Scottish stocks data deficient
More than half of the main species landed by Scottish whitefish vessels come from stocks that are ‘data deficient’, according to a review carried out by the NAFC Marine Centre. Data-deficient fish stocks are those for which the data needed to carry out a scientific assessment are not available. The review found that of the [...]
Fresh fish on your mobile
Nofima is quadrupling the number of different fish species you can check with the iPhone app “How fresh is your fish?”. You can now use the app, which enables you to evaluate how fresh fish is, to check pollock, haddock, herring, turbot, sole, brill, redfish, deep-water shrimps, fjord shrimps and peeled shrimps. The first version [...]
We crashed the stocks says fisheries leader
From the Daily Telegraph Mike Park was 21 when he skippered his first fishing boat. Back then, in the early 1980s, he recalls, Scottish fishermen landed 120,000 tons of cod a year. Now the catch has slumped to just 15,000 tons. So far, so familiar: the world’s oceans are full of collapsed, over-exploited fisheries. But [...]
Clyde – Changes in species diversity and size composition
Following the repeal in 1962 of a long-standing ban on trawling, yields of demersal fish from the Firth of Clyde, southwest Scotland, increased to a maximum in 1973 and then declined until the directed fishery effectively ceased in the early 2000s. Since then, the only landings of demersal fish from the Firth have been by-catch [...]
Overfishing and the jobs that never were
Fish stocks deliver huge benefits to society. They are a source of jobs, a source of profits, and a source of affordable food. But European fish stocks are delivering much less than they could if they were managed at sustainable levels. For the good of society, restoring fish stocks from current levels to their maximum [...]
Marine Social and Economic Data Project 2012
Robust and current data is needed urgently in the marine environment where policy makers are dealing with a number of new legislative requirements such as the Marine Strategy Framework Directive, the development of Marine Spatial Plans and the designation of new Marine Protected Areas. In response to this, EMU Limited in collaboration with the Marine [...]
CFP reform–working document
The current Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) has failed to a large extent. It has proved impossible to resolve the long-standing problems (overfishing, overcapacities, the poor economic situation of many undertakings in the fisheries sector, social problems caused by the decline of fisheries in many coastal regions). There exists a wide consensus among EU institutions regarding [...]
Bad news for cod anglers
The top survival rate of cod larvae this century was in 2005, but the fish of that year class were virtually wiped out within three years, according to European fishery scientists and the Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aqua Culture Sciences based in Lowestoft. Some 62p% of these yearlings were trawled and dumped in the [...]
Status of the Shark–Infographic
Here is a fine example of an infographic from the Discovery Channel. Note :: It is quite a large image so may take a while to download.
SSACN AGM
Though our first attempt to hold the AGM was scuppered by the weather, this time, despite all frost, ice and odd bit of snow, a goodly number made it and we managed to get it done. Thanks to all those who turned up; my apologies for the quality of the photo and to those who [...]