Quotas for 2023 sees many stocks fished at unsustainable levels: The annual fishing quotas negotiated between the EU and non-EU nations were decided this month. In 2023 UK fishermen will be able to catch 140,000 tons of fish, worth around £280 million. The EU fleet will be allowed to catch 350,000 tons, worth around €1 billion. However, catches are still significantly higher than scientists advise, with only 52 per cent of catches being set at the level recommended by Ices. This was criticised by environmentalists and conservation organisations. Charles Clover, author of The End of the Line and executive director of the Blue Marine Foundation said “It is clear that the parties have again agreed to allow significant and demonstrable overfishing in the face of scientific evidence and their own laws.” Vera Coelho, the senior director of advocacy at Oceana, said “While both parties adhered to the science for some stocks, we deeply regret their inability to take the right decision for stocks in the poorest conservation state … Overfishing is decimating fish populations in UK and European Union waters.” Read more on this story by clicking here.
EU to allow fishing for silver eels to continue: In news related to the story above it emerged this month that the EU is to defy scientists and allow fishing for silver eels to continue. Silver eels are classified as Critically Endangered by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, as their numbers have plummeted in recent decades. While it was hoped that the EU would ban fishing for this species they instead only extended the closed season for catching eels from three months to six. Jenni Grossman, the policy director at ClientEarth said that the EU’s actions were “science-defying” and the failure to close all eel fisheries “might well turn out to be the final nail in the coffin of this critically endangered species.” Read more on this story by clicking here.
Steven Spielberg “truly regrets” impact of Jaws: Steven Spielberg, the acclaimed Hollywood film director, has expressed his regret that his film Jaws led to an increase in hunting the species. Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs programme, Spielberg said that Jaws led to an unwarranted fear and demonisation of sharks, particularly great white sharks, and led to a “feeding frenzy” of “crazy” fishermen targeting the species after the film was released in 1975. Spielberg said that this was something “I truly and to this day regret.” Research has suggested that shark numbers along the eastern coast of America did indeed fall from the 1970s onwards, although the number of sharks caught and killed by recreational fishermen is likely to be dwarfed by the number killed by commercial fishing operations. Read more on the BBC News website here.
Government may ban commercial fishing for sandeels: The UK government may ban commercial fishing for sandeels in British waters to protect seabirds such as puffins and kittiwakes. Sandeels are small fish (despite their name they are not a true eel species) which form a key part of the marine ecosystem. Almost all predatory fish feed on sandeels, as do many species of seabirds. Huge numbers of sandeels are caught by mostly non-UK fishing boats, as sandeels are widely used to make fishmeal to feed farmed fish and livestock. According to the Sunday Times, the Danish fishing industry has 94 per cent of the quota to catch sandeels in British waters and was recently allowed by the EU to increase the amount of sandeels it caught each year from 82,000 tons to 458,000 tons. A Call for Evidence was issued by Defra (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) last year and it was reported that the industrial fishing of sandeels could be responsible for the decline of British sea birds – UK kittiwake numbers have halved since the 1960s. A spokesperson for Defra told the Guardian “We have looked at the impact of industrial sandeel fishing in our call for evidence from industry and environmental organisations in 2021, and intend to set out next steps in due course.” Read more about this story on the Guardian website by clicking here.
Calls for halt to the use of farmed Scottish salmon: Lloyd Morse, an award-winning Scottish chef, has joined forces with the environmental organisation Wildfish to call for chefs across the UK to stop using farmed salmon. Morse, who is the co-owner and head chef of the Palmerston in Edinburgh (which was named one of the UK’s top 100 restaurants), was speaking in support of Wildfish, an organisation which aims to raise awareness of the environmental impact of fish farming. Morse said: “Chefs across the UK need to understand how atrocious farmed salmon is … It shouldn’t be in our waters and it shouldn’t be in our restaurants.” Farmed salmon are subject to large numbers of parasites due to the unnaturally close proximity in which the fish are kept, and the waste and uneaten food generated by open-water salmon pens pollutes areas where fish farms are located. There are also concerns over the high mortality rates in Scottish fish farms – the Scotsman newspaper reported that 2.8 million salmon died in Scottish fish farms from disease in September 2022 alone. Dr Matt Palmer, Farmed Salmon Campaigns Manager at WildFish said “Fresh seafood should not come at the expense of our planet’s health or animal welfare, which is why we’re calling on chefs and restaurants to take farmed salmon off their menus.” While open-pen salmon farming in Scotland has rapidly expanded in recent years and has enjoyed strong support from the Scottish government, concerns about this form of fish farming have been growing. Open-pen farms have been banned in multiple US states and countries such as Denmark and Argentina, while Norway only operates farms which are much more heavily restricted than those in Scotland. Click here to read more on this story.
Cop15 hears that human activity decimates marine life across the globe: The International Union for Conservation for Nature (IUCN)’s latest Red List of endangered species has revealed that a growing number of marine species are now at risk of extinction. Dr Bruno Oberle, a Swiss biologist who is now head of the IUCN, said that humans had created “a perfect storm of unsustainable human activity decimating marine life around the globe.” Prof Amanda Vincent, a marine biologist at the University of British Columbia, said that “magical marine species” were threatened with extinction. These include almost half of the species of albalone, a large gastropod mollusc, the dugong, a large sea cow species which is said to have inspired tales of mermaids, and pillar coral. Oberle and Vincent spoke as many countries attended the Cop15 UN Convention on Biological Diversity in Montreal, Canada, this month with the plan to protect 30 per cent of the world’s seas and oceans by 2030 high on the agenda. However, environmental groups have said that progress on protecting the world’s seas and oceans is not happening quickly enough. Read more on this story by clicking here.
Whales vs Lobster political battle reaches the White House: An article in this month’s Observer looked at the political battle between conservationists who want to protect the critically endangered North Atlantic right whale, and New England’s lobster fishing industry. While the issue is long-running it was brought into the media spotlight this month when French president Emmanuel Macron was served poached Maine lobster along with 200 other guests at a White House dinner. The Maine Lobster Marketing Collaborative said they were “proud” that the guests enjoyed “the delicious taste of Maine lobster” but conservationists condemned the choice of dish. They said that the ropes and lines which are used to connect lobster pots are responsible for the deaths of right whales in north American waters. The species is one of the most endangered in the world with just 340 individuals remaining, only 100 of which are believed to be breeding females. New England’s lobster industry, which employs 10,000 people and is worth $1 billion, claims that ship collisions and gillnets are responsible for the majority of right whale deaths, not lobster pots. Lobster fishermen were boosted by news that legislation to prevent whale entanglements will be delayed until 2024, but other organisations are taking action against the industry. California-based Seafood Watch added American and Canadian lobster to its red list of seafood to avoid, while the Marine Stewardship Council suspended Maine lobsters sustainable status due to the issue of right whale deaths. While ropeless lobster pots may eventually become available, the political battle between lobster fishermen and conservationists looks set to continue, although time may run out for the North Atlantic right whale before a political compromise has been reached. Read more here.