Withdrawal Agreement
Like many others, we are studying the text of the draft EU/UK withdrawal agreement to…
All news with the tag Europe / Common Fisheries Policy
The fish markets in Newlyn, Peterhead and Kilkeel,
and a discussion of fishing post-Brexit, featured heavily on BBC Farming Today recently.
Publication of the UK Fisheries Bill
As the UK leaves the EU and therefore the Common Fisheries Policy, this Bill is an important…
Major Lobby Day Ahead of Key Decisions
The NFFO and the Scottish Fishermen’s Federations, recently joined forces for a lobby…
Flags Deliver the Message
Thousands of flags and wheelhouse stickers in fishing ports across the country are delivering…
Industry Unites to Fight for its Future
The NFFO’s new Chairman, Cornish fisherman, Andrew Pascoe, has said that he is…
UK to be Ejected from Advisory Councils during Transition Period
At a recent meeting of the North Sea Advisory Council, the European Commission made the…
Fishing Industry Organisations across the UK Unite
“We intend to Hold Government to Account on Brexit Commitments” A broad…
UK Fishing in the Transition Period
The NFFO comments on where we are after the EU and UK have agreed arrangements for the 21 month…
Take the Politics Out of Fishing
Against the background of high level discussions on where fisheries powers should be located…
The Prime Minister Spells It Out
On the cusp of the next and crucial round of negotiations on the UK’s departure from the…
Ten Reasons Why Fishing should not be part of a Transitional Deal with the EU
As the cabinet debates the UK’s detailed positions on Brexit, the NFFO spells out why…
Commission Publishes its Negotiation Positions on Fisheries: NFFO Executive Reaffirms its Brexit Positions
The European Commission has recently presented its positions on fisheries to the EU 27 member…
UK Fisheries: the Year Ahead
Over the next ten months, the shape of the UK’s future outside the EU should become…
2017 Council Overview
This was a different kind of December Council in a number of important ways. Many delegations…
December Council. Back off on Bass!
A strong NFFO team is present in Brussels for the December Council, which begins today in…
Norway outlines its Post-Brexit Vision for the North Sea: Sustainability requires cooperation
During the annual EU/Norway negotiations, this year in Bergen, the Norwegian delegation gave…
EU/Norway Negotiations
The EU and Norway delegations paused in their negotiations in Bergen for an annual reciprocal…
European Impasse Generates Technical Conservation Fears
There are deep concerns within the fishing industry that an impasse between the European…
Norway Study Trip
An NFFO delegation of 11 has recently returned from a study tour to Oslo and Bergen to learn in…
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…
Cornish AGM: Brexit Focus
Fisheries Minister, George Eustice, and a team of senior DEFRA officials used the Cornish…
Bolder Management of Spurdog Recovery Vital
The latest scientific advice on spurdog points to the reintroduction of a bycatch allowance as…
Labour and Fishing
The Labour Party intends to engage much more closely with the fishing industry than it has done…
Round table with Secretary of State
The top DEFRA ministerial team, led by Secretary of State, Michael Gove, met recently with key…
Withdrawal of the UK from the London Convention Confirmed
The Federation has today received the following letter from the Secretary of State, Michael…
Fishing and Brexit
Fishing will be a sort of litmus test for Brexit. As the UK begins the process of leaving the EU, we…
Laying the Foundations
The Fisheries Bill contained in the Queen’s speech, along with the Government’s…
From Turmoil – Strength
The bewildering change of political fortunes over the last few weeks prompts the fair…
Weekly commentary: The NFFO Sketches a post-Brexit future
The Management of Fisheries within the UK Zone Post-Brexit
Minister Provides Brexit Assurances
In a letter received before the announcement of the General Election, Fisheries Minister,…
Exclusive 12 mile Zone
Each week, the NFFO shines a spotlight on a different aspect of its policy towards the…
European Fishing Groups combine to Fight Brexit
The Financial Times has reported on manoeuvrings by European fishing groups in France,…
NFFO Weekly Brexit Update
Each week, the NFFO shines a spotlight on a different aspect of its policy towards the…
Risks for us as Scotland Heads for the Door
Notwithstanding the referendum result in 2014, in which the Scottish electorate rejected…
The European Parliament and the Future of Fisheries
The UK media reported this week on a leaked document from the EU Parliament, explaining why…
Urgent Bass Talks
The NFFO has raised the issue of bass with Fisheries Minister George Eustice. At a meeting…
NFFO Takes Position on North Sea Plan
Through its work with the North Sea Advisory Council, the NFFO has been centrally involved in…
EU Landings Obligation
The beginning of 2017 and the second year of the progressive implementation of the EU landings…
December Council outcomes
The December Council, as usual, generated a mixed bag of winners and losers. The underlying…
December Council
The December Council remains (for the time being) an important date in the fishing calendar.
