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Friday, 20 January 2017

POST BREXIT BOOM! – THE ROBBERY OF UK RESOURCES

Fishing for Leave have produced an up-beat look at the future when the government follows up on its promise to take back control and give UK fishermen access to their fishing grounds as existed in the days before joining the EU/EEC - Read on.

 "Fishing for Leave have produced a detailed analysis, using software commissioned by the group, to show catches in UK waters and what the divorce settlement of TACs for every species should be with Brexit.

 These figures show the UK could benefit from £6.3 billion economic boost by repatriating UK fisheries


Using catch data from the EU Commission’s STECF fisheries database FFL have collated catches for the UK and EU fleets respectively and whether these catches were taken in UK waters or EU waters.
This report then calculates and details the post Brexit TACs for each species and therefore shows the colossal level of resources that have been robbed from the UK through our membership of the EU.
It graphically illustrates the abject betrayal of the UK coastal communities and the nation by the adherence to the disastrous CFP.
The Nation’s Greatest Renewable Resource

 Britain’s internationally recognised EEZ and the UK fishing waters within this of 732,470 km2 is 3 times the size of the UK land mass of 243,610km2.
The UK has some of the richest fishing grounds in the world, the UK EEZ covers 48% of the ICES fishing zones in the North West EU


63% of all catches are being taken in UK waters worth £1.3 billion with the EU taking 59% of all catches within the UK EEZ.
A National Resource


Reclaiming UK fishing waters should be worth £6.3 billion to Britain’s coastal communities and economy every year! – equivalent to 6 Type 45 destroyers or 180 new secondary schools."

 Read the full article here or order a printed copy of the report here:

 Follow them on Twitter here: 

 http://ffl.org.uk/product/ffl-booklet-on-eu-vs-uk-catches-and-pre-and-post-brexit-tacs/

Contact Fishing for Leave here

 13th January 2017 by Njordr AB
at Friday, January 20, 2017

For fish fans frosty #FishyFriday finds Newlyn full of fabulous fish.


Beam trawlers, inshore trawlers and a couple of netters put most of the fish on Friday's market...

in addition to a shot of mainly monk form the New Harmony...

the market was almost full end-to-end with fish...

including a big shot of megrims from the Resurgam...

Dover sole from the St Georges...

and a good run of haddock and whiting...

from the inshore trawler, Elisabeth Veronique...

along with a few rays...

gurnard...

the odd turbot...

smaller netters landed pollack...

the odd shark...

while the bulk of the St Georges' trip was made up of cuttles...

Roger on the Imogen landed pristine gurnards...

James on the Three Jays found a few pollack...

while the Lamorna found this not so happy looking shark...

and the Britannia V had a big shot of hake...

getting ready for the next trip...


and number one and the first visiting scalloper from Brixham this year.
at Friday, January 20, 2017

Thursday, 19 January 2017

NFFO - latest view on the EU LANDINGS OBLIGATION

The beginning of 2017 and the second year of the progressive implementation of the EU landings obligation, seems like a good point to stand back and assess how things are going and what the outlook is for the future. Fisheries Minister, George Eustice, has signalled that it his wish that the UK post-Brexit, should retain “the principle of a discard ban”. This suggests that the UK will remain fully engaged with the EU on implementing the landings obligation, through to 2019, although post-Brexit there may be opportunities for the UK’s specific arrangements to move in a different direction.

 EU Landings Obligation


Pelagic

 As anticipated, the application of the landings obligation to the pelagic fisheries has not been without its issues, but does not seem to have generated fundamental difficulties. There remains a question mark about how the small incidental bycatches of demersal species in pelagic fisheries will be treated after they have been landed but on the whole the feeling is that quota can be sourced to cover these catches.


Demersal Fisheries

 It is in the mixed demersal fisheries that the implementation of the landings obligation faces most serious challenges. The facility to phase-in different species and fisheries over 2016 – 2019 has meant that, in general, the least controversial fisheries have been chosen first, leaving more time to deal with the problem of chokes that are expected to arise as a side effect of applying the landing obligation to a system of TACs and quotas in mixed fisheries. Chokes are when the exhaustion of one quota prevents the vessel, PO, country of fleet from catching its main economic quotas. The full application of the landings obligation in 2019 across all fisheries and all quota species (unless under a specific exemption) will be the testing point for the new regime.

