A leading fishing organisation has called for carbon monoxide (CO) detectors to be fitted to all vessels following the death of two fishermen earlier this year…
The National Federation of Fishermen’s Organisations (NFFO) has called for carbon monoxide detectors (CO) to be installed on all vessels following the death of two fishermen in Whitby. Mark Arries, 26, and Edward Ide, 21, were found dead onboard the moored vessel, Eschol, in January. The NFFO is now calling for additional measures to be put into place to prevent this happening again.
Chief Executive of the NFFO Barrie Deas said: “We are not normally in the business of adding to the regulatory burden on fishermen, but the minimal cost involved in fitting an alarm and the catastrophic consequences of CO poisoning has persuaded us that an obligation to fit a detector should be included in the new code of practice.”
The NFFO has been working with the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) to follow recommendations from the Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB). The MAIB report into the tragedy was released this month, and showed the cause of death was CO poisoning. The report noted that the installation of an alarm could have prevented the deaths.
Installing CO alarms on fishing vessels does fall under Health and Safety Work Regulations, which stipulate that risks should be identified and suitable measures taken to reduce the chance of harm. However, the requirement is non-specific.
The NFFO’s Safety and Training Officer Robert Greenwood said: “This is a tragic incident, which unfortunately isn’t as rare as we’d hope it to be. But, one simple change could have avoided it: the installation of a carbon monoxide alarm. The NFFO fully supports the inclusion of a requirement for fitting carbon monoxide detectors in the new codes of practice and we expect it will save lives, instead of the current situation where individuals are punished for ignorance or negligence when it’s already too late.”
Six other cases since 2000 were also highlighted in the MAIB report, which stated that seven people had died as a result of CO poisoning, the majority of whom were fishermen.
Greenwood added: “With fishing already the most dangerous profession in the UK, there is no excuse for not minimising just one of the risks in such a cheap and simple way.”
Changes to the Fishing Vessel Safety folders, which industry body Seafish uses in training courses, have been added to include information on the danger CO fumes. For more information visit: www.safetyfolder.co.uk
Thursday, 26 June 2014
Effort Control aka 'Days at Sea' RIP - please!
Effort control (days at sea restrictions) as part of the EU Cod Management Plan, was dealt a fatal blow a couple of years ago by the Commission’s own Scientific, Technical and Economic Committee for Fisheries. Holed below the waterline it is taking its time to sink.
Having studied the EU Cod Management Plan in considerable depth, STECF concluded that there was “no linear relationship between reductions in effort and reductions in fishing mortality”. In less arcane language, this meant that it was concluded that limiting vessel’s time at sea was a questionable way of conserving fish. This was a bombshell because effort control had been the centrepiece of the Commission’s approach to cod recovery since the late 1990s. At a stroke, the whole bureaucratic apparatus of controlling fleets time at sea was shown to have a very weak link to its central objective – reducing fishing pressure on cod.
There was no doubt that effort control increased vessels’ costs and reduced their operational flexibility but the evidence was now also clear that it also generated perverse consequences, such as discarding of the very species the measure was designed to protect. So, it was no great surprise to those in the industry that the scientists concluded that as a conservation instrument it was ineffectual. Round about the same time fisheries managers in New England came to the same conclusion and abandoned days at sea limits.
The reason why effort control is still applied in the EU, (even though annual effort reductions have been dropped after an unseemly spat at the December Council) lies with the inter-institutional dispute between the European Parliament and the Council, over who has jurisdiction over setting annual quotas. The dispute has held up the replacement, or amendment, of a number of long-term management plans, including the cod plan. However, a joint Parliament/Council task force has now produced a report on how to proceed and the signs are that a way out of the impasse has now been found.
Commission Although the final decision will lie with the incoming Commissioner, the signs are that effort control will be ditched as quickly as is seemly. It is likely that it will play no part in the new- generation multi-annual management plans. Apart from anything else, as an input control, the effort regime would be wholly incompatible with the incoming landings obligation. In any logical approach, sweeping away all detailed prescriptive micro-management to give the landings obligation a chance to work would include the removal effort control.
