Mackerel stocks “near breaking point”: Experts have warned that mackerel stocks are nearing a breaking point, resulting in the fish being downgraded as a sustainable option. Once plentiful and considered a sustainable choice, North-east Atlantic mackerel has been overfished by an average of 23 per cent over the past four years. Alice Moore, manager of the Good Fish Guide at the Marine Conservation Society (MCS), stated: “It’s deeply concerning to see a source of seafood that was once a sustainable choice in such decline. Mackerel is under immense pressure from fishing activities across multiple nations … and they are nearing a breaking point.” Mackerel caught by Norway, Iceland, the Faroe Islands, and the UK continues to be overfished, with total catch limits (TACs) set by all parties consistently exceeding scientifically recommended levels by 5 per cent to 80 per cent since 2009. From 2020 to 2024, TACs were, on average, 39 per cent higher than scientific advice. The MCS has suggested that consumers now eat herring instead of mackerel as a more sustainable choice. Click here to read more.
Scottish ministers threatened with legal action over wrasse fishing: The Sustainable Inshore Fisheries Trust (SIFT), a Scottish charity which promotes the sustainable management of the nation’s inshore waters, has threatened legal action over wrasse fishing in Scottish waters. Wrasse are trapped in large numbers in shallow inshore waters and are then transported to Scottish fish farms, where they are used to eat parasites from salmon, which are kept in open-water pens. Due to the severity of parasite outbreaks, huge numbers of wrasse are used in fish farms, but there have been no catch limits, stock assessment, or closed season to allow wrasse to recover. SIFT has written to Scotland’s Rural Affairs Secretary, Mairi Gougeon, to point out that wrasse have even been caught in Marine Protected Areas and Special Areas of Conservation and urged her to ensure that all laws and regulations were being followed, and said that legal action could follow. Click here to read more.
Commonly eaten fish species key to seabed health: A new study has found that fish species that are heavily commercially exploited play an important role in maintaining the health of the seabed, which in turn helps regulate temperatures on Earth. The findings were made by the Convex Seascape Survey, a cross-sector partnership bringing together university research departments and marine conservation organisations. Species such as cod and silver eels were important in the process of bioturbation – the churning of the seabed, which keeps it healthy, fertile, and able to absorb carbon. In total, 120 of the 185 species that played a role in bioturbation were commercially exploited. Prof Callum Roberts, the scientist and writer from the University of Exeter, told the BBC: “We found that species with the highest bioturbation impacts are among the most vulnerable to threats like commercial fishing. Many of the largest and most powerful diggers and disturbers of seabed sediments, like giant skates, halibut and cod, have been so overfished they have all but vanished from our seas. These losses translate into big, but still uncertain, changes in the way seabed ecosystems work.” Read more on this story by clicking here.
The Guardian claims that fish farms on the moon may be “closer than you think”: An article in this month’s Guardian (which was not published on April 1st) described how scientist Dr Cyril Przybyla from the French National Institute of Ocean Research has overseen a project which will see bass eggs launched into space. They will hatch while on their way to the International Space Station, and once there the fish will be frozen and then returned to Earth. This is the first stage of a scientific project named Lunar Hatch, which aims to discover how different types of fish react to being in space. Its long-term aim is to establish fish farms on the moon and then eventually Mars to provide food for humans who travel and then eventually settle there. Dr Przybyla explained that Lunar Hatch aimed to create a “closed loop food chain” where wastewater from the bass would a feed algae which would be used to feed molluscs, worms and shrimp, which would in turn feed the bass. The Guardian describes how fish have a surprisingly long history of being taken into space. An Apollo mission in 1973 took tiny fish into space, while Soviet cosmonauts carried out experiments on an aquarium of guppies on the Salyut Space Station. In 2015, zebrafish were taken to the ISS to see the effect of being in low gravity had on muscles. Read more here.
UK/EU defence deal will not be connected to fishing rights: EU officials and UK politicians have stated that a future defence deal will not be tied to fishing rights. With the Russian invasion of Ukraine and increasingly unstable international situation, both EU countries and the UK are increasing defence spending. The UK is in negotiations with the EU to access a €150bn (£129bn) defence fund, but it had been speculated that UK access would rest on opening up British fishing grounds to EU fishing fleets. However, Thomas Regnier, the EU commission spokesperson, has now stated that British “companies would be considered” but there would “not set preconditions” on the deal. Under the current Brexit deal, agreed by Boris Johnson in 2020, EU access to British fishing waters was reduced by a quarter over a five-year transition period, which ends in 2026. The initial plans were for EU access to then be negotiated on an annual basis, but many EU nations will push for multi-year agreements, with many political commentators suggesting that this could be demanded in return for British access to the defence deal. Read more here.