 The North Sea and North West Waters advisory councils have done a good job in flagging up the significance of the choke issue and it is understood now in a way that it was not when the legislation was conceived and adopted as part of the CFP reform in 2013. A symposium organised by the North Sea AC in Copenhagen in November provided the most comprehensive overview yet of the choke problem and the range of ways that they can be avoided, even if there is as yet a lack of clarity over which of these mitigation measures would be politically acceptable.

 Avoidance of chokes could be achieved through:
  • Vessels adopting more selective gear or avoidance strategies. It is accepted that this is easier in some fisheries than others
  • Quota swaps and transfers
  • Exemptions from the LO where selectivity is difficult or the associated costs are disproportionate (but this means that quota is deducted at the start of the year)
  • Inter-annual and interspecies flexibilities
  • High survival exemptions may apply if scientifically justified
  • There is a growing awareness that other legislation within the CFP currently make dealing with chokes more challenging and that pressure for change here too is mounting:

  • The MSY timetable to bring all stocks under MSY, by 2020 at the latest, increases the problem of dealing with chokes
  • The revision of the technical conservation framework is making slow headway and the old regime is incompatible with the LO
  • Multi-annual plans that would allow pragmatic TAC-setting to reduce the scope for chokes in mixed fisheries are moving very slowly and may stall altogether because of Brexit
  • The Relative Stability allocation keys provides a rigidity that increases the likelihood of chokes
  • The $64,000 question is whether the CFP’s cumbersome decision making process and the political decision making is capable of integrating European fisheries legislation so that it makes sense as a coherent whole. At present too many CFP requirements are just incompatible with each other and also incompatible with economically viable fishing fleets.


 2018

 The immediate focus is how the LO should be extended in 2018. In the North Sea the Schevengingen Group (of North Sea member states) have indicated that their Joint Recommendation will bring the following species fully into the landing obligation for all gears in 2018
  • Cod
  • Saithe
  • Plaice
  • Whiting


 This means that all targeted and bycatch of these species must be landed. All other quota species will be fully brought under the landing obligation in 2019.

 In North West waters the intention is to continue to reduce the thresholds to bring more vessels under the landings obligation and where possible add new species in 2018. All quota species and all fisheries will be fully under the landings obligation in 2019.

 Recognition

 2019, by bringing the most difficult stocks and fisheries under the landings obligation, will also bring a multiplicity of challenges, the most significant is the potential for any of these to choke fisheries.

 The recognition of what is up ahead has been the stimulus for some radical thinking both within the Commission and in the national administrations. The Commission for example is taking soundings on removing the TAC for Dab and Flounder as it serves no conservation purpose. Removal of TAC status on species where this is justified, or grouping two or more TACs together, where this makes sense are two of the more constructive suggestions under consideration.

 Predictive Analysis

 The NSAC undertook some useful preliminary predictive analysis on where chokes are likely to arise and which measures might be relevant to mitigate against each choke. This work is be extended and expedited to cover the pipeline stocks for 2018.

 The NWWAC has flagged up stock by stock the issues associated with each fishery and in particular the potential for chokes.

 Although individual chokes may be identified and predicted, at a systemic level it may be the case that chokes are essentially unpredictable, because of the number of variables involved. We need to begin to think about the implications of this and appropriate contingency measures.

 Norwegian Example

 From what we can see, the Norwegians have successfully and incrementally implemented a workable discard ban with the close involvement of the fishing industry without generating major choke problems. Although it is probably true that our fisheries are a lot more complex than Norway’s, it seems to us that it would be worth studying the flexibilities made available to the Norwegian fishery that are not currently available to ours. Fewer TACs; grouped TACs; the removal of “hard stops” when a quota is exhausted. These are a few of the elements of the Norwegian system that seem to be an integral part of its success. And it will not escape notice that the Norwegian fisheries tend to be both sustainable and profitable; important objectives alongside that of minimisation of discarded fish

 Exemptions

 The elasmobranch and almost all flatfish species and nephrops species are candidates for high survival exemptions. Scientific work is under way to assess survival rates used to justify exemptions but there is a recognition that this work is unlikely to be completed before the implementation deadline in 2019. There are different views within the ACs about whether the conservation of commercial fish stocks are best served by a rigorous or a more flexible approach to the level of scientific evidence required to justify a high survival exemption.