Predictably, this will not happen quickly. Next year our boats will continue to labour under effort control irrespective of how Illogical and discredited. But there is an extremely strong case for effort control to be completely removed by 1st January 2016 when the landings obligation comes into effect.
Story courtesy of the NFFO
Having studied the EU Cod Management Plan in considerable depth, STECF concluded that there was “no linear relationship between reductions in effort and reductions in fishing mortality”. In less arcane language, this meant that it was concluded that limiting vessel’s time at sea was a questionable way of conserving fish. This was a bombshell because effort control had been the centrepiece of the Commission’s approach to cod recovery since the late 1990s. At a stroke, the whole bureaucratic apparatus of controlling fleets time at sea was shown to have a very weak link to its central objective – reducing fishing pressure on cod.
There was no doubt that effort control increased vessels’ costs and reduced their operational flexibility but the evidence was now also clear that it also generated perverse consequences, such as discarding of the very species the measure was designed to protect. So, it was no great surprise to those in the industry that the scientists concluded that as a conservation instrument it was ineffectual. Round about the same time fisheries managers in New England came to the same conclusion and abandoned days at sea limits.
The reason why effort control is still applied in the EU, (even though annual effort reductions have been dropped after an unseemly spat at the December Council) lies with the inter-institutional dispute between the European Parliament and the Council, over who has jurisdiction over setting annual quotas. The dispute has held up the replacement, or amendment, of a number of long-term management plans, including the cod plan. However, a joint Parliament/Council task force has now produced a report on how to proceed and the signs are that a way out of the impasse has now been found.
Commission Although the final decision will lie with the incoming Commissioner, the signs are that effort control will be ditched as quickly as is seemly. It is likely that it will play no part in the new- generation multi-annual management plans. Apart from anything else, as an input control, the effort regime would be wholly incompatible with the incoming landings obligation. In any logical approach, sweeping away all detailed prescriptive micro-management to give the landings obligation a chance to work would include the removal effort control.
Predictably, this will not happen quickly. Next year our boats will continue to labour under effort control irrespective of how Illogical and discredited. But there is an extremely strong case for effort control to be completely removed by 1st January 2016 when the landings obligation comes into effect.
Story courtesy of the NFFO
Welcome to Paul Oliver, Newlyn's assistant harbour master
Newlyn's new assistant harbour master Paul Oliver, Ollie as he is better known to most, promises to be in touch with harbour users in this challenging new role...
Ollie has fished from Newlyn ever since he left school...
on a wide variety of boats from the sardine ring netters...
to big beam trawlers like the Sapphire II...
able to turn his hand to any job...
and a great team player!
Ollie can be contacted on deputyhm@newlynharbour.com
Wednesday, 25 June 2014
Another fishing industry bashing article - this time it's fuel subsidy
Just to put the record straight - UK fishermen do not receive a fuel subsidy - they operate with fuel that has a lower tax point than 'red' diesel fuel for the road - and the same tax rate is applied to the farming industry and airlines.
Here are some excerpts from the recent Guardian's fuel subsidy article:
Article comments included:
"Most fish aren't caught in the high seas anyway but rather in a country's EEZ, closer to shore and hence requiring less fuel (although fishing gear type also heavily influences fuel consumption)."
Full story courtesy of the Guardian
Here are some excerpts from the recent Guardian's fuel subsidy article:
"Fuel subsidies 'drive fishing industry's plunder of the high seas' Spain, France, UK, US and Japan among countries giving generous fuel subsidies enabling industrial fishing far offshore, says Global Ocean Commission
The hand-outs, in the form of fuel subsidies, have enabled fleets to strip the high seas of tuna and other fish stocks, and threaten global food security, the commission said in a report to be released on Tuesday."
