Check with cameras for absolute red line.

Looks like Dutch fishermen are gearing up for a showdown with regard to using CCTV aboard fishing vessels as a means of monitoring caches. CCTV is one of several means by which the UK might seek to monitor fishing efforts of EU states within its territorial waters after January 1st when we 'take back control' of our waters:

"Many see Closed Circuit TV camera surveillance (CCTV) as an ideal system for perfecting the control of the landing obligation. This is and will remain absolutely unacceptable for VisNed, precisely because we have practical experience and see that cameras on board a ship cannot be an adequate form of control, certainly not for the landing obligation, for example.

In the monthly consultation on Implementation Agenda Landing Obligation, government, science, regulators and the sector consult on all kinds of policy and practical matters concerning the landing obligation.

All the parties mentioned are convinced that the landing obligation in its current form should never have been introduced because it is unworkable. This landing obligation is neither feasible nor enforceable (by the fishermen) and not enforceable (by the government).

The landing obligation has not yet come to a complete standstill in fishing practice, thanks to the series of exemptions and exemptions. For example, the beam trawl 80 - 119 mm does not have to keep undersized plaice on board and land thanks to an exception due to 'high survival', an exception granted because the Fully Documented Fisheries (FDF) project runs from VisNed.

This project, which involves research into camera registrations, in which seven beam trawlers in the Netherlands participate. The enforceability of the landing obligation remains a problem, but cameras are not a solution for this, at most they can be used as an aid to automate the mandatory registration.

The Netherlands is against the use of cameras as a means of control 

Within Europe (Member States, European Commission, European Parliament and also the European Control Agency), consideration is being given to the (mandatory) use of cameras to monitor what comes on board and whether or not it is stored in the fish hold or discarded.

There is rightly a lot of resistance against this, also from the Netherlands. The government, including the NVWA, sees many (practical) objections to the use of cameras as a means of control, but this should be communicated more clearly in Europe.

NSAC advises on on-board cameras

A focus group from the North Sea Advisory Council (NSAC) has started discussions about the use of cameras as a means of control. The NSAC wants to provide balanced and nuanced advice on this complex subject. An NSAC advice is important because it is a joint advice from fisheries and NGOs.

That is no guarantee for success, but it can make a contribution. In the meantime, Europêche and the European Association of POs (EAPO) are also working on a joint position paper on the subject of cameras on board. Based on our practical experience, VisNed can make a clear contribution to the discussion about what works and what certainly doesn't work.

Red line

During the last meeting of the Implementation Agenda, the VisNed representation drew a clear red line. If politicians, policy and/or supervision nevertheless make a move in favour of camera surveillance as a means of control, VisNed will pull the plug from the current FDF project with immediate effect, regardless of the consequences for the exemption for the supply of undersized plaice (which in principle runs until 2023).

VisNed wants to contribute with this project to look at improving data collection with the help of FDF, but we are definitely not going to howl with the wolves in the forest.

We are diametrically opposed to the NGOs, policymakers and politicians in Europe who, based on erroneous assumptions, believe that cameras are the ultimate means of monitoring and spying on fishing activities. There can be no doubt and/or ambiguity about this."

Full story from the Visned website.

Another Dutch Brexit related story appeared on the Trouw.nl website today.

Deep Sea - French inshore fishing initiative.

Too often we think that the problems we are dealing with are our problems and unique to us. More often than not if we take the time to look over the fence we see our neighbours are dealing with the same or similar problems. Fishing is no exception. 

Right now French inshore fishermen are dealing with the same issues as UK fishermen, Brexit, factory vessels in the Channel, offshore vessels working inshore, Covid-19 and of course, Brexit. All of which are making their businesses every bit as precarious as those of UK inshore fishermen. On top of this, French fishermen are very wary of the work many NGOs carry out on their behalf championing 'Blue Growth' - a brighter future where protecting fish stocks and the environment are seemingly top of the agenda.

The aim of the Deep Sea Association (Pleine Mer) is to protect the inshore fishermen of France - their raison-d'être is simple - to do what is necessary to ensure there is an industry to hand on to the sons and daughters of existing fishing communities.

