International Symposium on Labelling and Authenticity of Seafood (ISLAS)

The Labelfish team are proud to announce our next stakeholder workshop under our networking initiative Labelfishnet: the International Symposium of Labelling and Authenticity of Seafood (ISLAS).

Covering an array of topics related to labelling and authenticity of seafood the symposium will include the following sessions:

1.Latest labelling legislation and governance for seafood2.Labelling and traceability: industry perspective3.Labelling and traceability: consumers4.Seafood authentication: current methodologies5.Labelling: environmental and conservation issues6.Progress on seafood authenticity methodology

Registration is not yet open, but keep an eye on the News & Events section of our website where these and other ISLAS details will be announced in the coming weeks and months. All registered stakeholders will receive ISLAS notifications, so to make sure you are kept up to date on this and other Labelfish news sign up at here.

Invitation to the Forum Science and Governance of the Marine Ecosystem of the Channel Caen, 2-3 July 2014

Here is an open invitation to this year's Science and Governance of the English Channel conference due to take place in Caen this July.


The Promoting Effective Governance of the Channel Ecosystem project (PEGASEAS) is hosting three Cross Channel Forum events in 2014. These events are designed to bring together policy-makers, practitioners, stakeholders, and scientists to advance the governance of the Channel ecosystem using natural and social science.

We are proud to announce that the second Cross Channel Forum is entitled “Science and Governance of the Channel Marine Ecosystem” and will be held in Caen on the 2nd and 3rd of July 2014. This event is being organised by scientists from IFREMER Boulogne-sur-Mer and the University of Caen Basse-Normandie and will focus on integrating marine science into the governance of the Channel ecosystem.

The Forum will provide opportunities for: s

• Scientists to contribute to a trans-disciplinary analysis of the Channel marine ecosystem by sharing their results and conclusions.
• Stakeholders and policy-makers to hear about recent research into the Channel marine ecosystem and consider how this can support the governance of the Channel.

Session tittles:

• The Channel ecosystem: actual state, tools, results and its governance 
• The present and future challenges in the Channel: Science and Governance 
• Toward integrated management of the Channel: what are the future research and action in order to improve the Channel governance?

Workshop topics:

• Partnerships and improvement of the management of the marine ecosystems. 
• Management of the human activities and governance at multiple scales 
• Participation and involvement of stakeholders and use of the data/information

Simultaneous translation in English and French will be provided.

Download the registration file below and send it back to forum@pegaseas.eu to register for free

Watch Pendeen Watch - the next Helen Glover?

Good to see the number of kids coming through aboard...

the gigs Portheras and the Pendeen Watch....

 which one will be the next Helen Glover?...

the Rowse crabber Chris Tacha towers over the quay at high water...

more shellfish in the shape of scallops aboard the Celtic Pride making their way into the port...

throught the gaps is the Amethyst...

and the Rebecca heading for the gaps...

local art work brightens up the coast path.

Penzance's Ross Bridge opens to let out a fishing boat.

Captured in a time-lapse video- the beam trawler Aaltje Adriaantje exits Penzance Dry Dock and passes out through the Ross Bridge which carries road traffic across the harbour in Penzance.

Fishing News International - What's behind the Green Agenda?

What's behind the Green Agenda on Fishing? Quentin Knights writes in a special report for Fishing news International this month. With Defra and the MMO coming out and showing strong support for a stand against a pan- European ban on drift netting this article would seem to be a perfectly timed piece of investigative journalism!

Martin Pastors leaves the GAP2 project - for all the right reasons it seems!

A PROMINENT fisheries scientist, Martin Pastoors, is leaving his role in the GAP2 project to join the fishing industry, as he feels this is more effective way of ensuring fish conservation.

Having worked with GAP2 – a project that aims to demonstrate the role and value of stakeholder driven science within the context of fisheries' governance – for the past three years, Pastoors has resigned as leader of Work Package 3 and is taking up a new role as the first Chief Science Officer at the Pelagic Freezer-trawler Association (PFA).

One of the main reasons for leaving GAP2, he explains, is the problems that are likely to be caused by the implementation of the EU's discard ban. "The main challenge that I see at the moment is to keep the fishing industry onboard when the policy is looking for drastic changes but without very good explanations or means. I am really concerned that the new discard ban could do a lot of harm to the positive developments that we have seen over the last decade with the decline in fishing mortality, with the RACs as platforms of collaboration and with initiatives like the Scottish conservation credit scheme. The discard ban is a very complex piece of legislation that is very very difficult to explain. There have been many meetings already trying to figure out what the different elements mean. Taking the discard ban as a learning process, then it could develop in something positive. But if it would be rolled out as a control and enforcement approach, I am really concerned that it will do much more harm than good.

"Overall the challenge that I see is to go from a very hierarchical top-down micromanagement style of fisheries management to a management style that is more comparable to other industries: where society gives out a license to produce but the industry needs to demonstrate that it complies with the license. Making the industry responsible to society instead of society telling the industry what to do. That is also why I have taken the strategic decision to be part of the industry and trying to work in that direction."

Accurate fishing data?

Students the world over embarking on a project that involves data collection face the same problem - just where do you go to get the data and how accurate is it?

In the case of fishing, you might head for your local or national MMO or Defra office. Or you might decide to ask of the FAO - the Fisheries Agriculture Organisation - part of the United nations, both are worthy bodies and their data is used to help determine catch quotas for the EU fleets in the North east Atlantic.

If you were looking for albacore tuna catch data in the new millennium these two bodies would seem to be a good choice. Here are their figures:

What's a student to do?

Can anyone help or explain the significant difference in the data between 2008 and 2012?

If so, please email Gareth John gdj501@york.ac.uk at York University who is studying a degree in Marine Environmental Management.


This is how the data was presented:

Year	FAO Albacore	MMO Albacore
2000	15	NA
2001	2	NA
2002	0	NA
2003	0	NA
2004	0	NA
2005	6	NA
2006	18	NA
2007	30	NA
2008	50	50
2009	66	50
2010	118	20
2011	57	5
2012	NA	NA