Bass: Ban on Gill Net Fisheries “Misguided and Harmful”
The NFFO has made it clear to Fisheries Minister, George Eustice, that the Commission’s…
Brexit Talks with Norwegian Fishing Sector
The NFFO met recently with a large delegation from the Norwegian Seafood Alliance, which is…
UK fishermen’s federations adopt united stance on Brexit
The UK’s two main representative organisations for commercial fishermen – the…
Brexit: Resetting the Fisheries Deal
The Common Fisheries Policy has been one of the least successful European policies. At its…
Brexit offers ‘opportunity for radical change’ says UK fisheries minister
Brexit Takes Centre Stage at Fishing Industry Debate
In the meantime ……
Brexit will dominate the NFFO’s work this summer and for the foreseeable future. But…
North Sea Discard Plan for 2017
North Sea Member States have now submitted their Joint Recommendation for the Discard Plan for…
North Western Waters Discard Plan for 2017
The North West Waters member states have now submitted their Joint Recommendations to the…
Mid-Channel Conference Communique on Skates and Rays
For 37 years the Mid-Channel Conference has provided an international forum for Channel…
Multi-annual Management Plan Logjam freed
The log-jam caused by the long running, bad-tempered, jurisdictional dispute between the…
New EU Technical Conservation Regime
The Commission has recently adopted its long-awaited proposal for a new Technical…
NFFO will provide Referendum Platform
The NFFO will not take a formal position on the forthcoming referendum on membership of the EU.…
Advisory Councils Publish Advice on the Landing Obligation Both warn about chokes ahead
The North Sea and North West Waters advisory councils have both published their advice on the…
Economics and Fishing Policy
The Common Fisheries Policy has to date been driven almost exclusively by conservation…
Multi-annual Management Plans in the Common Fisheries Policy
A briefing note for Co-legislators
Demersal Landings Obligation applies from 1st January
The EU landings obligation will come into force on 1st January 2016.
December Council Details
We are now in receipt of the definitive TAC and quota changes agreed at the December…
December Council Outcomes
The Council of European fisheries ministers which decided the quota levels for 2016 was held in…
December Council
An NFFO team has arrived in Brussels for the Fisheries Council on 14th /15th December, where…
European Parliament Derails the North Sea Discard Plan
Many have predicted that the EU landings obligation - because of the top-down way it has been…
Bass: Repeating the mistakes of the past
Everyone makes mistakes. A measure of intelligence is how quickly we learn from those…
Who’s to Blame for Landing the Blame?
In an open letter to the New Economics Foundation, the NFFO has challenged its misguided…
Fisheries Debate: NFFO Briefing Note
In advance of the annual round of quota negotiations, the National Federation of…
The Emerging Technical Conservation Regime
The main EU instrument governing the rules on technical conservation is a regulation dating…
Bass Unity
The Commission’s proposal on bass – effectively a moratorium on catches –…
Bass Requires Action not Overreaction
The Federation writes to the Minister on the need for a proportionate response to bass…
Death Throes of the Drift Net Ban
A rather bureaucratic exchange of letters between Commissioner Vella and the Chairman of the…
Wide Ranging Discussions with UK Fisheries Minister
Fisheries Minister, George Eustice, met recently in London with the NFFO’s Executive…
Enforcement of the Landings Obligation
The NFFO recently participated in a major seminar in Roskilde, Denmark, organised by the…
Bass conservation measures NFFO Position Paper June 2015
The NFFO has prepared the following position paper on a sea bass conservation strategy. A…
NFFO Response: Defra Consultation on the Implementation of the EU landings Obligation
The EU landings obligation, enshrined in the CFP reform of June 2013, was the result of a toxic…
Drift Net Ban hanging on by its fingernails
The ill-conceived European Commission proposal for a ban on small-scale drift nets is badly…
Post-Election Horse Trading Concerns voiced by NFFO
The SNP has made no secret of its ambition to take the lead in representing the UK in the Council of…
Bass Measures
Earlier this year, the Commission introduced emergency measures for the bass fishery…
Regionalisation of the CFP Taking stock
It is almost two years since it was decided to introduce a degree of regionalisation into…
Crystal Ball
The Federation looks forward to its work programme for 2015.