Their aims are outlined below:

The Pleine Mer association wishes to contribute to a sustainable transition of fishing in favour of the men and women who practice it, citizens and the environment. Its purpose is the protection of the oceans as well as the support for the development of sustainable management methods and modes in fishing and aquatic farming. It aims to carry out actions in this direction with all possible means of action: awareness raising and training intended for the general public, State representatives in the economic world, advocacy, communication, legal actions, support for associative, private and public. The members of the association are professional fishermen, researchers, engaged citizens, or even fish consumers who identify with the projects carried by the collective.

Our purpose The Pleine Mer association wishes to contribute to a sustainable transition of fishing in favor of the men and women who practice it, citizens and the environment. Its purpose is the protection of the oceans as well as the support for the development of sustainable management methods and modes in fishing and aquatic farming. It aims to carry out actions in this direction with all possible means of action: awareness raising and training intended for the general public, State representatives in the economic world, advocacy, communication, legal actions, support for associative, private and public. The members of the association are professional fishermen, researchers, engaged citizens, or even fish consumers who identify with the projects carried by the collective.

The association develops projects along the following lines:

• LOCAL FISHING - development and promotion of short circuits and direct sales in French fisheries, production of tools to facilitate the establishment of “community supported fisheries”

• COASTAL COMMUNITY - participatory action research with coastal communities in order to understand the issues that specifically affect them

Pleine Mer creates links between fishermen and consumers, for a transition to sustainable fishing. Thanks to our constant presence on the coast, we understand the expectations of communities in the context of fishing. We have published a map of inshore fishing suppliers, which has received excellent feedback from fishermen and consumers now directly linked: the development of a mobile application for smartphones would allow this link to be deepened, for local fishing and a living coastline.

Within various projects, the association pursues the following strategic objectives:

Link fishermen and civil society, two worlds which are often ignored and would benefit from working together towards more sustainability 

• analyze fishing as a complex and contextual system that deserves to be better known to the general public, thanks to a strong presence in the field (on land and at sea) develop sustainable and fair food systems in the fishing industry, via short circuits 

• enhance the existing and give citizens the means to develop innovative systems take a position on subjects related to fishing: pollution control, coastal preservation, gender issues, adaptation to climate change -> produce in-depth action research work in order to stimulate the dynamics of change.

 

The association is also facilitating inshore fishermen to sell their fish direct to the public as France, like the UK, enters a second Covid-19 lockdown.

Local fishing in Dieppe 

The fishing port has about forty boats, mostly shellfish gillnetters and shellfish trawlers. You want to buy your fish direct from Dieppe fishermen: you have the choice between two traditional direct sales places:

The stalls of the fishing port, Quai Trudaine: this place is very dynamic during the scallop season (in winter): the fishermen work there to sell this delicious shellfish caught by dredge on multi-purpose boats that work trawl the rest of the time. The rest of the time, only two fishermen promote their production on the stalls.

You will find there, for example, the ship L'EQUINOXE of Pierre and Emilie Villeneuve. You can contact them on 0699 406 326 to order.

• - “Les Barrières”, a place managed by the municipality where the Sté Lorient and the M'alizé sell their produce directly, and in particular delicious whelks. This place is also located on the port, but a little closer to the tourist area, opposite the restaurants. You will find the following boats there:

• The P'tit Roi boat: direct sale at the stall and at the barriers, Coquilles-Saint Jacques and fish The Sté 'Lorient and M'Alizé boats : direct sale and delivery of whelk, do not hesitate to visit their Facebook page to order The boat l'Nain, which you can find on its Facebook page the Princess of the Seas boat the Unicorn boat

The direct sale of fish in the port of Dieppe has the particularity of being seasonal: it is very dynamic during the summer tourist season and during the shell season in winter. Direct sales have the reputation of being a little less active during the off-season it's up to you to change that, fish have fishing seasons… but we fish all year round: the species are just different!

A small idea of ​​the species that you will find on the fishermen's stalls: sea bass, black bream, red gurnard, monkfish, plaice, turbot, whiting, surmullet, herring, lobster, scallops, sole, dab, pollack, cod, whelk , mackerel, live, conger, crab, squid, cuttlefish and… scallop, which we have already spoken about!

