Sea Fishing News

Read all of the latest news about angling, commercial fishing, conservation and other issues relating to the marine environment from the UK and beyond.

May 2026 News

European fishing companies reflag vessels to exploit non-EU waters: European fishing companies have begun exploiting Indian Ocean tuna stocks by operating under the flags of African and Middle Eastern nations, according to a new investigation. The London-based Blue Marine Foundation, alongside the American investigations firm Kroll, found that European-owned vessels account for roughly a third of the region’s tuna catch. The report focuses on the activities of the European purse seine fleet. These ships, which target skipjack, yellowfin and bigeye tuna destined largely for European supermarket shelves, have long dominated the Indian Ocean fishery. But investigators found that many are now operating under the flags of countries including Mauritius, Tanzania, Oman, Kenya and the Seychelles, allowing them to access additional fishing quotas beyond those allocated directly to the European Union. “We wanted to understand who really owned these vessels,” said Jess Rattle, Blue Marine Foundation’s head of investigations. “Were they owned by the coastal states whose quota they were using, or were they effectively owned by the EU?” While the practice of “reflagging” vessels is legal and commonplace within the global fishing industry, critics argue it obscures the true scale of foreign involvement in regional fisheries and weakens oversight. Ownership structures are often hidden behind layers of shell companies and overseas registries, making it difficult for regulators and conservationists to track who ultimately profits from the catch. According to the report, the European-owned fleet operating in the Indian Ocean now includes more than fifty purse seine and supply vessels, despite EU commitments to reduce pressure on depleted tuna stocks. The European Commission stressed that vessel reflagging was a private commercial decision rather than a policy directed by Brussels. “The EU has done, and keeps doing, its utmost to promote and respect catch limits,” said commission spokesperson Maciej Berestecki. Yet environmental groups fear that tightening restrictions on EU-flagged vessels may be encouraging companies to seek alternative quotas elsewhere. Advocates say publishing clearer ownership data would expose what one campaigner described as “the real EU fleet” and strengthen conservation efforts. Read more by clicking here.

Controversy over failed Timmy the whale rescue: Marine biologists and whale conservation experts have criticised a controversial, privately funded mission to rescue a humpback whale stranded for weeks off Germany’s Baltic coast. The whale, a ten-metre-long humpback which was named ‘Timmy’ had been trapped on sandbanks in shallow waters since March. However, an ambitious rescue effort, estimated to have cost around €1.5 million (£1.3 million), which was backed in part by Karin Walter-Mommert, a prominent German racehorse owner with one of Europe’s largest racing portfolios, aimed to rescue the whale. This was done by using barges and tugboats to transport Timmy out of the shallow waters and into the open sea near Denmark. Scientists and marine conservationists had already warned that the repeated attempts to move the whale into shallow waters had left it exhausted, and the whale was highly likely to die even if it reached the intended destination. But with international interest in Timmy growing, and scenes of the rescue being streamed online, authorities in the German state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania authorised the unprecedented attempt to relocate the animal by sea. While the operation did indeed take place, and Timmy was successfully transported to deeper water, the tracking equipment fitted to the whale failed to function properly, meaning it was unknown if Timmy had survived. The German Oceanographic Museum in Stralsund said it believed the whale was “highly likely” to have died and called for the immediate release of all tracking data so the operation could be independently assessed. The museum’s scientists had opposed the mission from the outset, describing it as bordering on animal cruelty and warning that the weakened whale may not have been capable of surviving in deeper waters. Confusion has also surrounded the whale’s final release. Veterinary surgeon Kirsten Tönnies, who had been aboard one of the support vessels, said she was prevented from observing the last stage of the operation and objected to the whale being released backwards from the barge without medical clearance and described tensions between scientific advisers and the ship’s crew during the mission. In mid-May, the Danish authorities found the body of a juvenile humpback whale near Anholt Island between Sweden and Denmark and later confirmed that this was Timmy. Questions are now being asked about whether the privately funded rescue mission should have been allowed to take place, and whether any further rescue attempts will be made when whales become stranded elsewhere in Europe. Click here to read more on this story.