"The Spanish government led the world with those subsidies, providing some $1073 million in fuel subsidies for a catch of $2625 million, the report found. But France, Britain, Denmark and Italy were also heavily subsidising fuel costs for their fishing fleets."
"The findings were endorsed by the Oceana conservation group which said fuel subsidies were unfair to the fishing fleets from smaller countries. “A lot of these boats wouldn't be economic without the big subsidies that a lot of countries give to get them way in the middle of the ocean,” said Courtney Sakai, chief of staff for Oceana."
Article comments included:
"Most fish aren't caught in the high seas anyway but rather in a country's EEZ, closer to shore and hence requiring less fuel (although fishing gear type also heavily influences fuel consumption)."
Full story courtesy of the Guardian
Respect for the ocean, it is learned
One of the key speakers at the Hastings conference was from an educational initiative form across the channel.
"It is the sea! It is the sea! "joyful cries of primary pupils 1st of the Royal Athenaeum of Ath exit the bus, earlier this week, proves - if necessary - the excitement by the marine world.
This strange world around them through aquariums on their plate, the children have learned to know and respect him, through various activities in the classroom.
For fifty children from 1st, 4th and 5th years of primary school, they were closed by day "field" in Zeebrugge , on the initiative of Serge Gomes da Silva , member Farnet, the European network of areas Fisheries and father of a student from school.
"The purpose of this day is to help children understand the relationship between the ground realities and activities previously in class , "says Serge Gomes da Silva, aka "Mr. Fish", which was the contact person for this project . They may well be very concrete link between the quality of the environment, the quality of the resource and its consumption. "
A long-term project since it began on April 1, when the Athénée Royal d'Ath joined the World Ocean Network by launching its Operation "Good Fish"
Primary pupils stuck 1st of April Fools in the back of other students of the school. These have then hooked to a large net that had been installed for the occasion.
This introduction, which involved the outset whole school has subsequently achieve a true vertical work. All classes in their own way and according to the ages and skills of children were involved in this project to raise awareness of ocean protection: achieving explanatory posters on the subject of fishing techniques, aquaculture, conservation and regulations or artistic works.
"Fishing and techniques, sea, fish, oceans, these are subjects that fascinate children enormously, regardless of their age, "said Patty Barbaix, teacher in primary 5.
Boots on and plastic bag in hand, children are welcomed on the sand by local guides who launch activity "beachcleaning." The mission? Collect as much waste as possible. We explain that the beach was cleaned yesterday thoroughly up to 17 hours and, unfortunately, this Tuesday at 11 am, the waste of all kinds have resurfaced: caps, bottles, paper, cardboard, cans, there is everything!
A little later, Dani and Franck , two fishermen, waiting children, proudly displaying their catch of the day: dogfish, cod, skate, plaice, children observe these fish home and can even touch" "its cool" "it's funny," "yuck, it is sticky, "comments going well. The two fishermen advocate "local fishing", an initiative supported by the European Fisheries Fund. Their saying " learn to eat what the fisherman fishing and not let the fisherman capture what we want to eat, throwing everything else . "Children have understood. The school canteen has also modified its menu to offer only seasonal fish. A coherent project on the line, to the plate.
Courtesy of and translated by Google http://www.lavenir.net/article/detail.aspx?articleid=DMF20140606_00487611&pid=2074120
"It is the sea! It is the sea! "joyful cries of primary pupils 1st of the Royal Athenaeum of Ath exit the bus, earlier this week, proves - if necessary - the excitement by the marine world.
This strange world around them through aquariums on their plate, the children have learned to know and respect him, through various activities in the classroom.
For fifty children from 1st, 4th and 5th years of primary school, they were closed by day "field" in Zeebrugge , on the initiative of Serge Gomes da Silva , member Farnet, the European network of areas Fisheries and father of a student from school.
