In a previously confidential legal opinion, forwarded to the Parliament in July 2009, but finally made public when tabled for debate in the Parliament’s Fisheries Committee, the European Parliament’s Legal Service has declared fishing by European vessels in Western Sahara’s waters to be in violation of international law.
The new opinion calls on the European Commission [...]

The EC is proposing a negotiating stance of a near-total trade ban in bluefin tuna at the upcoming CITES meeting in Doha in a bid to save the fish from serious decline in the Mediterranean; it will also call for restrictions on trade in porbeagle and spiny dogfish shark. A weighted majority of EU member [...]

The MCZ Project
Since the Marine and Coastal Access Act received Royal Assent in November 2009, the MCZ Project team members have been progressing data collection, drafting guidance and undertaking stakeholder engagement activities.
The regional MCZ Projects have employed their expected full teams and are engaging stakeholders in their regions to form their stakeholder groups. It is [...]

You may remember the furore when Recreational Sea Anglers (RSA) found them selves in the firing line for a series off ill thought out proposals intended to bring RSA into the Common Fisheries Policy.
The wheeling and dealing has finally finished regarding the Control regulations. Article 55 (the old Art47 came into affect from January 1.
COUNCIL [...]

The Parliament’s fisheries committee yesterday (27 January) approved a report by Portuguese centre-right MEP Maria do Céu Patrão Neves, which calls for decision-making to be decentralised, and for fishermen and -women to be given more of a say over the management of stocks.
Although this is a non-legislative report, it is significant in that it [...]

The EU and Norway today reached a deal on the management of fisheries this year and, separately, concluded a long-term joint agreement on the management of mackerel stocks.
According to Norwegian officials, the two sides also agreed to increase controls and fisheries inspections and to cut quotas for cod, whiting, haddock and plaice in both [...]

The UK Government has submitted its official response to the European Commission’s green paper on reforming the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) outlining key changes the UK wishes to see in a radical reform of CFP. These changes include:

More responsibility at regional levels to bring decision making closer to those managing fisheries;
Greater flexibility and clearer [...]

Overarching objective: a balanced and fair settlement across the range of negotiations, which promotes the long-term sustainable exploitation of fish stocks in European waters and the economic viability of the fisheries sector – whilst reflecting the full extent of UK interests.
Subject to consultation and further consideration, the UK’s objectives are likely to be as [...]

THE annual rounds of talks to agree quotas for those fish stocks managed jointly by the EU and Norway have stalled at the end of what should have been the final session.
They will continue into a fifth round in Bergen next week. The talks are part of a complex web of agreements and arrangements [...]