30 Jul 2024
The Political guidelines for the next European Commission (2024-2029) include commitment to A European Oceans Pact which will “focus on boosting the blue economy and ensuring the good governance and sustainability of our oceans in all of their dimensions”. There is also a commitment to appoint a Fisheries and Oceans Commissioner “tasked with ensuring the […]
30 Jul 2024
The European Commission launched infringement proceedings against five EU Member States for failure to control and enforce the landing obligation – notably against France, Spain (INF_21_4681), the Netherlands, Belgium and Ireland (INF_21_5342) noting that there is a need to help ensure the end of the “extensive, illegal and undocumented discarding of catches in several sea […]
30 Jul 2024
Landings of wrasse species from the wild have been rapidly increasing, due to their usefulness as cleaner fish in salmon aquaculture facilities. Image: Goldsinny wrasse – Ctenolabrus rupestris. Credit seawater.no In May 2021, following calls from the Sustainable Inshore Fisheries Trust (SIFT) and other stakeholders to strengthen the voluntary wrasse fishery management measures, […]
30 Jul 2024
Seabirds are among the most threatened creatures globally, often due to incidental mortality (bycatch) in fisheries. Several hundreds of thousands of seabirds are thought to be killed worldwide each year by two of the three main types of fishing gear, gillnets and longlines. However, the extent of global mortality in trawl fisheries has remained largely […]
30 Jul 2024
A recently published study, commissioned by the Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC) investigates the suitability of existing Cumulative Effects Assessment (CEA) methods relative to the requirement to adopt a standardised approach to CEA in support of marine plan development. The report concludes with a set of recommendations for carrying out CEAs at a marine plan-level […]
23 Jul 2024
The Environment Agency (EA) has published its annual report on the environmental performance of England’s nine water and sewerage companies during 2023. Natural Resources Wales (NRW) has published a similar report for Welsh companies. The EA report shows an improvement in star ratings under the Environmental Performance Assessment (EPA), but the majority of companies continue to […]
23 Jul 2024
Last week’s King’s Speech included 35 bills and draft bills, setting out the new government’s plans for this parliament and recognising “the urgency of the global climate challenge and the new job opportunities that can come from leading the development of the technologies of the future”. The government will establish Great British Energy, a new […]
23 Jul 2024
The independent, statutory body which advises the UK and devolved governments on emissions has warned that the UK is significantly off track on its target to achieve Net Zero by 2030. In its 2024 Progress Report to Parliament, the Climate Change Committee (CCC) says that only a third of the emissions reductions required to achieve […]
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