The fishermen of Dieppe told us that they were very interested in the “Local Fishing” project, in particular the new owners who did not yet practice direct sales but wanted to get started as soon as possible. So don't hesitate to go and support them by buying their fish directly!

Visit the Deep Sea website here - use your web browser to translate.

French fishermen are also becoming increasingly concerned over the growth of what has become known as the Blue Economy - reported on Through the Gaps as far back as 2012 and more recently.

Below is another page from the Pleine Mer website oitlining why the fishing industry needs to become more aware of who is in the driving seat of 'Blue Growth' and where it is being driven.

The Blue Fix: What's driving blue growth?

This article explores the politics behind the promise of ‘blue growth’. Reframing it as a ‘blue fix’, we argue that the blue growth discourse facilitates new opportunities for capital accumulation, while claiming that this accumulation is compatible with social and ecological aims as well. The blue fix is made up of three underlying sub-fixes. 

First of all, the conservation fix quenches the social thirst for action in the face of climate change. Here we see how protecting marine areas can be an important part of mitigating climate change, but in practice, gains at the national level are overshadowed by the ongoing expansion of offshore drilling for oil and gas. 

Second, the protein fix satisfies the growing global demand for healthy food and nutrition through the expansion of capital-intensive large-scale aquaculture, while ignoring the negative socio-ecological impacts, which effectively squeeze small-scale capture fishing out, while industrial capture fishing remains well positioned to expand into as well as supply industrial aquaculture with fish feed from pelagic fish. 

And third, an energy fix offers a burst of wind energy and a splash of new deep-sea minerals without disturbing the familiar and persistent foundation of oil and gas. This dimension of the blue fix emphasises the transition to wind and solar energy, but meanwhile the deep sea mining for minerals required by these new technologies launches us into unknown ecological territories with little understood consequences. 

The synergy of these three elements brought together in a reframing of ocean politics manifests as a balancing act to frame blue growth as ‘sustainable’ and in everyone’s interest, which we critically analyse and discuss in this article.

Blustery day in Newlyn.

 

The three crabbers...

two netters...

and a beam trawler...

plus the Sapphire II...

closely followed by the Joy of Ladram heading in through the gaps...

to a berth alongside the iceworks.

UK sees goodwill for Brexit trade deal, open to 'sensible' fishing compromise

  

Britain said on Monday it was open to a “sensible” compromise on fishing and that there was goodwill on both sides to progress towards a Brexit trade deal, with the European Union saying it was redoubling its efforts for an accord. Slideshow ( 4 images ) The United Kingdom left the EU in January but the sides are trying to clinch a deal that would govern nearly 1 trillion dollars in annual trade before transitional arrangements end on Dec. 31. 

“There are still differences, there are still some obstacles to overcome,” British Environment Secretary George Eustice told Sky News. “But I think there is now some goodwill on both sides to progress things.”

After congratulating Joe Biden on his U.S. presidential election win, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Sunday an EU trade deal was “there to be done” and that the broad outlines were clear. 

Back in Britain on Monday for another round of talks, EU chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier said: “Happy to be back in London today, redoubling our efforts to reach agreement on the future partnership.” 

Barnier said there remained three keys to unlocking a deal: respectful enforcement mechanisms, guarantees of fair competition, and stable access to markets including fishing. FISH Fishing contributed just 0.03% of British economic output in 2019, but many Brexit supporters see it as a symbol of the regained sovereignty they say leaving the EU brings. Combined with fish and shellfish processing, the sector makes up 0.1% of Britain’s GDP. 

“On fisheries we’ve always been open to doing a sensible approach, looking potentially at agreements that might span a couple, three years for instance,” Eustice said.

RELATED COVERAGE Significant progress made on post-Brexit trade deal: Sunak Britain pursues Brexit finance plan, door open to EU firms 

“The issue will become what are the sharing arrangements, how much mutual access do we allow in one another’s waters and that’s obviously a discussion that will happen annually, but there may also be a partnership agreement that sets out the ground rules as to how we will work on that.”

The prospect of securing a longer-term deal with the EU on sharing the fish catch is important for getting a compromise. 

Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney said on Monday Biden’s election win in the United States could have an impact on this week’s Brexit negotiations, noting the president-elect’s support for Ireland’s position. 

However, the European Commission said the question of who is U.S president would have no bearing on the talks. 

Biden, who is proud of his Irish ancestry, has criticised Brexit in the past and said it must not be allowed to harm peace on the island of Ireland. By contrast, President Donald Trump has spoken out in favour of Brexit. 

The upper house of the British parliament, the House of Lords, was due later on Monday to debate Johnson’s Internal Market Bill, which would allow Britain to undercut parts of the 2020 Brexit divorce deal and has alarmed the EU. 

Eustice said the government would reinstate certain clauses if they were removed from the bill by the House of Lords.

Full story by Guy Faulconbridge, Kate Holton LONDON (Reuters) - 

Cornwall with Simon Reeve - bit of an eye-opener for some it seems.

Simeon Reeve's first, in a two-part series on Cornwall last night had many found their finger hovering on the channel-changer in the first ten minutes devoted to all things pasties and cream - then things changed. What followed was, at times, a hard to watch insight into a side of Cornwall well hidden from the quiet queues for a table at our Michelin-starred restaurants and second-homes where some owners used courier companies to ferry their luggage down during lockdown so as to avoid detection when travelling.

Fishing also featured earlier Countryfile, both programmes covering small-scale fishing with a sense of belonging for those involved, looking to secure the long term viability of shellfish, be it lobster or oyster. While Countryfile looked at 'saving Ester' (Cornish for oyster) a very noble cause to preserve the native oyster fishery Simon Reeve, set on discovering a different world dug deeper, from the depths of world's largest China clay pit then, literally as he drove down South Crofty tin mine under Camborne Tesco he then cut to Camborne foodbank hero, Don Gardner, a man selflessly helping to preserve people's lives. In that short time there was more than a touch of irony juxtaposing Chris Ranger's huge effort to preserve a traditional, totally eco-frendly, way-of-life oyster fishery to feed the Duchy's well-heeled visitors with a man's solo effort to save 500 families from starving within an area that once was home to more millionaires than any other place in the world - which was not lost on social media:

If nothing else, the programme brought home the reality of life living in an area where the English obsession with home ownership has allowed house values to appreciate out of all proportion to their affordability in areas where the average wage is way below the National average. Although all are free to choose to whom they sell your house, home owners in Cornwall are bound by the free-market economy - no-one in their right mind is going to sell their cottage in Mousehole to that young local couple for an affordable price when they can get £320,000 for their tiny 2 bedroom end-of-terrace cottage. On a winter walk though Mousehole's narrow streets you can count the number of homes with lights on with one hand, as harbourmaster Steve Basset said in Ghost Town, a film about second home ownership in St Ives, often even less.

Roger Bryant's song, 'Cornish Lads are Fishermen' sums up the dilemma faced by the young, and not so young, people of Cornwall.,

"Cornish lads are fishermen and Cornish lads are miners too. But when the fish and tin are gone, what are the Cornish boys to do?"

The BBC's description was thus:

Simon Reeve travels through glorious Cornwall during a summer like no other, as the county emerges from lockdown and businesses are in a race to survive. 

Cornwall is hugely reliant on tourism and the pandemic has highlighted how precarious people’s livelihoods are. In this first of two programmes, Simon journeys through some of the most beautiful coastal locations Britain has to offer and meets the incredible Cornish characters who make the county unique.

For the Taco Boys, a group of enterprising young entrepreneurs selling their homemade food on the beach, lockdown has been a disaster, and they must now put everything into earning enough money to make it through the winter when all their work dries up. Like many of the young people Simon meets, they are forced by the precarious tourist economy to live in temporary accommodation to make ends meet. Later in his journey, Simon meets a woman who lives in a shed and who blames the thousands of outsiders who own second homes and have forced housing prices to almost London levels in one of the poorest parts of Britain.

Before tourism became so huge, this was a county built on mining. Britain’s biggest mineral export after North Sea oil is still china clay mined in Cornwall, but just like the better known coal mines in the North of England and Wales, the collapse of Cornwall’s tin mining industry in the 1980s left whole communities bereft. Simon visits one of the poorest estates in Britain to see what hope locals have for the future and meets an ex-mining engineer who has set up one of Britain’s biggest food banks.