"The purpose of this day is to help children understand the relationship between the ground realities and activities previously in class , "says Serge Gomes da Silva, aka "Mr. Fish", which was the contact person for this project . They may well be very concrete link between the quality of the environment, the quality of the resource and its consumption. "
A long-term project since it began on April 1, when the Athénée Royal d'Ath joined the World Ocean Network by launching its Operation "Good Fish"
Primary pupils stuck 1st of April Fools in the back of other students of the school. These have then hooked to a large net that had been installed for the occasion.
This introduction, which involved the outset whole school has subsequently achieve a true vertical work. All classes in their own way and according to the ages and skills of children were involved in this project to raise awareness of ocean protection: achieving explanatory posters on the subject of fishing techniques, aquaculture, conservation and regulations or artistic works.
"Fishing and techniques, sea, fish, oceans, these are subjects that fascinate children enormously, regardless of their age, "said Patty Barbaix, teacher in primary 5.
Boots on and plastic bag in hand, children are welcomed on the sand by local guides who launch activity "beachcleaning." The mission? Collect as much waste as possible. We explain that the beach was cleaned yesterday thoroughly up to 17 hours and, unfortunately, this Tuesday at 11 am, the waste of all kinds have resurfaced: caps, bottles, paper, cardboard, cans, there is everything!
A little later, Dani and Franck , two fishermen, waiting children, proudly displaying their catch of the day: dogfish, cod, skate, plaice, children observe these fish home and can even touch" "its cool" "it's funny," "yuck, it is sticky, "comments going well. The two fishermen advocate "local fishing", an initiative supported by the European Fisheries Fund. Their saying " learn to eat what the fisherman fishing and not let the fisherman capture what we want to eat, throwing everything else . "Children have understood. The school canteen has also modified its menu to offer only seasonal fish. A coherent project on the line, to the plate.
Courtesy of and translated by Google http://www.lavenir.net/article/detail.aspx?articleid=DMF20140606_00487611&pid=2074120
Wednesday sees another sunny day in paradise
The sun shines on......top quality inshore fish...
time to sample the plaice catch this morning...
buyer's boots...
good shot of hake form the Silver dawn...
there's a few gorgeous ray cutlets just waiting to be cut form this fine specimen...
one big net, a box of twine and some needles...
can only mean one thing, it's mending time...
the Ben Loyal, ex-seine netter, ex-longliner, ex-gill netter is now registered in Greenock but will be working from Grimsby...
on the whelks, she has just had a chute fitted for shooting the whelk pots away...
over on the big beam trawler St Georges it's time to go through the gear...
under the watchful eyes of young Mr Worth...
there are hundreds of links and shackles to check on port side's huge chain mat...
there's a couple of Tupperware tubs in the harbour along with the yachts...
home in Through the Gaps, the netter Ocean Pride makes her way to the market...
the port's ravens have a whole new set of perches to rest on....
whereas the public have somewhat limited access to the beach off Newlyn Green...
until the groundworks are completed...
a solitary punt works a few nets close inshore off the promenade.
"Conservation is a broken record that needs changing"
This article could have been aimed at the way the fishing industry is covered by many in the media - the now infamous Hugh's FishFight TV series being a case in point - which barely hinted at the huge positive changes that had occurred in the industry in a short space of time.
I awoke to my usual routine: with the sun shining and a cup of tea in hand I set to reading the news. Immediately I came across the headline: World ‘on the verge of next mass extinction.’ And it’s humankind that’s to blame, according to the Duke University study the article cites. It was the kind of story that could really ruin someone’s day. But stories like this no longer have much of an impact on me. I began reading, but by the third paragraph I was quickly losing interest. It’s not that I don’t care, it’s that I’ve heard it all before.
A quick Google search for ‘humans’ and ‘mass extinction’ reveals not just the article I found, but similar results from the BBC in 2012, Science in 2011, The Guardian in 2010 and the New Yorker in 2009. We’ve been talking about the same things for a long time.