Chip shops sell catfish as replacement for traditional species: Some fish and chip shops across north-west England are passing off imported catfish as traditional British fish species in an apparent attempt to cut costs, a BBC investigation has found. The investigation uncovered evidence of pangasius – a cheap, farmed catfish species commonly imported from south-east Asia and sometimes marketed as Vietnamese river cobbler – being sold in place of cod or haddock without customers being clearly informed. Although the fish is considered perfectly safe to eat, industry figures and consumer advocates say the issue lies in misleading customers who believe they are paying for more expensive species traditionally associated with traditional British fish and chips. Pangasius can cost wholesalers as little as £3.40 per kilogram, compared with around £15 per kilogram for whitefish such as cod or haddock, creating a strong financial incentive for less scrupulous operators. The investigation began after the owner of a Liverpool chip shop contacted the BBC, claiming that some competitors were quietly substituting cheaper fish while continuing to charge premium prices. Reporters examined dozens of online customer reviews in which diners questioned the type of fish they had been served, with comments describing it as “some cheap white fish” or noting that it was “not cod or haddock”. From those reviews, ten chip shops were selected for testing. Under food labelling rules, businesses must disclose the species if customers ask. Yet the three takeaways that did not specify the fish reportedly described it only as “normal fish” or “white fish”, with one server pointing to a sign advertising “traditional fish and chips”. Samples purchased from those outlets were analysed at Liverpool John Moores University using DNA testing techniques. Professor Stefano Mariani, who led the investigation with colleague Catherine Perfect, confirmed that all three samples were pangasius. The meals containing catfish were sold for between £3.80 and £5, close to the price range charged elsewhere for a portion of cod or haddock. Mariani noted that most customers would struggle to identify the difference. “It is very difficult for a member of the public that is not a trained fish biologist to identify one fillet from another,” he said. Trading standards authorities acknowledged that fish mislabelling remains difficult to detect because investigations are intelligence-led and DNA testing is expensive. National Trading Standards described the issue as a food labelling matter, while the Food Standards Agency said isolated cases would usually be investigated by local councils. Andrew Crook, president of the National Federation of Fish Friers, said there was nothing inherently wrong with serving pangasius provided customers were told what they were buying. “When you go and get fish and chips most people expect a marine species, cod, haddock or plaice,” he said. “It’s when it’s being sold at a cod price that’s a problem.” He urged businesses to list fish species clearly on menus, warning that the industry depended on public trust. Read more by clicking here.

Norwegian fish farms produce waste equivalent to millions of people: Norway’s vast salmon farming industry is discharging nutrient pollution into fjords and coastal waters on a scale comparable to the untreated sewage produced by tens of millions of people, according to a new report. Analysis by the Sunstone Institute, an environmental research group, found that Norwegian aquaculture released an estimated 75,000 tonnes of nitrogen, 13,000 tonnes of phosphorus and 360,000 tonnes of organic carbon into coastal waters in 2025 alone. Researchers said the volume of waste generated was roughly equivalent to that of 17.2 million people for nitrogen pollution, 20 million for phosphorus, and 30 million for organic carbon. Norway, by comparison, has a population of around 5.5 million. The findings have renewed fears that intensive fish farming is contributing to oxygen depletion and harmful algal blooms in some of Norway’s most ecologically sensitive marine environments. “The faeces, the uneaten feed, the urine – everything goes into the water,” said Alexandra Pires Duro, a data scientist at Sunstone and author of the report. Norway is the world’s largest producer of farmed salmon, with fish typically raised in open-net pens moored in sheltered fjords and coastal inlets. The salmon are fed nutrient-rich pellets, much of which ends up in the surrounding environment through waste or uneaten feed. Scientists warn that such nutrient overload can trigger excessive growth of phytoplankton and algae, which consume oxygen as they decompose. Fjords are particularly vulnerable because their semi-enclosed geography limits water circulation, allowing pollutants to accumulate more easily. The Norwegian Seafood Federation, which represents the industry, argued that emissions reflected the scale of food production and the country’s capacity for self-sufficiency in times of crisis. Krister Hoaas, the federation’s head of public affairs, said fish farmers were working to minimise their environmental impact and stressed that current production levels remained within scientifically assessed ecological limits. Read more here.

Waitrose stops selling mackerel: Waitrose is to suspend the sale of mackerel products amid mounting concerns over the sustainability of North East Atlantic fish stocks, becoming the first major UK supermarket to take the species off its shelves over fears of overfishing. The retailer said it would stop sourcing fresh, chilled and frozen mackerel by the start of May 2026, while tinned mackerel products would not be restocked once existing supplies have been exhausted. The decision follows repeated warnings from marine scientists and conservation groups that current fishing levels are placing severe pressure on mackerel populations, which now face long-term collapse. The International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES), which advises governments on sustainable catch limits, has said that the species has been consistently overfished in recent years and has warned that the volume of fish being caught now exceeds the stock’s ability to replenish itself. Mackerel is Britain’s most heavily landed fish species, with UK vessels catching more than 230,000 tonnes in 2024, the majority from Scottish waters. Although the UK, Norway, Iceland and the Faroe Islands agreed in December to reduce catches by 48 per cent, Waitrose said the measures still fell short of what was needed to ensure sustainability and said the species no longer met its own responsible sourcing standards. The retailer said it would replace mackerel products with alternatives certified by the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC), which assesses fisheries against sustainability criteria. Environmental groups welcomed the announcement and urged other supermarkets to follow suit. The Marine Conservation Society described the move as “leading and decisive”, arguing that retailers had a vital role to play in forcing improvements in fisheries management. Charles Clover, co-founder of the Blue Marine Foundation, said overfishing had become a crisis that policymakers had failed to confront with sufficient urgency. “We hope that this action by Waitrose sends it to the top of the political agenda,” he said. Read more on the BBC News website by clicking here.