The pandemic has brought into focus just how reliant Cornwall is on tourism and seasonal work, but Simon learns how new industries and even a return to mining could promise a better future. Going back to Cornwall at the end of the summer, Simon learns how the people he’s met up with have fared and whether fears that the tourist influx could bring Covid-19 with it have come true. 

Where will episode two take us next Sunday?

'Blue' growth: It's not just about the NGOs.

 

Here are the conclusions of the study published by the Transnational Institute in October 2018 and translated into French. An interesting reflection to consider in the debate on marine spatial planning and the development of wind farms.

"The millions of people who until now depend on the marine space for their lives and livelihoods - especially small-scale artisanal fishermen - have for the most part not been invited to the blue party."

The concept of Blue Growth is broad and ambiguous, the site of many visions and ideologies. This vagueness has made it possible to attract a motley coalition of actors, who can all project their own interpretations on these political programs. For some it is about conservation and renewable energies, while in practice offshore drilling remains intact. Wrapping blue growth with a layer of sustainability helps alleviate growing concerns about global warming, and becomes profitable through sustainable tourism and large-scale Marine Protected Areas (MPAs). This is the conservation formula.

For others, it is a transition to aquaculture, which transfers ocean space to other uses and avoids having to deal with the problem of declining fish stocks, and the growing need for food derived from peaches or other ingredients such as soybeans, rapeseed, sunflower and wheat. This is the protein formula.

Finally, maritime spatial planning at the national level concretely prioritizes the sectors that generate the greatest profit, in particular oil, gas, maritime transport and mining. This approach also offers more possibilities to take advantage of existing infrastructure and expertise in the development of alternative energies and aquaculture. This is the energy / extractive formula.

As understandable as the Blue growth agenda is, irreconcilable ecological and social contradictions remain. And environmental and social conflicts will be accentuated, as long as these contradictions remain. As with previous historic instances of enclosures and changes in regulatory regimes, heads of state appear to primarily see blue growth as a means of resolving conflicts between competing ocean industries. And this is happening against the backdrop of the coercive imperative to ensure that the components of growth rates are needed by all means.

Blue Growth thus manifests itself as a balancing act which consists in defining these attempts as 'sustainable' and in the interest of all. However, it is important to highlight that the millions of people who so far depend on the marine space for their lives and livelihoods - especially small-scale artisanal fishermen - have for the most part not been invited to participate. blue party. This poses very complicated political questions for the fishing movements and their allies. Some are trying to get an invitation to join the blue economy, believing that this is the safest way to secure their rights to their fishing grounds. Others on the contrary are more skeptical,

Coexisting with the ever greater development of ocean industries is not easy for fishermen: the spaces on which they depend for their livelihoods are quickly overrun with plans for new ports, tourist facilities, waterways. maritime transport, and new aquaculture operations. And if they can defend a particular area, the combined impact of construction, contamination and climate change means that it is less and less likely that that area will be full of fish. To survive, they have to go farther and farther out to sea, which increases their fuel costs as well as their exposure to the dangers of the ocean and possible conflicts with industrial fishing fleets. For many, the fishery is no longer viable.

In view of the already collapsing fishing stocks, the need for an approach to fishing with environmental and social sensitivity will increase. This is more obvious to small-scale artisanal fishermen than to others, but the terms of entry into the Blue Growth Festival make it impossible for fishermen to survive and meet such standards. This is where the terrible secret lies at the heart of blue growth: the appetite for the oil, gas, minerals, protein, and conservation that feed and shape this agenda is inherently unsustainable. The tripartite contract with conservation formulas,

The Blue Formula: 

Unmasking the political dynamics behind the promise of Blue Growth 

Saturday November 7, 2020 Fisheries and Development Bulletin n ° 182, November 2020 

Seine netting: in the English Channel and elsewhere, artisanal fishermen are worried published

The seine net, a rotating net manouvered on the bottom, is often presented as the fishing gear of the future. In the eyes of its supporters, it would provide better quality fish than the trawl, for a lower environmental impact. On the side of the craftsmen, the sound of the bell is very different. So we decided to investigate, and this article is the first in a series of articles about this controversial fishing gear. 

