EU accused of neo-colonialism over fishing delegations: An article in the Guardian this month has highlighted the influence of the commercial fishing lobby in EU fishing delegations. Yellowfin tuna stocks in the Indian Ocean have been depleted by overfishing, and plans have been made for a time-limited ban on fish aggregation devices (FADs) – floating structures which fish gather under. Such devices make it easy for fishermen to catch large amounts of yellowfin tuna, including juveniles, and non-target species such as turtles and sharks. In a meeting on banning FADs in the Indian Ocean, the EU’s 40-strong delegation contained twenty-eight members of the commercial fishing industry who were listed as “advisors” according to the Guardian. While the motion to ban FADs was passed by a two-thirds majority, the EU delegation objected to the ban. Under the current regulations objecting nations do not need to observe any bans which are passed, leaving Spanish, Italian and French-flagged EU vessels free to continue using the devices. Other Indian Ocean nations where EU vessels are based, such as the Seychelles, also objected to the ban on FADs. Jess Rattle from the Blue Marine Foundation said: “The EU has entirely abandoned this sentiment in favour of plundering the Indian Ocean’s already overfished stocks, safe in the knowledge that, once all the fish are gone, its highly developed fleet can simply move to another ocean, unlike the many coastal states left behind with nothing.” Read more on this story here.
PETA claims that eating fish is the same as eating cats: Controversial animal rights organisation PETA has set up an electronic billboard which depicts a fishmonger holding a dead cat. The billboard, which is located outside of a fish and chip shop in the Lincolnshire town of Cleethorpes, shows the fishmonger with a fish when viewed from one angle, but this changes to a cat when the billboard is viewed from a different angle. PETA is well known for its attention-seeking antics, but people from Cleethorpes have told the Telegraph that they find the billboard “a bit sick.” Elisa Allen from PETA told the Telegraph: “Fish are animals with feelings who can experience pain just as much as our animal companions can, yet fishers haul them out of the ocean, causing them to suffocate, and gut them while they’re still conscious … PeTA is reminding Grimbarians that sea animals all have a will to live and don’t want to die for human dinners.” Read more on this story by clicking here.
Company claims to have created the world’s first 3D printed fish fillet: An Israeli company says that it has produced a 3D printed fish fillet which is indistinguishable from real fish. Steakholder Foods worked with another company called Umami Foods to produce the grouper fillet. Steakholder foods say that, unlike lab-produced meats which need incubation and maturation after being produced, their fish fillets can be consumed immediately after being 3D printed. Plans are being made for the fish fillets to be available to consumers soon and it is believed that 3D-printed and lab-grown fish could potentially be able to provide a significant amount of the world’s seafood in coming years and decades without harming the environment. Read more on this story here.
Smalltooth sand tiger shark washes up on Irish beach: Last month it was reported that a 6ft long smalltooth sand tiger shark was washed up on a beach in Hampshire. The species is usually found in the warm waters around the equator and this was the furthest north the species had ever been recorded. Now another smalltooth sand tiger shark, this one 14ft long, has been found washed up on a beach in Ireland. The shark was found by a Swiss tourist who contacted scientists from Trinity College Dublin who were able to take samples from the shark before it was taken out to sea by the incoming tide. The shark was close to the maximum size for the species, and smalltooth sand tiger sharks are not a threat to humans. The species is classed as Vulnerable by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and research into why these two sharks have been found in Britain and Ireland in such as short timespan is continuing. Read more and see pictures of the shark by clicking here.
North east Atlantic mackerel is no longer sustainable: The Marine Conservation Society’s Good Fish Guide has removed mackerel caught in the north east Atlantic from its list of sustainable species due to commercial overfishing. While mackerel stocks in the area had been relatively well managed and included on the green list of sustainable species since 2016, it has now been removed. Norway, Iceland, Britain and several EU countries all catch mackerel in the north east Atlantic, and had agreed to follow scientific advice and limit total catches to 794,920 tonnes. However, the combined catch in 2022 was 1,131,416 tonnes, exceeding the sustainable catch level by 42 per cent. Talks to reduce catches have been ongoing but as of this month, no resolution has been reached. Other mackerel fisheries such as the hand-line fishery off the coast of south west England remained on the Marine Conservation Society’s green list, but European eel and cod caught in the Celtic Sea remained on the red list of species to avoid. Click here to read more on this story.
Balls from power station found across beach: A beach survey has been ordered after rubber and sponge balls from a power station were found across a beach in Teesside. The balls are used to clean the cooling system of the Hartlepool power station, but a large number appear to have been released into the sea and washed up on local beaches. While the balls are harmless to humans there are fears that they could be ingested by seabirds or other forms of marine life. Tees Valley Wildlife Trust are now working with EDF Energy, who own and operate the power station, to track the balls and produce a map which will show the locations where the tide is most likely to deposit the balls around the Teesside coastline. So far, the balls have washed up in Redcar, Marske, Saltburn, Seaton and North Yorkshire. EDF Energy say that they carry out weekly beach cleans, and Teesside Wildlife Trust said that anyone finding a large amount of the balls should report the finding to them. Read more on this story by clicking here.