Commissioner Vella and the Fishing Sector
The NFFO was recently part of a Europeche/EAPO delegation which met with the new…
Spurdog By-catch Initiative
Spurdog presents a particular challenge to fishermen, fisheries managers, scientists and…
Drift Net Ban: NFFO Directs Withering Fire on “Irrelevant Brussels Committee”
The NFFO has said that an obscure Brussels Committee which has expressed support for a blanket…
Bass Management
An important workshop was held recently in Dublin to make progress on the design and…
Drift Net Ban pushed onto back burner
An NFFO delegation took part in a recent meeting in Brussels, between European Commission…
Drift Net Report
One of the many mysterious aspects of the Commission’s proposal for blanket ban on drift…
Maintaining the Diversity of our Fleets is the best Guarantee of a Resilient UK Fleet and Sustainable Fisheries for the Future - NFFO
NFFO Response to Greenpeace/NUTFA Report "Championing coastal waters".
No More Dog’s Breakfast? A Bonfire of Technical Conservation Rules?
There are many reasons to be concerned about the way that the EU landings obligation is…
The Dying Days of Effort Control
Effort control (days at sea restrictions) as part of the EU Cod Management Plan, was dealt a…
Why the NFFO will Fight Tooth and Claw to Block the Drift Net Ban Prospects are Looking Better
The reasons why the NFFO will use everything at its disposal to resist the blanket ban on drift…
UK Takes Stance Against Blanket Drift Net Ban
The UK has made clear that it will throw its weight behind opposition to the proposed EU ban on…
Celtic Sea Mixed Fisheries: Cutting Edge Work on Management Plan
A meeting in Dublin recently attended by the NFFO saw progress on a project at the cutting edge of…
Peter Caunter , Skipper/owner of the under-10metre netter MFV Yvonne Anne, writes about the impact that the total ban on EU drift nets would have on
Reference points: Dover (Kent) to Yarmouth ( Suffolk) For hundreds of years traditional…
Over-turning the EU Drift Nets Ban could be a long haul
The Commission’s hard-nosed response to concerns, expressed by the NFFO and others,…
Prominent Fisheries Scientist, Martin Pastoors, expresses his views on the EU Discard Ban
The main challenge that I see at the moment is to keep the fishing industry onboard when the…
Fisheries Implications of “Defining Moment in the History of the EU”
As the European institutions struggle to absorb the implications of last week’s…
Sunday Times Condemns Drift Net Ban
Cut this crazy EU dragnet or our herring fishermen are lost
Drift Net Blanket Ban: “Crazy, Misguided and Possibly Malicious”
Coalition of fishermen, scientists and conservationists preparing to resist Commission…
EU Norway Debacle points to Urgent need for Reform of Coastal State Governance
Say what you like about the EU Fisheries Council each December with its all-night circus. At…
NFFO Welcomes Final Agreement on North Sea Quota But Says Delay Has Caused Serious Difficulties For Fleets
The National Federation of Fishermen’s Organisations (NFFO) has welcomed last…
The Titanic Sails at Midnight
Midnight January 1st 2016 marks the embarkation date for the EU discards ban for our demersal…
EU Norway Talks Break down amidst dissent in Norwegian Delegation
The much postponed EU Norway talks for a fisheries agreement for 2014 began in Bergen on Monday…
Tony Takes the Lead
Inshore Fisherman, Tony Delahunty, writes to his local PM asking him to support the fishing…
December Council Outcomes
The “short and brutal” Council which delivered TAC decisions for next year on…
Quota Decisions Must Take Greater Account of Mixed Fisheries
Council Outcomes on Quota Allocations for 2014 Reflect Stock Recovery But More Needs to Be Done…
Discards Ban
The political decision by the Council of Ministers and European Parliament to place an…
Under-10s: Taking Stock
Now that the shape of the reformed CFP is known in broad terms, and the UKAFPO legal challenge to…
CFP Reform: Froth vs. Substance
A clearer idea of the substance of the reformed CFP emerging from the final stages of agreement…
First Tentative Steps towards Regionalisation of the CFP
Even before the ink is dry on the CFP reform, the first tentative steps towards regional…
