23 Jul 2024

Ireland’s City of Cork will host the 2025 European Maritime Day – the EU’s flagship annual maritime event. Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications, Eamon Ryan, made the announcement, saying that it was fitting that the event would take place in Cork which has a long maritime history. Established in 2008, European Maritime Day […]

22 Jul 2024

The European Union will demand access to British fishing waters in return for a closer relationship with Britain, The Telegraph understands. Sir Keir Starmer is pursuing a reset to European relations and last week hosted a summit for European Political Community (EPC) leaders at Blenheim Palace. The Telegraph reports that the EU is said to […]

15 Jul 2024

The European Parliamentary Research Service has released a comprehensive study titled “Exploring the viability of innovative fishing technologies as an alternative to bottom trawling in European marine protected areas.” Fisheries in Europe’s marine environment use different types of mobile and static fishing gears that come into contact with the seabed, including mobile bottom-contacting gears (MBCGs) […]

08 Jul 2024

Nearly 9 in 10 citizens (86%) surveyed across seven EU countries expect their political leaders to prioritise the protection of marine biodiversity, according to the results of national polls conducted by Sapience. The study further identifies that, to protect the ocean, citizens consider safeguarding endangered marine species, marine habitats, and stopping overfishing to be essential or important […]

18 Jun 2024

The EU Council has officially adopted the Nature Restoration Law, marking the first major piece of legislation aimed at restoring nature in the past thirty years. The regulation allows for the restoration of marine habitats, strengthening biodiversity and climate resilience. After months negotiations between the EU Council and the European Parliament, Environment ministers adopted the Nature […]

18 Jun 2024

The European Council – an institution of the 27-member European Union which defines the general political direction and priorities of the EU – has adopted a decision to conclude the United Nations agreement on Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ), also known as the ‘High Seas Treaty’. With this decision, the EU is now ready to formally deposit […]

30 Apr 2024

Mairi Gougeon MSP, the Scottish Government’s Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs, Land Reform, and Islands, has written to Finlay Carson, the Chair of the Rural Affairs and Island Committee, to address the concerns regarding the sand eel fishing ban in Scotland and the challenge raised by the EU. The European Commission said that the ban […]

30 Apr 2024

The European Union has voted in favour of ratifying the UN High Seas Treaty. The treaty aims to protect marine life in areas that are outside of countries’ maritime borders including the high seas and the seabed. The high seas are areas of the ocean that lie beyond national boundaries, with only 1% of these […]