New River Tees project aims to boost silver eel numbers: A new conservation project aimed at restoring the critically endangered European eel to a former industrial waterway has been launched. The “Eels of Steel” scheme, funded by Natural England and led by the Tees Rivers Trust, hopes to revive eel numbers in Teesside by improving river habitats and reconnecting local communities with a fish long regarded with suspicion or indifference. Conservationists say attitudes often change once people learn about the eel’s remarkable life cycle. European eels hatch in the Sargasso Sea in the North Atlantic before drifting thousands of miles to European rivers as translucent juvenile “glass eels”. They enter freshwater rivers and live there for years, before eventually returning to the ocean to breed. Volunteers are now monitoring eel numbers at the Tees barrage between April and November as part of efforts to understand and support the species’ recovery. Since the 1980s, European eel populations have collapsed by as much as 98 per cent, driven by pollution, habitat destruction, warming waters, overfishing and barriers such as weirs, dams and sluices that block migration routes. Now listed by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature as critically endangered, the project aims to help the recovery of silver eel numbers. Read more by clicking here.

Claims that Europe’s seabed commercial fishing costs much more than it generates: A major new study has concluded that seabed trawling in European waters imposes billions of euros in economic damage each year, meaning the environmental and social costs vastly outweigh its financial benefits. Published in the journal Ocean & Coastal Management, the research analysed data from almost 5,000 European-flagged trawlers operating across EU, British, Norwegian and Icelandic waters between 2016 and 2021. The study estimates that seabed trawling generates annual industry profits of around €180 million (£155 million), yet leaves society carrying costs of between €2.25 billion (£1.95 billion) and €16 billion (£13.8 billion) once climate damage, subsidies, fuel use and ecological destruction are taken into account. Researchers identified carbon emissions released from disturbed seabed sediments as the single greatest cost. Dragging heavy nets across the ocean floor releases carbon that has been stored for centuries, with European trawlers thought to account for roughly 112 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions annually — almost a third of the global total linked to seabed trawling. Trawling is also blamed for widespread habitat destruction and high levels of bycatch, with up to 75 per cent of marine life caught in some trawls discarded dead back into the sea. Thousands of species, including sharks, rays and corals, are affected. The study found that nearly a quarter of Europe’s seabed trawling effort occurs inside marine protected areas, despite growing evidence that such activity undermines biodiversity recovery and fish stock replenishment. Researchers argue that reducing trawling activity by just over half would deliver greater overall economic and environmental benefits while helping restore depleted seas. Several European governments, including Greece and Sweden, have already announced plans to phase out seabed trawling in protected waters, while the European Commission has called for a gradual ban in all marine protected areas by 2030. Click here to read more.

Hundreds of dead sharks washed up on Welsh beaches: Hundreds of dead sharks and other fish have washed up on beaches along the Welsh coast, prompting concern among walkers and renewed questions about the impact of commercial fishing practices. The latest discovery was made at Pembrey Beach in Carmarthenshire, where Pauline Morris came across a large net filled with dead marine life while walking her dogs on Saturday. Morris, a 65-year-old nurse from Aberdare, described the scene as both shocking and distressing. She said the net contained large numbers of fish and sharks spread across a considerable stretch of beach, adding that the sight had left her questioning whether she wanted to eat fish in future. “It was horrible to see,” she said. “The scale of it was astonishing.” Morris said she could only speculate about how the animals had ended up on the shoreline, suggesting they may have become detached from a fishing vessel or been discarded because they were not part of a targeted catch. Her discovery follows a similar incident at Saundersfoot in Pembrokeshire, where another beachgoer found a large pile of dead marine life believed to be catsharks, commonly known as dogfish. Cliff Benson, founder of Sea Trust Wales, said he had reported the Saundersfoot find to Natural Resources Wales (NRW) after seeing photographs shared on social media. He said the animals may have originated from a trawler operating offshore. NRW said the fish found at Pembrey had not been formally reported, but early indications suggested they were either discarded bycatch or part of a lost catch. The agency added that an officer had visited Saundersfoot but found no trace of the fish, which had since been washed back out to sea. Investigators found no evidence of a pollution incident and concluded the dead fish were most likely linked to commercial fishing activity, while Carmarthenshire Council said it was aware of the incident and believed it was probably connected to a trawler discarding nets and bycatch offshore. However, officials acknowledged that tracing such incidents to a specific vessel is often extremely difficult. Read more by clicking here.

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