Popular fishing mark has become a “hotspot for industrial fishing”: Ten people have been fined this year for anti-social behaviour and taking too many fish at the popular Devon fishing mark of Hopes Nose. Torbay Council had put Public Space Protection Orders in place to deter people from taking more than twenty mackerel and camping in the area due to complaints of anti-social behaviour and littering from local residents. At a meeting of the local council, it has now emerged that this summer, ten fines were handed out for offences such as camping, lighting fires, littering and retaining too many fish. Anglers have also complained that large gangs of people are acting aggressively to keep recreational anglers away as they carry out “industrial fishing” for large numbers of mackerel, which they later sell for profit. Read more on this story by clicking here.
Concern over Lincolnshire salmon farm: Animal rights campaigners have called for a planned salmon farm in Cleethorpes to be cancelled. The farm – which will be the largest in the UK – will be land-based, with its owners stating that it will produce 5,000 tons of salmon each year with minimal impact on the environment. However, the organisation Animal Equality, working with the law firm Advocates for Animals, claim that the process which granted planning permission was flawed, calling the decision “mind-bogglingly irresponsible.” They claim that as water will be pumped from the Humber Estuary into the farm and then back out into the estuary, which will put the area at risk. Animal Equality’s executive director, Abigail Penny, told the Guardian: “Given the abundant uncertainties and obvious risks, it is scandalous that the committee has allowed the application to get this far, let alone to have given it the green light. The lack of diligence on display is disturbing. The government must step in and stop this from going any further. We will continue to do everything in our power to prevent this monstrous fish factory from being constructed”. The organisation has called on Michael Gove, the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, to stop the farm being built. Read more here.
British fishing quotas increased for 2024: The annual negotiations between the UK, EU and Norway to decide on quotas for 2024 have been concluded with the Environment Secretary Steve Barclay stating that the UK will be able to catch an additional 120,000 tons as an independent coastal nation, compared to if the country was still in the EU. Barclay told the Telegraph: “Brexit allows us to operate as an independent coastal state, negotiating improved deals on catch quotas in the best interests of our fishing industry … we’re seizing the opportunities of Brexit to build a thriving fishing sector now and in the future.” The agreement consists of two deals, one between the UK and Norway, which covers 290,000 tons of catches and the other between the UK and the EU, which allows 130,000 tons. A deal had already been agreed with Iceland and Greenland for 330,000 tons of Atlantic catches. Click here to read more on this story.
Pollock quota reduced due to stock fears: A decision to reduce the pollock quota to zero has caused anger with commercial fishermen saying they will no longer be able to make a liveable income with the ban in place. Defra said that it was necessary to restrict pollock fishing due to a decline in the species numbers, but many commercial fishermen, especially those across the south west of England saying this will leave them with no viable species to catch. Fisherman Ben George from Cornwall told the BBC that pollock made up 30 to 40 per cent of his earnings, but for other fishermen it was 80 to 100 per cent, adding that he never “dreamed it could be a total ban.” Read more here.
Conservation organisation to take UK government over fishing quotas: Following the news on quotas for 2024, the Blue Marine Foundation said that it will take the British government to court over its decision to set commercial catch limits higher than scientific advice recommends. Conservationists have claimed that 65 per cent of quotas were set higher than scientists from Ices (International Council for the Exploration of the Sea) in the first year following Britain’s exit from the EU and 57 per cent in the second year. The co-founder of the Blue Marine Foundation, the author and journalist Charles Clover, told the Guardian: “How long is the British public, the fishing industry or the Treasury meant to tolerate Defra ministers routinely, blithely and disingenuously breaking their own post-Brexit laws? Who is going to challenge them? Someone should and we are prepared to do so in the national interest.” The legal action is set to begin in January. Click here to read more on this story.
Mystery of 1,200 tons of dead fish in Japanese waters: Japanese authorities say that they are struggling to determine why over a thousand tons of dead fish have washed up across the country’s coastline. Dead mackerel and herring were found in vast numbers around the fishing port of Hakodate in Hokkaido, the northernmost of Japan’s main islands, earlier this month, with a layer of fish going from the shoreline to almost a kilometre out to sea. Later in December, hundreds of tons of fish washed up around the town of Nakiri, which is hundreds of miles away from Hokkaido. The cause of the mass deaths has not been established. It has been speculated that a sudden fall in water temperature may have killed the fish or the fish may have been chased into shallow water, where there was insufficient oxygen for them to survive, by shoals of predatory fish. Rumours that the fish deaths may be linked to the Fukushima nuclear power plant releasing treated water have been strongly denied by the Japanese government, which pointed out that there was a four-month gap between the water being released and the fish dying. Read more on this story by clicking here.
Bluefin tuna return to UK waters leads to commercial and recreational fishing: An article on the BBC News website this month examined the small-scale and experimental UK bluefin tuna fishery, which began in August this year. A total of ten licences were allocated, with seven going to fishermen in Devon, two to Cornwall and one to Scotland. Each licence grants the holder the right to catch no more than 3.9 tons of tuna and no more than three can be caught on a single day. The fishery is low impact, with all tuna having to be caught on rod and line. Andrew Pascoe, a Newlyn-based fisherman who has a licence to catch tuna, told the BBC that the numbers he was seeing were increasing every year, and the restrictions placed on them meant that this was “probably the most regulated fishery in the UK.” He said that MMO officers measured and checked any tuna they caught and that there was “no way we can damage stocks of bluefin tuna when there are so many in our waters.” The ultra-small-scale and highly regulated UK tuna fishery contrasts with the European Union, which gives seven nations the right to collectively catch 15,000 tons of tuna each year. The largest catch by a licenced vessel so far is a 544lb tuna which was caught by the Lyonesse. Read the full article on the BBC News website here. In a connected story it was announced this month that increasing tuna stocks around the UK mean that recreational fishing for the species is likely to restart next year, in English waters at least. Bluefin were common around the coast of Britain in the first half of the twentieth century with charter boats which exclusively targeted the species operating out of Scarborough and Whitby. However, the species numbers around the UK declined significantly from the 1950s onwards, and EU regulations meant that UK anglers (and commercial fishermen) could not target bluefin tuna. Following Brexit, the UK can now make its own laws on tuna fishing, and the first recreational fishery for bluefin is set to open in English waters in summer 2024. The devolved nations of the UK are yet to make a decision on allowing recreational tuna fishing in their waters. Like the commercial fishery, recreational fishing for the species will be highly regulated and allowed on a catch-and-release basis only. Mark Spencer, the Fisheries Minister, was quoted in the Falmouth Packet as saying: This announcement has been made possible following the UK’s exit from the EU and follows overwhelming support for our proposal across the fishing industry and environmental groups. It will bring social and economic benefits to the fishing industry and coastal communities whilst ensuring the ongoing sustainable management of Atlantic bluefin tuna.” Read more on this story by clicking here.