14 Dec 2016

Europe: new report says water quality improves but challenges remain The quality of drinking water and bathing water, and the effectiveness of waste water treatment across the European Union continues to improve – but challenges remain, according to a new European Environment Agency (EEA) report has been published. However, pollution from sources like waste water treatment […]

14 Dec 2016

We know how to do this, scaling it up is the challenge. Upper Aire – Prestigious environmental Green Apple award for pioneering project improving some of Yorkshire’s finest countryside Environment Agency       ‘A pioneering scheme that is leading the way in improving some of Yorkshire’s best countryside has won a prestigious national award.   The Upper Aire […]

13 Dec 2016

Scientists should challenge online falsehoods and inaccuracies — and harness the collective power of the Internet to fight back, argues Phil Williamson With the election of Donald Trump, his appointment of advisers who are on record as dismissing scientific evidence, and the emboldening of deniers on everything from climate change to vaccinations, the amount of nonsense […]

13 Dec 2016

The Guardian: Birds & Habitats Directive The European commission president, Jean-Claude Juncker, has been forced to abandon an overhaul of flagship nature laws after an unprecedented campaign that mobilised over half a million people in protest. The popular birds and habitats directives protect almost a fifth of Europe’s landmass, about 200 wetlands, meadows and marine habitats, and more than […]

13 Dec 2016

Defra have launched a stakeholder consultation: We’d like your views on our proposed changes to the 2012 Fisheries Concordat.  The Fisheries Concordat sets out arrangements for licensing fishing vessels and allocating fish quota received through the EU’s Common Fisheries Policy. Our plans include changing when fishing vessel owners can move the management of vessels from […]

13 Dec 2016

Christmas reading and watching. The Environmental Audit Committee get its MPA review underway. JNCC’s advice on offshore Marine Conservation Zones 2015-2017 Assessing progress towards an ecologically coherent network of MPAs in Secretary of State Waters In 2014 Defra commissioned JNCC to undertake a piece of work on ‘Assessing progress towards an ecologically coherent network of […]

13 Dec 2016

A ‘magic pipe’ on the Caribbean Princess discharged huge quantities of oily bilge waste into the ocean. Princess Cruise Lines will pay a US$40m penalty after pleading guilty to seven federal charges in an illegal ocean pollution case that involved one ship’s use of a so-called magic pipe to divert oily waste into the waters. […]

13 Dec 2016

NUTFA Statement Opportunities and Challenges Introduction: Under ten metre fleet & Brexit   Whilst the only certainty with regard to the post Brexit landscape [seascape] for fisheries is that there is no certainty, it does however provide the opportunity to start from a clean sheet on which to design our future. The previous Fisheries Minister, Richard […]