Farage promises to double British fishing area: In a connected story, Nigel Farage has said that he would increase the UK fishing zone. Currently, Britain has the right to expel all foreign fishing vessels from a twelve-mile zone around the British coastline, but chooses to permit access from six to twelve miles out. Farage has said that he would end this and extend the zone to twelve miles out. With the Reform Party, which he leads currently riding high in opinion polls, Farage said that Boris Johnson had sold out British fishermen by failing to obtain a better deal with the EU and that Prime Minister Kier Starmer was planning a “full-on betrayal of Britain’s fishing industry in upcoming negotiations. Read more on this story here –
Huge fishing net recovered from coast of Plymouth: A 400-metre-long (1310 ft) commercial fishing net has been recovered from Drake Island off Plymouth Sound National Marine Park. The BBC reported that dozens of fish, crabs and lobsters were caught in the net, with seabirds then becoming trapped in the net as they attempted to feed on the fish. Lost fishing nets are known as ghost nets as they continue to catch fish for months and potentially years, with the Global Ghost Gear Initiative estimating that around half a million tons of ghost fishing gear is lost across the world each year. Read more on this story here.
US to push ahead with seabed mining: Donald Trump has enacted a controversial executive order to accelerate deep-sea mining in both US and international waters. The order is the latest in a series of actions by the US president aimed at enhancing America’s access to minerals crucial for the aerospace, green technology, and healthcare industries. The new executive order aims to “establish the United States as a global leader in responsible seabed mineral exploration,” and will allow the US to access the millions of tonnes of minerals such as cobalt and rare earths that are located on the seabed. This move appears to circumvent ongoing UN negotiations regarding deep-sea mining in international waters. Many nations, including China, the EU and the UK have postponed issuing permits until an agreement on resource-sharing frameworks is established. The US government calculates that deep-sea mining could boost the USA’s GDP by $300 billion (£225 billion) over the next decade and create 100,000 jobs. However, the EU, the UK, and other countries advocate for a moratorium on the practice until more scientific research is conducted. Environmentalists and scientists have raised concerns about the potential harm to marine species inhabiting the deep sea. “Deep-sea mining poses a significant threat to our ocean,” said Jeff Watters of Ocean Conservancy, a US-based environmental organization. “The damage caused by deep-sea mining isn’t limited to the ocean floor; it will affect the entire water column, from top to bottom, and everything that depends on it.” Read more on this story by clicking here.
Fish and chip shop apologises as fish prices soar: A fish and chip shop in Gloucestershire has apologised to its customers following a drastic rise in the price of the fish it sells. The Nippy Chippy in Stonehouse has recently increased its prices to £12.50 for a large portion of cod and £10 for haddock. Brad Lee, the shop’s manager, told the BBC that the prices had caused “shocked faces” but that reduced commercial fishing quotas for the species had pushed prices up. Attempts to sell different species to replace cod and haddock had not gone well, meaning that he stuck to selling both cod and haddock at the increased prices. Andrew Cook of the National Federation of Fish Fryers, the trade association which represents fish and chip shops, said that the economic conditions for the industry were “challenging” but he hoped that higher quotas in the coming years would see prices reduce. Read the full article by clicking here.
Marine decarbonisation plan could push fishermen out of business: An article in the Telegraph this month examined the Labour government’s marine decarbonisation strategy and the impact it would have on the UK’s commercial fishing industry. The strategy will require the UK fishing fleet to phase out diesel engines and petrol generators for electric alternatives, while newly constructed fishing boats will need to be entirely electric. Furthermore, tax rises will be put in place on red diesel, the subsidised fuel used in many industries, including commercial fishing. The Telegraph article pointed out that the entire maritime industry emits around eight million tons of carbon dioxide each year, but fishing only accounts for around five per cent of this. This has led to fishermen feeling unfairly targeted, with Scarborough lobster fisherman Paul Fishburn telling the paper that removing diesel engines and replacing them with electric motors would “cost a fortune” to an industry which is already struggling. The number of people employed in commercial fishing has fallen from 20,000 to 11,000 since the early 1990s, with the number of UK-registered fishing boats declining by 54 per cent over the same period. Fellow Scarborough fisherman Bob Roberts added: “I’ve got a decent engine in my boat, and it’s relatively new,” he says. “So why should I need to replace that when our emissions are so negligible? I mean, they should be looking at cruise ships – they’re using a fantastic amount of diesel.” A government spokesperson was quoted as saying that smaller fishing vessels would not immediately be required to adhere to the marine decarbonisation strategy, and the focus would initially be on larger ships. Click here to read more.
Baby rays released off coast of Plymouth: Fifteen young spotted rays were released into Plymouth Sound to raise awareness of marine life in the South West. The rays were bred in captivity through the Little Rays of Hope project, a collaboration between Plymouth Sound National Marine Park and the Marine Biological Association (MBA). Alix Harvey, aquarium manager at the MBA, said that such projects would encourage people to learn more about sea fish species and promote the conservation of the marine environment. Read more here.