Council Mandate Brings CFP Reform Closer
The agreement reached by the Council of Ministers in Brussels in the early hours of 15th May…
North Sea RAC meets the Norwegian Fishermen’s Association
The Demersal Working Group of the North Sea Regional Advisory Council (NSRAC) travelled…
CFP Reform: Critical Decisions Imminent
The Council of Ministers meeting in Brussels on 13th and 14th June could turn out to be a pivotal…
Council of Ministers: CFP Reform in the Balance
The Council of Ministers held in Luxembourg on 22nd April will not go down as one of the decisive…
CFP Reform: NFFO urges focus on practicality issues
An NFFO delegation has travelled to Luxembourg where EU fisheries ministers are discussing…
Electronic Logbooks
The MMO and NFFO have agreed to work together on safety, cost issues and the significantly…
NFFO Welcomes European Parliament Vote but Warns about Practical Implementation Issues
“The National Federation of Fishermen’s Organisation has welcomed the vote…
Letter from the NFFO to The Eurpoean Commission, June 2012
I write further to your confirmation, at the recent meeting of ACFA, that the Commission is…
Something of a Revolution
Something of a revolution in thinking about the CFP has taken place over the last decade. Ten…
December 2012 Fisheries Council Outcomes
The noticeable feature of the NFFO team in Brussels at the December Council is that reflects and…
December Council
For those of us who have attended too many December Councils, the meeting of EU fisheries…
European Parliament CFP Vote
Commentators are still assessing the significance of the vote in the European Parliament…
Council Breakthrough on Flawed Cod Plan
The Council of Ministers has today unanimously agreed to amend the parts of the EU Cod Plan which…
Council of Ministers: A Tough Negotiation Ahead
An NFFO delegation, reflecting the diversity of the Federation’s regional and fleet…
Zero TACs
Except in a single species fishery in urgent need of dramatic remedial action, zero TACs have no…
European Parliament CFP Reform Amendments
The fishing industry has an overwhelming interest in a practical and workable Common…
Oak Foundation and Fisheries Policy
What are we to make of the astounding sums of money put at the disposal of environmental lobby…
The Lessons of Recovery: Taking stock after a Decade of Cod Recovery Measures
As EU and Norway and then next month the EU Council of Ministers, stand poised to depart from…
Stocks Outlook: State of Fish Stocks in European Waters
The annual seminar organised by the Commission which marks the beginning of the autumn…
Focus on the European Parliament
The Lisbon Treaty has given the European Parliament a central role in agreeing legislation…
Commission Proposal for Deepwater Stocks in the North East Atlantic: Response by the National Federation of Fishermen’s Organisations (NFFO)
The European Commission has made a Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of…
Fleet Overcapacity: Problems and Solutions
The European Commission has convinced itself, with the assistance of the European Court of…
Policy Logjam
It has become a commonplace, accepted in all quarters, that the Common Fisheries Policy is a…
Further! Faster!
The environmental NGOs' disappointing, although not altogether surprising, response to the…
CFP Reform: Council Agree ‘General Approach’
The Council of Ministers reached political agreement on a ‘General Approach’ to…
Regionalisation of the CFP
Regionalisation of the Common Fisheries Policy has moved centre stage since the NFFO (amongst…
Stakeholder Meeting on EU Cod Management Plan: London Meeting
The EU Cod Management Plan has been evaluated by STECF and found to be flawed in some serious…
European Parliament Debates Regionalisation of the CFP
As the reform process continues, the European Parliament Fisheries Committee recently…
Sustainability and Governance
After 20 years of what we could politely call sub-optimal performance of the CFP's resource…
CFP Reform: Commission ‘Non-papers’
The National Federation of Fishermen’s Organisations welcomes the…
2012 - A critical year ahead
All the signs are that 2012 will be a pivotal year for the fishing industry.