The week prior to reading the article I attended Circumnavigating Hope, a two-day workshop on how conservation issues can be communicated more effectively. It brought together scientists, communicators and campaigners to ask why success stories aren’t being told and how that can change. Although it was acknowledged that the media plays a major part in fuelling disengagement, Circumnavigating Hope explored the idea that the conservation sector itself; from scientists to NGOs to campaigners, also plays a huge part in the communication problem.
“In the marine conservation community there’s a total failure to talk about successes” “Mistakenly, the conservation community often buys into the narrative of shock and fear in the belief that knowledge of just how bad things are will spur people to action,” said Circumnavigating Hope co-ordinator Elisabeth Whitebread. Equally, scientists often present worst-case scenarios of the consequences of current practices without offering up the possible outcomes of alternative courses of action.
However, numerous psychological studies, including one carried out by researcher and fellow Circumnavigating Hope participant Elin Kelsey, have shown that communicating negative messages about the state of the environment leaves many people feeling apathetic and uninspired to act. Dr Ingolfur Blühdorn of the University of Bath goes as far as to suggest that some negative environmental messages are so counter-productive that people block out the messages they’re being told by increasing their consumption of consumer goods rather than adopting more sustainable behaviours.
Alex Steffen, a climate journalist and futurist, who spoke at the event via Skype, suggested that we should move past informing people about problems. “Education in terms of raising the alarm is no longer a priority,” he said. “People have to have a sense of a future that could work.”
The workshop highlighted the fact that there are no shortage of potential solutions and positive stories out there, the problem is they simply aren’t being communicated effectively, even by the sector that’s working to create them.
“In the marine conservation community there’s a total failure to talk about successes,” said Nancy Knowlton, a coral reef biologist who runs the Smithsonian Ocean Portal, an online collection of ocean success stories. She also suggested that innate scientific uncertainty could be causing scientists to be overly cautious when talking about successes and that pressure to continuously carry out new research leaves little time for reflection. “Once we solve a problem, we forget that we’ve actually done something to make things better and instead just focus on the next problem,” she said. Platforms for scientists to share these stories, even just with each other, could help the development of further solutions and boost morale to spur further positive action.
“Raising the alarm is no longer a priority. People have to have a sense of a future that could work” The workshop discussions also recognised that stories not only need to be told more often, but told differently. At one end of the spectrum there is the media, which although writing in an easily digestible form, can sometimes misinterpret or mislead, and at the other are scientific papers, whose language and content are inaccessible to most. “Not all scientists need to be good communicators and not every scientific paper needs to be public facing,” says Ralph Underhill from Common Cause, however it was agreed that collaboration between the two sectors could be improved, for example through basic communications training for scientists and scientific training for journalists.
Meanwhile, platforms such as social media and citizen journalism present an enormous opportunity for the public to play a role in sharing positive stories, while other formats could also help create more engaging narratives, including entertainment media and exhibits in public spaces.
Underlying all of this though is the need to embrace the complexity that all stories have. The media tend to oversimplify things, preferring to see issues in black and white, while conservation campaigns are often targeted, avoiding the wider context – and perhaps one of the reasons scientists are reluctant to share successes is the fear of criticism for failing to recognise the bigger picture.
“No story is completely negative and no story is completely positive,” argued anthropologist Susanne Schmitt. But it is most often that stories of success, even minor ones, are overlooked. The vast complexity of the natural world should be reflected and celebrated in the stories we tell about it.
Story courtesy of Toma Lawson
We’re already aware of the problems the natural world faces, it’s time the conservation community shares what’s being done about it, says Tom Lawson
I awoke to my usual routine: with the sun shining and a cup of tea in hand I set to reading the news. Immediately I came across the headline: World ‘on the verge of next mass extinction.’ And it’s humankind that’s to blame, according to the Duke University study the article cites. It was the kind of story that could really ruin someone’s day. But stories like this no longer have much of an impact on me. I began reading, but by the third paragraph I was quickly losing interest. It’s not that I don’t care, it’s that I’ve heard it all before.
