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. […]
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 […]
New legislation requiring all under-12 metre vessels fishing in English waters to have an operational inshore vessel monitoring system (I-VMS) device, is just months away from being in place it has been announced. The positional data provided by I-VMS devices will aid in ensuring the sustainability of UK fisheries and provide a more thorough understanding […]
The Department of Environment, Food and Agriculture (DEFA) in the Isle of Man has introduced new measures to protect three significant fishing sites in its waters by banning bottom trawling. These closed areas are located within the Western Irish Sea Mud-belt (WISMB), a vital habitat for various marine species, notably langoustines. Despite decades of extensive […]
Jerry Percy, Director of the New Under Ten Fishermen’s Association (NUTFA) has announced the forthcoming closure of the organisation that has represented the under ten sector of the industry for many years. A Difficult Decision The non-profit organisation has worked for the under 10m and non-sector at local, UK and EU levels, for quota and […]
Although established indicators enable managers to monitor progress toward ending “overfishing” and “Illegal Unreported or unregulated (IUU) fishing”, there is no globally agreed definition or indicator for “destructive fishing”. The FAO Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries (CCRF) recommends: “States should prohibit dynamiting, poisoning and other comparable destructive fishing practices” (art. 8.4.2)”. However, a review […]
The UK’s marine protected areas (MPAs) were exposed to over 33,000 hours of suspected bottom trawling in 2023, according to new analysis from Oceana UK. The environment group used analysis of satellite data from Global Fishing Watch to show that over 100,000 hours of apparent industrial fishing took place within the UK’s offshore MPAs in 2023 […]
New social research publication from the Scottish Government explores what influences the decision making of Scottish fishers. It presents findings from twelve interviews with fishers. The main findings are focused on the social, economic, governance, and environmental drivers in fishers’ decision making. The report titled “What factors influence the strategies and choices of Scottish fishers? […]