The Common Fisheries Policy: A Failed Experiment in Centralised Control
TACs and Effort Move in Opposite Directions
North Sea
The main North Sea joint stock TACs were agreed with Norway in late November and with the…
Irish Sea Fishermen “Deflated by EU Decisions”Alan McCulla Chief Executive of the Anglo-North Irish Fish Producers Organisation
After two days of negotiations in Brussels, the conclusion of the EU’s Fisheries…
Effort Control in 2012: Back from the Precipice
The UK, with strong support from France, Germany, Spain, Netherlands and Denmark, managed to…
Commissioner Damanaki and Europeche
For the first time since she took office two years ago, Commissioner Damanaki met recently with…
EU Norway Agreement – Brief Summary of Outcomes
The Catch Quota scheme will have up to 12% cod quota over and above the TAC for 2012 (the same…
Effort Control: Confusion, Confrontation but Precious Little Conservation
It would be hard to imagine a fisheries policy instrument than the EU effort control regime that…
Simplification Agenda
Once the year-end quota and effort negotiations have concluded and we begin the New Year, it can…
Reform of the Common Fisheries Policy
Submission Prepared by the National Federation of Fishermen’s Organisations in…
First Round of EU Norway Talks
The first round of negotiations towards the annual fisheries agreement between the EU and…
Stocks Meeting
A major consultative meeting was held in Brussels on 8th September as a prelude to the autumn…
Twelve Words and Two Failed Cod Plans
Twelve words have rocked the foundations of the EU Cod Management Plan and have undermined the…
EU Technical Conservation Rules: Mission impossible?
The EU rules which cover technical conservation measures, such as mesh size, minimum landing…
CFP Reform “Wide Open”
The final outcome of the CFP reform is wide open; that was the impression left by Lowri Evans,…
MPs Briefed on CFP Reform
The NFFO and the Scottish Fishermen’s Federation recently jointly briefed MPs on the…
CFP Reform
We can expect the usual crop of apocalyptic predictions from the mainstream media and…
Ten Point Plan for CFP Reform
As the European Commission prepares its proposals for CFP reform, the NFFO has published its 10…
Damanaki “Not Listening”
Each Commissioner quickly establishes a hallmark of their time in office. For Joe Borge it was a…
Small Scale Fisheries – thinking through the issues
Commissioner Damanaki’s (if not necessarily DG Mare’s) enthusiasm for special…
A Decade of Paralysis
If the CFP fails to find a way to regionalise its decision-making it will drift into a decade of…
Overcapacity: European Court of Auditors’ Study
The European Court of Auditors has instigated an investigation into fleet overcapacity…
North West Waters RAC Spells out its requirements for Regional Management
At a recent meeting with the Lori Evans, Director General of DG Mare, the Commission’s…
There are no technocratic solutions.
The Council of Ministers meeting of December 2010 may come to be seen as the high-water mark of a…
Major Showdown Looms over Co-decision-making
A major clash in Brussels over fisheries jurisdiction is looming in Brussels, which could have…
Commission has Lost its way on Discards
The Commission seems to have lost its way on discards. Although the rhetoric is still there -…
Priorities for the December Council
For as long as total allowable catches and days-at-sea restrictions are fixed at the December…
Update on the New Control Regulation/Detailed Rules
The new Control Regulation was forced through the Council of Ministers in October 2009 to beat…
UK Federation's hold first meeting with Damanaki.
The NFFO and Scottish Fishermen's Federation recently held their first meeting with new EC…
Reform Process Adrift whilst Fault Lines Appear on Technical Measures
CFP reform seems to be adrift after the lead Commission official on the reform process,…
CFP Conference Marks New Stage in Reform Process
A major conference on the main CFP reform marked the end of one phase and the beginning of…
Omega Net Gauge: Mishandled and Flawed
The introduction of the new Omega net gauge has been seriously mishandled and there are…
UK Publishes its Response on CFP Reform
The UK has now published its response to the Commission’s Green Paper on CFP reform.