Whale washes up on Lincolnshire beach: A 15 metre long (49ft) sperm whale was washed onto a beach at Cleethorpes near Grimsby this month. A team from the British Divers Marine Life (BDMLR) was called to the site but the tide had come in so far they were unable to safely access the carcass and eventually the tide took the whale back out to sea. The BDMLR said that the carcass was likely to be washed back up onto the beach again, but warned that whale carcasses could carry diseases which could pass to humans. Emily Mayman from the BDMLR said: “If the same whale does wash up again and people want to go and see it, by all means, take pictures but I would ask people to do so at a respectable distance … Don’t approach it, don’t touch it.” There have been a number of sperm whales washed up on beaches along the east coast of England over recent years. The BDMLR said that sperm whales in the North Sea were outside of their natural habitat and often became malnourished and disoriented, leading to them ending up washing up on beaches. Read more on this story here.
Ocean temperatures reach record high: Data released by the US government this month has revealed that the temperature of the world’s ocean surfaces has reached an all-time high. Climate scientists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa) found that the temperature at the ocean’s surface reached 21.1C this month, breaking the record of 21C set in 2016. It is believed that El Niño conditions in the Pacific Ocean will mean that the ocean temperature will rise further, and lead to more unpredictable weather conditions. Heat levels in the upper 2000 metres of the world’s seas and oceans have been rising since the 1980s which can lead to ocean heatwaves which in turn create dead zones and the water does not hold enough oxygen to sustain most forms of marine life. Professor Dietmar Dommenget from Monash University in Australia told the Guardian: we’re in a fast-warming climate and we’re going to see new records all the time. A lot of our forecasts are predicting an El Niño. … If this happens, we’ll see new records not just in the ocean but on land. This data is already suggesting we’re seeing a record and there could be more coming later this year.” Read more on this story by clicking here.
Campaigners call for tax on EU fishing industry: The current system of EU fishing vessels being exempt from taxes on fuel should be scrapped to fund decarbonising the industry, according to the campaigning group Our Fish. The EU fishing fleet emitted a minimum of 56 million tons of CO2 between 2010 and 2020, but this does not include the additional carbon emissions from trawlers dragging gear over the seabed and releasing the carbon which was previously trapped there. Despite this, the EU fishing industry pays no tax on fuel. The Our Fish research sad that taxing the fuel used by commercial vessels at 33 cents per litre would raise €681 million, while a tax of 67 cents per litre – the same as the average paid by road transport users – would generate €1.4 billion. The EU has claimed that it is committed to phasing out fossil fuel use but has only suggested a tax rate of 3.6 cents per litre for fishing vessels. Flaminia Tacconi, an environmental lawyer for the campaign group Client Earth, said that keeping fuel subsidies while claiming to be moving away from fossil fuels was “a schizophrenic approach” and stated that there were “way too many subsidised boats for far too few fish and the sector had to adjust to reality.” Click here to read more on this story.
‘Fat fishermen’ could be banned from going to sea: New legislation could see overweight fishermen banned from going to sea on safety grounds. Britain adopted the International Labour Organization’s Work in Fishing Convention in 2018, but permitted a five-year time period for its rules to be adopted, meaning it is only set to come into force this year. The legislation states that fishermen and fishing boat crew members need to have a medical certificate to work at sea from November of this year onwards, and those with a BMI (Body Mass Index) over 35 would be unlikely to qualify for the certificate. Tony Heinemann, a commercial fisherman who fishes alone off the coast of Plymouth told the Telegraph that he has only been issued a 12-month permit to continue fishing as his BMI was 37, just over the limit. He said: “I’m 20 stone. I’m 6ft three, … It’s ludicrous … [The assessment] was done over the phone, they assessed me basically as unfit. You can’t ask for a second opinion, their word is it.” The Maritime and Coastguard Agency said that the certificates were necessary to prove that fishermen were fit enough to do the job. They also said that they were supporting fishermen to adapt to the new legislation and a “grandfather rights” clause may mean that some fishermen who had been doing the job for a long time would be able to continue even if they did not meet the BMI criteria. Read more on this story by clicking here.
New propellor could reduce ocean noise: A new design of propellor could significantly reduce the impact of noise on ocean life. The traditional type of screw or blade propellors fitted to the tens of thousands of ships which crisscross the globe generate significant noise as the tips of the propellor’s blades create a vortex in the water. Growing research shows that this noise can prevent whales from communicating and cause migratory species such as tuna to become lost and uncoordinated. Now new loop-based propellors may be able to cut down on the level of noise generated as their design does not feature tips. A company called Sharrow Marine has successfully fitted loop-based propellors to smaller boats and is planning to scale them up to larger vessels. Read more on this story by clicking here.
Footage of deepest ever fish captured: Scientists have captured footage of a fish at the deepest depths ever recorded. The species of snailfish was filmed at just over 8,330 metres (27,350ft) – which is over five miles below the surface at the Izu-Ogasawara Trench off the coast of Japan. It beats the previous record – of a fish filmed in the Mariana Trench in the Pacific Ocean by 153 metres. Prof Alan Jamieson, who worked on the project to film the fish, said that if the record was beaten it would only be in small increments as the depth was close to the maximum at which any species of fish could survive. He told the BBC “We predicted the deepest fish would be there and we predicted it would be a snailfish.” Read more on this story by clicking here.