Work Under Way on December Council Priorities
Sleeves were rolled up in London recently, as large teams from NFFO and DEFRA/Cefas got to grips with the issues that are likely to feature in this year’s December Council.
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Cornish AGM: Brexit Focus
Fisheries Minister, George Eustice, and a team of senior DEFRA officials used the Cornish FPO’s recent annual general meeting to provide an update on preparations to leave the CFP.
Changes Ahead to Safety in Fishing
As part of the preparation for the implementation of ILO C188, the first meeting of a special Fishing Industry Safety Group (FISG) to develop a voluntary safety management code was held at the NFFO office in York.
Bolder Management of Spurdog Recovery Vital
The latest scientific advice on spurdog points to the reintroduction of a bycatch allowance as the most sensible management strategy to recover the stock. This would prevent the needless discarding of dead catch, remove an incentive to retain smooth hound as substitution, and restore the evidence base generated by the fishing fleet that underpins management decision-making.
Irish Sea Turnaround
“I told you so” is rarely an attractive phrase. But it is difficult to avoid a tone of grim smugness when speaking about the 375% TAC increase in this year’s scientific advice for Irish Sea cod. So long regarded as a basket case, ICES has dramatically revised its perception of the stock and altered the assumptions that support its model. The advice has shifted from a zero catch in 2012, and a minimal bycatch in 2016, to a healthy allocation in 2018, with the stock considered to be above maximum sustainable yield trigger.
Labour and Fishing
The Labour Party intends to engage much more closely with the fishing industry than it has done the past. It is doing so in order to equip itself to be an effective and influential official opposition in fisheries. As a baseline for its policies, it needs a sound understanding of the issues confronting all parts of the industry.
Round table with Secretary of State
The top DEFRA ministerial team, led by Secretary of State, Michael Gove, met recently with key UK stakeholders to hear their aspirations and discuss the risks associated with the UK’s departure from the EU.
Withdrawal of the UK from the London Convention Confirmed
The Federation has today received the following letter from the Secretary of State, Michael Gove:
Fishing and Brexit
Fishing will be a sort of litmus test for Brexit. As the UK begins the process of leaving the EU, we have entered a period of extreme uncertainty. The outcome of the exit negotiations, and the kind of trade relations that the UK will have with Europe after it leaves, will be dependent on many complex factors, not least whether an agreement will be possible at all.
Laying the Foundations
The Fisheries Bill contained in the Queen’s speech, along with the Government’s announcement that the UK will withdraw from the 1964 London Convention, are important developments that signal that the legal foundations are being laid for a post-Brexit fisheries regime in the UK’s exclusive economic zone.
Features
Fishing and Brexit
Fishing will be a sort of litmus test for Brexit. As the UK begins the process of leaving the EU, we have entered a period of extreme uncertainty. The outcome of the exit negotiations, and the kind of trade relations that the UK will have with Europe after it leaves, will be dependent on many complex factors, not least whether an agreement will be possible at all.
Weekly Brexit Update: National Quota Shares
Relative Stability is the name given to the quota allocation keys adopted as part of the CFP in 1983. It is widely acknowledged that the interests of the UK’s fishing industry did not occupy a particularly high place in the HMG’s priorities at the time and as a result, the UK’s Relative Stability allocations do not reflect a fair or reasonable share of the stocks which are fished in UK waters.
Are Days the Answer?
The NFFO looks at claims that, post-Brexit, we could ditch quotas.