A quick Google search for ‘humans’ and ‘mass extinction’ reveals not just the article I found, but similar results from the BBC in 2012, Science in 2011, The Guardian in 2010 and the New Yorker in 2009. We’ve been talking about the same things for a long time.
The week prior to reading the article I attended Circumnavigating Hope, a two-day workshop on how conservation issues can be communicated more effectively. It brought together scientists, communicators and campaigners to ask why success stories aren’t being told and how that can change. Although it was acknowledged that the media plays a major part in fuelling disengagement, Circumnavigating Hope explored the idea that the conservation sector itself; from scientists to NGOs to campaigners, also plays a huge part in the communication problem.
“In the marine conservation community there’s a total failure to talk about successes” “Mistakenly, the conservation community often buys into the narrative of shock and fear in the belief that knowledge of just how bad things are will spur people to action,” said Circumnavigating Hope co-ordinator Elisabeth Whitebread. Equally, scientists often present worst-case scenarios of the consequences of current practices without offering up the possible outcomes of alternative courses of action.
However, numerous psychological studies, including one carried out by researcher and fellow Circumnavigating Hope participant Elin Kelsey, have shown that communicating negative messages about the state of the environment leaves many people feeling apathetic and uninspired to act. Dr Ingolfur Blühdorn of the University of Bath goes as far as to suggest that some negative environmental messages are so counter-productive that people block out the messages they’re being told by increasing their consumption of consumer goods rather than adopting more sustainable behaviours.
Alex Steffen, a climate journalist and futurist, who spoke at the event via Skype, suggested that we should move past informing people about problems. “Education in terms of raising the alarm is no longer a priority,” he said. “People have to have a sense of a future that could work.”
The workshop highlighted the fact that there are no shortage of potential solutions and positive stories out there, the problem is they simply aren’t being communicated effectively, even by the sector that’s working to create them.
“In the marine conservation community there’s a total failure to talk about successes,” said Nancy Knowlton, a coral reef biologist who runs the Smithsonian Ocean Portal, an online collection of ocean success stories. She also suggested that innate scientific uncertainty could be causing scientists to be overly cautious when talking about successes and that pressure to continuously carry out new research leaves little time for reflection. “Once we solve a problem, we forget that we’ve actually done something to make things better and instead just focus on the next problem,” she said. Platforms for scientists to share these stories, even just with each other, could help the development of further solutions and boost morale to spur further positive action.
“Raising the alarm is no longer a priority. People have to have a sense of a future that could work” The workshop discussions also recognised that stories not only need to be told more often, but told differently. At one end of the spectrum there is the media, which although writing in an easily digestible form, can sometimes misinterpret or mislead, and at the other are scientific papers, whose language and content are inaccessible to most. “Not all scientists need to be good communicators and not every scientific paper needs to be public facing,” says Ralph Underhill from Common Cause, however it was agreed that collaboration between the two sectors could be improved, for example through basic communications training for scientists and scientific training for journalists.
Meanwhile, platforms such as social media and citizen journalism present an enormous opportunity for the public to play a role in sharing positive stories, while other formats could also help create more engaging narratives, including entertainment media and exhibits in public spaces.
Underlying all of this though is the need to embrace the complexity that all stories have. The media tend to oversimplify things, preferring to see issues in black and white, while conservation campaigns are often targeted, avoiding the wider context – and perhaps one of the reasons scientists are reluctant to share successes is the fear of criticism for failing to recognise the bigger picture.
“No story is completely negative and no story is completely positive,” argued anthropologist Susanne Schmitt. But it is most often that stories of success, even minor ones, are overlooked. The vast complexity of the natural world should be reflected and celebrated in the stories we tell about it.
Story courtesy of Toma Lawson
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