The National Federation of Fishermen's Organisations
As the Government is poised to extend the use of vessel monitoring systems (VMS) across the inshore fleet in England, recent experience with electronic monitoring systems (EMS) illustrate two very different trajectories for fisheries management.
Advice on preparing for the introduction of International Maritime Organisation (IMO) numbers as part of contingency planning
The National Federation of Fishermen’s Organisations and Dutch fishing associations VisNed and Ned. Vissersbond, have reached agreement on continuing voluntary closed areas for pulse fishing for a second year. The closed areas in which no pulse fishing will take place, are designed to ease pressure on areas sensitive for English east coast inshore fishermen.
The dangers of one-dimensional fisheries management.
Both sides of the Christmas break have seen intense activity at Westminster as the Fisheries Bill, the first piece primary fisheries legislation for decades, passes through the parliamentary process. The central purpose of the Bill is to provide UK fisheries ministers with powers to set quotas and control access over fishing in UK waters, when the UK leaves the EU - and therefore the CFP.
The last Fisheries Council in which the UK will participate as an EU member state concluded in the early hours of 19th December. It was dominated by issues relating to chokes in mixed fisheries, particularly those for which zero catch advice had been given. As expected, whilst some progress was made at the Brussels meeting, many difficult issues remain to be resolved in the New Year and beyond.
December Council. Despite a four-year phase-in, it seems highly unlikely that the Council of Ministers, which begins today, 17th December, will resolve all the outstanding problems associated with the implementation of the landing obligation.
The December Council of Ministers will not only be the last in which the UK participates but one of the most complex. A perfect storm of conflicting regulations means that ministers face a number of unpalatable choices and trade-offs. These conflicts include:
The EU landings obligation comes fully into force on 1st January 2019 and will then apply to all quota species, unless a specific de minimis or high survival exemption applies. The full implementation of the landing obligation presents a number of challenges for the fishing industry, fisheries managers, and enforcement authorities, on a scale of magnitude not seen before. The problem of chokes in mixed fisheries, and the challenge of monitoring and controlling fishing activities in diverse fleets across a vast marine environment are at the top of the list of those challenges.
The Government is pulling out all the stops on fishing ahead of Tuesday’s critical vote on the draft Withdrawal Agreement with the EU. Fishing has become a pivotal issue on both sides of the Channel, and the Government amendment, now proposed, will oblige any future Secretary of State to cede access to fish in UK waters only in return for fairer quota shares for the UK. As an example of where change is needed, the UK share of Channel cod is 9%, whilst the French share is 84%.
The Withdrawal Agreement and Political Statement on the UK’s future relationship with the EU has put fishing in the spotlight. The NFFO looks at what is at stake.
Thousands of flags and wheelhouse stickers in fishing ports across the country are delivering the fishing industry’s message to the Government and politicians as the UK/EU withdrawal negotiations edge towards a critical stage. By flying the No Sell-Out flags, thousands of vessels, in dozens of ports around the coast, urge the UK negotiators to stand firm against the EU’s pressure to keep the status quo on access for their fleets and the current unfair quota shares. Cornish fisherman and NFFO Chairman, Andrew Pascoe, in a letter accompanying the flags, spells it out:
The fishing industry should not underestimate the threat from a new celebrity-led threat to fast-track marine protected areas, devoid of evidence, says the NFFO.