountered Dantésque sea conditions

Remy Baranger has faced storms and rough sea conditions many times in the last 18 years since he fished from Loctudy in Finistère.

But that last fishing trip will remain etched forever in his mind and in the memory of his crew. On February 1st 2014, the Phoenix 1 left Loctudy, and on Thursday February 13th, fourteen days in the midst of the storms that swept the North Atlantic in recent weeks. Fourteen days when the crew were tossed by the heavy swell and the winds.

"We took advantage of a weather window to leave on February 1st, when all the others were coming back." Arriving on the fishing area, halfway between southern Ireland and the Isles of Scilly (east of English Cornwall), the Phoenix 1 met very difficult sea conditions. 

It was also in a fishing zone nearby and that same night (from February 1 to 2) that the Sillon, a trawler of Guilvinec will be victim of a wave scélérate. The six fishermen of the Sillon were forced to abandoned their boat and were hoisted from the sea by SAR helicopter and then recovered.

The weather was so bad the boat only managed one fishing day out of each two.

From stormy seas, the crew of the Phoenix 1 has already braved on many occasions. But what especially marked these professionals of the fishing, it was the power of the winds encountered during those last days. "The crests of winds that we are not used to seeing." Gusts that mean that in this zone where there is no "very high depth and where the sea is less formed", the swell becomes terrible. Winds at 50, 60 knots with points at more than 85 knots, as shown by the anemometer of the trawler in the video shot by the fisherman. A sea in fury that makes these experienced sailors sometimes afraid:

"We took two serious waves. They could have smashed the boat. " "Some of my crew told me they had never seen anything like it before." "These are conditions that you only see once in your life," says Rémy Baranger.

Full story courtesy of France3 TV translated by Google.

Full-on #FishyFriday in Newlyn

Good to see the net boats included on the arrivals board...

with the market continuing to see huge landings of plaice...

and cuttles from beam trawlers...

like the Twilight III...

and Filadelfia...

when there were over forty 450Kg tubs of cuttles put ashore...

while the netter Joy of Ladram stuck to more conventional landings with haddock...

and hake...

going down in auctioneer Ian's little black book...

along with these cracking red gurnards...

and big flats from the beamers

seems to be something missing here...

two shades of blonde...

it's the CFG of hake...

only inshore day boats working handy inmshore land fish of this quality, like these gorgeous red mullet...

and near perfect red gurnards - something most fish cooks have ever had the pleasure of putting under a grill or stuffing and baking as they lose the depth of colour seen here within 12 hours of being caught...

the amazing mackerel...

and a few more reds...

the downside of landing Brixham squid, the cleaning up job afterwards...

stunning morning once again...

as the transport...

takes on board the night's sardine catch..

or the beamers take on fuel...

or head for the ice works...

overnight stay for another lifeboat...

classic sails in the sunrise...

as mother leads in her brood.

The MMO is researching the Pressures of different fishing gear over the next four years

The MMO is researching the Pressures of different fishing gear over the next four years to enhance understanding of the types and magnitudes of pressures exerted by different types of fishing gear on the environment, and potential management actions that may be appropriate to manage any negative impacts from the fishing gear on protected features.

Brexit: Trade in food inquiry launched

Scope of the inquiry

The Committee wishes to examine how a potential trade deal could affect farmers, food processors and consumers.

Neil Parish MP, Chair of the Committee, said:

"The food, fish and farming sector is a key part of the UK economy, contributing some £108 billion annually and employing around 3.9 million people. The country’s half a million farmers produce 60% of the food eaten in the UK and manage some 70% of the land area.

It is vital that future trade arrangements allow farmers, fishermen and food processors to compete effectively. We welcome views on the steps that the Government and agri-food sector need to take to enable fishermen and processors to sell more of their produce at home and abroad. We also want to hear views on how trade policies can best allow UK consumers access to affordable, good quality food after Brexit."


It is hugely important that as many members of the industry as possible write and respond to this inquiry.  Maybe, in the interests of equality of opportunity Defra staff could visit places like Newlyn, Plymouth, Brixham or Mevagissey and get responses first hand to help those who don't have easy access to the internet or can easily put pen to paper and get their thoughts across to make a point.


The Environment Food and Rural Affairs Committee invites evidence on the impact on the UK food and farming sectors of potential new trading arrangements with the EU after Brexit.

Inquiry: Brexit: Trade in food
Environment Food and Rural Affairs Committee

The Committee wishes to examine how a potential trade deal could affect farmers, food processors and consumers.

UK goods and services can currently move freely between countries in the EU's single market. The EU's customs union also imposes standard tariffs on products traded into the UK from non-EU countries. A new framework for trading food and agricultural products across European borders will present new opportunities and challenges for the UK's agri-food sector.

Chair's comments
Neil Parish MP, Chair of the Committee, said:

"The food and farming sector is a key part of the UK economy, contributing some £108 billion annually and employing around 3.9 million people. The country's half a million farmers produce 60% of the food eaten in the UK and manage some 70% of the land area.

It is vital that future trade arrangements allow farmers and food processors to compete effectively. We welcome views on the steps that the Government and agri-food sector need to take to enable farmers and processors to sell more of their produce at home and abroad. We also want to hear views on how trade policies can best allow UK consumers access to affordable, good quality food after Brexit."

Scope of the inquiry:

The Committee invites interested parties to submit written evidence by 20 October 2017 on:

1. What challenges and opportunities will the UK food, fish and farming sectors face from new trade arrangements with EU countries after the UK leaves the European Union?
2. What trade policy objectives should Defra/ the UK Government establish in order to achieve the right balance between the interests of food consumers, producers and processors, and the environment?
3. How effective are the Government's arrangements for consulting the food, fish and farming sector and for representing their interests within the UK’s negotiations with the EU?
4. How effective are the Government's arrangements for representing the interests of the four nations within the UK's negotiations for trade in food?
5. What can farmers, fishermen, food producers and processors, and government do to prepare for changes to trading arrangements, including to improve production and to reduce trading costs?
6. The Committee will look at specific agricultural sectors in-depth: evidence which refers to the experiences of the sheep and lamb, beef, dairy, pork, poultry, horticultural and cereals industry are particularly welcome. An initial examination of the sheep production and processing sector is planned for the autumn.

Please note: The Committee is not specifically addressing labour impacts of Brexit as a short report published by Efra in the last Parliament covered these issues.