New Era of Co-Decision Making
The Lisbon Treaty means that from here on in all decisions on European fisheries issues will be…
Quota Talks Begin in Brussels
The annual quota negotiations have begun in Brussels following a late evening meeting between…
Outgoing Borg on the Future
Commissioner Joe Borg, outlined his views on the future direction of travel for Commission…
NFFO’s Response to the CFP Green Paper
The NFFO’s response to the Commission’s Green Paper is now complete and will be…
NFFO West Coast Committee Focuses on Inshore Issues
The NFFO West Coast Committee brought together Bella Murfin, Defra's head of the Access to…
Commission Forced to Back Down on Technical Rules
A Commission proposal to hand itself additional powers to apply technical rules has been…
Battle to Curb Technical Conservation Fiasco
Commission Proposals “Reckless and Irresponsible”The European…
Edinburgh Conference Points the Way for a Reformed CFP
NFFO Chief Executive, Barrie Deas, one of the speakers at the recent RAC conference on decision…
Nobel Prize Boosts Prospects for CFP Reform
The kind of CFP reforms pressed for by the NFFO, have received a tremendous boost by this…
Rush to beat Lisbon will result in Flawed Technical Rules
Briefing Note on the Proposed Technical Conservation Regulation
Electronic Net Gauge
The EU exemption from using the new electronic mesh gauge expires on 1st September.
NFFO Speech on CFP Reform
The NFFO recently shared a platform with European Fisheries Commissioner, Joe Borg at an event…
CFP Reform
The publication of the Commission’s Green Paper on CFP reform has started a process of…
Constant Vulnerability to Prosecution With No Purpose: The NFFO Spells Out the Margin of Tolerance Issue
At a recent meeting with senior Commission officials, in Brussels, the NFFO spelt out the…
NFFO and SFF Agree Joint Approach on Effort Regime and CFP Reform
The Scottish Fishermen’s Federation and the National Federation of…
Three-day Meeting on the Future of the CFP
Federation representatives recently attended a major three-day meeting with senior…
Belgian Fishing Effort in the Bristol Channel
Belgian fishing industry representatives met recently with Bristol Channel Fishermen in a…
The future of fisheries lies in Long Term Management Plans.
The challenge is how to establish a process that integrates biology and economics and places…
Debate on the Future of the CFP Starts in Earnest
The debate on the CFP after 2012 started in earnest this week with an exchange of views between…
December Council Media Coverage
"Hostile and sometimes ill-informed, superficial comment can be highly damaging to the…
Fisheries Council’s Disappointing Outcome for Local Fleet
The disappointing result of the December 2008 EU Fisheries Council has not come as a surprise to…
December Council TACs and Quotas for 2009
Key features of the December settlement for Fishing Grounds
December Council Overview
This year’s Council of Ministers meeting to decide TACs and quotas for 2009 was held in…
The EU Norway agreement for reciprocal fisheries arrangements in 2009 was agreed on 10th December
The EU Norway agreement for reciprocal fisheries arrangements in 2009 was agreed on 10th…
NFFO Issues Raised with Commissioner Borg
The NFFO used its position on the Advisory Committee for Fisheries and Aquaculture (ACFA) to…
EU Norway, Second Round, Brussels 24th to 28th November 2008
The second round of EU Norway talks for a reciprocal agreement in 2009 concluded on Friday 28th…
EC Plans New Control Regulation
The European Commission has plans for a new Control Regulation for European Fisheries.
The Common Fisheries Policy after 2012
The NFFO has secured a place on an influential committee that will make recommendations on…
Norway Negotiations
The annual EU Norway talks are a complex set of negotiations over two rounds that, amongst other…
Cod Recovery and Discards Will Dominate December Council
Cod recovery is expected again to dominate this year’s December Council
December Council: Urgent Briefing for New Minister
As NFFO News went to press the NFFO was due to meet the new Fisheries Minister Huw…
Minister’s First Meeting with Federations
New Fisheries Minister, Huw Irranca-Davies, met with the two UK Federations, NFFO and SFF,…