23 Apr 2024

The Agri-Food and Biosciences Institute today announced that a contract has been awarded to Spanish shipyard Astilleros Armon Vigo S.A. for the construction of a new research vessel contracted to complete in February 2027. The state-of-the-art marine research vessel is a significant capital investment by the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) to strengthen […]

22 Apr 2024

Global Plastics Treaty Delegates gather in Canada for the latest round of negotiations towards a Global Plastics Treaty(including in the marine environment), with analysis by EIA finding that the Treaty ‘could halve plastic production emissions’ and Pew puts forward its recommendations for a ‘Global Solution’. Meanwhile, research shows that plant-based plastic releases nine times less […]

18 Apr 2024

The European Union (EU) has started proceedings against the UK under the post-Brexit trade deal dispute settlement mechanism regarding the UK’s decision to prohibit the fishing of sand eel in English waters within the North Sea and all Scottish waters. England and Scotland announced a prohibition on commercial sand eel fishing from March 2024, a move conservationists welcomed. […]

16 Apr 2024

Innovate UK has announced £1.3 million of funding has been allocated across seven projects in the second stage of £2.1 million government marine Natural Capital and Ecosystem Assessment (NCEA) programme. These projects are for the development of complete end-to-end marine monitoring systems and their verification and validation. The Natural Capital and Ecosystem Assessment Programme is […]

16 Apr 2024

Two reports have been released from the UK government which outline the economic and sustainability outcomes of the annual negotiations for UK fishing opportunities. The ‘Assessing the sustainability of fisheries catch limits negotiated by the UK for 2024’ report from the government’s Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (Cefas) details the assessment of negotiated […]

16 Apr 2024

Fishers most impacted by restrictions placed on the catching of pollack will be able to take advantage of a new compensation scheme. The scheme, announced by the Environment Secretary Steve Barclay comes after engagement with industry as to how pollack fishers can be properly supported.     It will see around 50 vessel owners directly […]