 In general terms, we think that the exemptions (de minimis and high survival) and flexibilities (inter-annual and inter-species) are much more constrained by the legislation and therefore of more limited value than perhaps was widely believed when the LO was adopted as part of the CFP reform.

 Bottom Line

 The bottom line is that we think that it will not be possible to successfully and fully implement the landings obligation without further legislative change, either to the landings obligation itself or other elements of the CFP.

 For more NFFO information visit their website here:
at Thursday, January 19, 2017

Landing obligation in practice

Landing obligation in practice

Fishing vessels
Since 2015 the landing obligation is being implemented on a gradual basis. Each fishery has its own specificities and differences which makes precise guidance difficult; a pelagic fishery in the Atlantic is not the same as a pelagic fishery in the Mediterranean Sea, for example. Vessel dimension, type of gear, sea basin, etc. are all factors to pay attention to while implementing the landing obligation.
Over the last few years, governments, scientific institutions, industry, fishermen and other stakeholders have worked to develop trials and solutions. Some examples of projects co-funded by the EU through pilot projects or specific programmes and funds such as the EFF, Life+, etc. are: The English Discard Ban Trial,  DisCatch,  EcoFishMan.
EU countries have also supported a number of different projects such as Celselect: Celtique sélectivité by France Filière Pêche or industry-led initiatives such as Groundbreaking fishing gear selectivity trials lead by Seafish. 
Other examples of projects, trials or research on the landing obligation:
HideCOFASP - Research Projects' Web-Mapping Application
That is database of fisheries, aquaculture and seafood processing projects. It was created to directly address actions envisaged within that matter as part of the Europe 2020 strategy which recognises bioeconomy as an important part of the strategy.
HideDAG - The Discard Action Group
The Discard Action Group is a forum for the discussion of industry-wide problems relating to discards. It is an example on an integrated, interdisciplinary, co-operative approach to the issue, and is the only UK cross-industry group addressing the discards issue from all perspectives. It involves everyone NGOs, policy-makers, fishery managers, fishers, science and supply chains –supermarkets and processors.
Projects can also be found via the following links:
at Thursday, January 19, 2017

Grilled sardines the Malaga way - Espeto


If the weather gets any more mild then grabbing some Cornish sardines which are being landed by the ton at the moment might make this a fun way to cook them!


The sardine boats were out in force last night fishing just off the beach between Newlyn and Penzance...


 The AIS track from VesselTracker shows very clearly the moment when the boat comes round in a circle as they shoot the net...

this moment was caught on video a few weeks ago.


An espeto is usually made up of six sardines skewered on a bamboo spit. The best ones are medium sized (the big sardines aren’t usually found in the Mediterranean. You should also firm up the sardines before cooking by sticking them in a bucket of ice and salting them for at least 30 minutes. If you want to add extra flavor, you can add some herbs such as thyme, rosemary or bay leaves to the fire. Traditionally, they use olive wood for the fire, as that also adds flavor.

 Read the full story here from Devour Malaga, Food Tours.

at Thursday, January 19, 2017

Wednesday, 18 January 2017

Seafish new - Guide to Seafood Provenance 2017

at Wednesday, January 18, 2017

Midweek market in Newlyn.




A day's work for the two inshore trawlers and part trips for the two beam trawlers who landed this morning saw strong prices across the board as the south west enjoys some settled weather...

even one big plaice and one big monk tail make big money...

while this conger poses like a serpent on the cross...

local term for a fish, (with an unnecessary apostrophe) but which species?...

buyers busy bidding...

keep auctioneer Ryan on the top of his game...

selling big cod...

and the odd perfect whiting...

as he points out the quality of the fish...

like these haddock from Uncle Tom...

still throwing themselves aboard the punts over in St Ives Bay...

mackerel in these quantities make a welcome boost to the winter earnings of the handline fleet...

almost hidden by heavy clouds, the not-so-full-moon over Newlyn...

barely lights the way for the fuel lorry reversing down the quay...

as James clears down the deck after a night's work in the bay.

at Wednesday, January 18, 2017
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