Annual Japanese tuna auction takes place: The long-running tradition of the Japanese New Year tuna auction took place at the start of this month. The auction sees businessmen and restaurant owners try to outdo each other to pay an over-inflated price for the honour of purchasing the first tuna of the year. This year the Onodera Group, which runs a range of businesses across Japan including Michelin-starred restaurants, won the auction, paying ¥36 million (£222,000) for the 467lb bluefin tuna. The price was considered moderate by the Japanese media as it is hugely reduced from the record £2.5 million paid by Kiyoshi “Tuna King” Kimura in 2019 but marked an increase compared to the winning bids in the last three auctions, where prices were suppressed due to covid-related disruption in seafood supply chains. Click here to read more on this story.
Bass regulations for anglers to remain the same for 2023: Anglers will see no change in the rules governing bass fishing compared to previous years. The species will remain catch-and-release only in January, February and December of 2023. In all other months of the year anglers will be limited to retaining two bass per angler per day, provided they reach the minimum size of 42 centimetres long. Restrictions on the number of bass anglers can retain have been in place since 2016 when scientists found that stocks were dangerously low and it was decided that restrictions needed to be placed on both commercial and recreational bass fishing. Read more here.
Swedish Prime Minister caught up in “eel fishing scandal”: A political row has broken out in Sweden over an eel fishing incident. The nation’s prime minister, Ulf Kristersson, who has been Sweden’s prime minister since October 2022, appointed Peter Magnus Nilsson as a senior aide last year. It has now come to light that Nilsson had fished for eels without a permit – an offence under Swedish law. Sweden’s national broadcaster SVT said that Nilsson had set four fish traps and had caught 11kg (24lb) of eels, and had initially denied any wrongdoing, claiming he had inadvertently caught the eels and was throwing them back into the sea while sorting through his catch. He eventually admitted the offence and was fined 38,800 SEK (£3,060). Kristersson is now coming under pressure to resign as prime minister from Sweden’s opposition Social Democrats party claiming his position is untenable after appointing Nilsson, who has now admitted lying to the police, to a senior position. Read more on this story here.
Government criticised over “feeble” ban on trawling in protected areas: Government plans to create protected marine zones around England have long been criticised for allowing seabed trawling to continue within them. Now proposals put forward by Environment Secretary Therese Coffey were promoted as solving this issue by banning trawling and other forms of destructive fishing from taking place within the zones. However, it has now emerged that only thirteen protected areas would be subject to the new regulations, and trawling would only be completely banned within three of them. Charles Clover, executive director of the Blue Marine Foundation was quoted in the Guardian as saying: “This announcement is feeble and depressing. A protected area should at the very least be protected from damaging activity.” Read more on this story by clicking here.
Environment Agency report says England’s coastline faces “multiple threats”: An Environment Agency report has stated that the dredging, sewage and other forms of pollution all pose serious threats to the health and biodiversity of England’s coastline. Dredging is set to increase in coming years with incidents such as the mass die-off of crustaceans in Teeside (see story below) set to become more common. Nitrogen levels, which are increased when sewage enters the sea, are too high in nine out of ten estuaries and half of coastal waters, while sand dunes, salt marshes and wetlands were all under threat from coastal erosion or climate change. Environmental organisations such as Greenpeace and the Blue Marine Foundation called for urgent action from the government to combat the threats, with Rebecca Newsom of Greenpeace telling the Guardian: “Our seas are facing a perfect storm of rising temperatures, sewage discharges, plastic and chemical pollution and destructive industrial fishing. This is an existential threat to both marine life and the communities that depend on healthy seas for their survival … The time for rearranging deckchairs is over – we need a joined-up, ambitious and properly funded plan from this government and we need it now.” Click here to read more on this story.
Teesside Fishermen fear further mass crustacean and shellfish die-offs: There were further developments in the long-running issue of crabs, lobsters and other marine animals being found dead in large numbers across beaches in Teesside and North Yorkshire. Local fishermen have blamed the redevelopment and dredging of the River Tees, which began in 2021, for releasing chemicals from the seabed which have resulted in mass crustaceans die-offs. However, the official explanation has been that naturally occurring algal blooms are responsible for the deaths and there is no connection to the work going on in the River Tees. While there are now calls for a full investigation into the die-offs, it has also been announced that further dredging will take place later this year, leading to fishermen fearing that there will be another wave of dead crabs and lobsters washing up on the region’s beaches. Local fisherman and marine biologist Joe Redfern told the BBC that the crustacean and shellfish deaths were “triggered” by the dredging and that the new plans would see 1.2 million tons dredged to deepen the Tees and the sediment would be dumped at sea rather than sent to landfill. Click here to read more on this story on the BBC News website.
Valuable goose barnacles wash up on beach: Goose barnacles – a type of crustacean which is one of the most expensive seafood in the world – have washed up on a number of English beaches this month. They were found on beaches at Milford on Sea, near Boscombe Pier and at other sites along the Jurassic Coast. Goose barnacles have a chalky shell and long neck and usually live in the warmer waters to the south of Britain on submerged rocks but will also sometimes grow on shipwrecks and submerged pieces of driftwood. Occasionally, a piece of wood which the barnacles are on will become dislodged and float northwards and end up on a beach in southern England. The are considered a delicacy in Portugal and Spain where they can sell for €90 (£80) per kilogram and are used in the dish percebe gallego. Read more on this story here.
“Ticking timebomb” of coastal landfill threatens beaches: An article in this month’s Guardian reported that beaches and coastlines around England were being threatened by ageing landfill sites which could leak chemicals and other damaging forms of waste into the sea. It was stated that there were hundreds of coastal landfill dumps around England, some of which date back over 100 years. In some cases no records have been kept on what the site has been used for over the decades, leading to fears that there is now an “increased risk” of a “cocktail of pollutants” entering the sea from the landfill dumps. A study by the Local Government Association found that twenty-six councils already have coastal landfill sites where waste and chemicals are being spilt onto beaches and into the sea. A Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs spokesperson was quoted in the Guardian as saying: “We are committed to working closely with local authorities, who have the responsibility of ensuring historic landfill sites are managed in a consistent and environmentally friendly way.” Read the full article by clicking here.
Amount of plastic on the ocean floor has more than trebled: Over the last thirty years the amount of plastic on the ocean floor has almost trebled and in some places now reaches a depth of more than one hundred metres. The research was published in the academic journal Environmental Science and Technology with the authors of the paper stating the levels of plastic pollution have increased in line with the growing levels of plastic production since 1965. Polypropylene, a form of plastic used mostly in packaging, was the most common type of plastic pollution, but polyester fibres from synthetic clothing were also found in at high levels. Read more on this story on the Daily Mail website by clicking here.
Sunfish washes up on Norfolk beach: A sunfish was found washed up on Great Yarmouth beach at the start of this month. Katherine Hawkes found the fish when walking her dog on New Year’s Day and initially mistook the sunfish for a seal pup. The sunfish was 1.5 metres (5ft) high meaning it was only a juvenile as fully-grown sunfish are one of the largest species of bony fish in the world, reaching a maximum height of 4 metres (13ft). While sunfish appearing in UK waters are still notable, it does appear that the specie is becoming more common around the coastline of Britain, possibly as a result of warming sea temperatures. Read more here.