In addition to the testimonies of many craftsmen who declare that the Danish seine can “temporarily empty certain fishing areas”, there is clearly evidence that this fishing gear is not unanimous: while the regional fisheries committees of Hauts-de- France and Vendée have clearly positioned themselves in favour of the Danish seine, the regional fisheries committee of Brittany has always maintained the ban on Danish seine within 12 miles of Breton waters. Indeed, as evidenced by this press release from CDIPMEM56 dated 20/04/2019:

“This opposition reflects the opinion of the vast majority of fishermen in Morbihan. It is also based on a deliberation by the Brittany Regional Fisheries Committee on December 19, 2013; deliberation signed by Olivier Le Nezet and which stipulates that: "Within the waters falling within the area of ​​the Regional Committee for Maritime Fisheries and Marine Breeding of Brittany, the use of Danish seines is prohibited" [...] Furthermore, the Fisheries Committees of the four Breton departments share exactly the same opinion regarding the refusal of Danish seine in Breton waters. ”

Complete press release here: Le-CDPMEM56-recalls-its-opposition-to-the-Danish-seine-in-Breton-waters-CDPMEM-56  

The Breton fishermen are not the only ones to have publicly announced their refusal of the Danish seine. A recent incident in Ciboure is a reminder of this strong opposition and the tensions it can generate. In April 2019, the Lucien fishermen prevented a purse seiner from landing at the Ciboure Auction, as evidenced by various press articles on the subject:

“Anger had been mounting for a fortnight when these ships which usually remained north of Arcachon were observed for the first time off the ports of Saint-Jean-de-Luz and Capbreton. It therefore rose a notch at the start of the week. “We now know the effects. Where they pass, there is nothing, they massacre everything ”, justifies a fisherman from Lucerne. “After having plucked all the north, these boats will come to pluck the south? There is no question. We made a mistake once by letting the pelagics come in, we won't be fooled twice ”, continues another.”

Many artisanal fishermen therefore question the use of Danish seine, such as the Plateforme de la Petite Pêche Artisanale or the Association des Ligneurs de la Pointe de Bretagne. These two structures have always opposed it, as evidenced by a press release dated July 6, 2016 where the “small fishing” segment testifies:

“Any fisherman who has ever had to deal with a purse seiner can attest to their ability to clear a fishing area in record time, leaving all colleagues on the mat. Where the dormant arts could coexist with the trawlers, it is now impossible with the Danish seine! ”

The press release in question: http://www.plateforme-petite-peche.fr/?p=435

Finally, recently, many artisanal fishermen from Hauts-de-France and Normandy have taken part in the Danish seine on social networks, and these publications have had a strong resonance in the world of fishing. In particular, screenshots of AIS showing the quantity of Danish purse seiners registered in Holland and France, and sometimes working in the 3 mile zone, have set the profession in turmoil.

Among other things, in Boulogne-sur-Mer, the recent landing of dozens of auction crates filled with sea bream and red mullet of equivalent sizes or even less than the legal catch size ... strongly mobilized fishermen, especially as these species are sought after by the “small-scale fishing” and “coastal fishing” segments. By observing these tanks of red mullet, we can also question the supposed quality of the fish caught with the Danish seine, these photos speak for themselves:


On the left, red mullet caught with Danish seine and landed in Boulogne-sur-Mer in November 2020 (the black lighter gives an idea of ​​the small size of the fish) 

Red mullet fished with a net by the Petits Pêcheurs d'Iroise https://www.facebook.com/ligneur

In a future article, we will question the role of SCOPALE, an armament belonging to the Les Mousquetaires and Le Garec groups and to the Opale Cooperative, in the transformation of the fisheries of the North and Normandy. At this stage of the investigation, it seems legitimate to question the use of the Danish seine in the 12 mile zone, and it seems clear that no derogation should allow the use of this gear in the 3 mile zone. . The opposition of artisanal fishermen, all regions combined, must be heard and respected, especially as it is based on a factual observation made at sea.

by Thibault Josse November 3, 2020 translated by Google.