Poole Harbour affected by oil leak: A major incident has been declared at Pool Harbour in Dorset after around 200 barrels of reservoir fluid, which included oil, leaked from an underwater pipeline. The leak came from Wytch Farm, an onshore oil processing facility which is run by a company called Perenco. A spokesperson from Poole Harbour Commission said that sixty people, along with helicopters and drones, were involved in the response to the incident. The environmental impact of the oil leak is not yet known, but Perenco said that there was no risk of further oil or reservoir fluid escaping. Perenco later added that each of the 200 barrels contained 35 gallons of a mix of 85 per cent water and 15 per cent oil, but they also admitted that they did not know the total amount which had been discharged into the harbour. Read more on this story here.
French trawler bosses fined at UK court: The owners of a French trawler have been fined at Plymouth magistrates court for infringements of fishing regulations. The French trawler Felir was boarded by officers from the Marine Management Organisation (MMO) in September 2020 and detained at Plymouth’s Cattedown harbour. In court this month the vessel’s owners and master admitted to using a mesh which was non-compliant with the Fisheries Act 1981. This mesh meant that the catch of the vessel was illegal, leading the MMO to decide to prosecute. The vessel’s owners and master were fined £8,000 along with £6,000 court costs and £390 in victim surcharges. In addition, the lost fishing time was said to have cost the company £100,000 and they also had to pay £45,000 in court costs plus thousands of pounds in harbour docking fees. Read more on this story by clicking here.
Supertrawler fishes off the coast of Ireland and the UK: The Margiris – the second largest trawler in the world – has been operating off the west coast of the Republic of Ireland this month, later moving into Northern Irish waters. The 9,500-ton, 136-metre-long factory vessel drags nets the size of six football pitches through the seas and can catch up to 250 tons of fish every 24 hours. The Margiris has been referred to as the “death star of the oceans” and environmentalists, recreational anglers and representatives of the commercial fishing industry have all expressed concern over the damage the vessel will do to fish stocks. A representative from the ocean conservation organisation Blue Planet Society said: “The capacity of these trawlers is equivalent to dozens of small-scale fishing vessels, and sustainable small-scale fisheries cannot compete with industrial super-trawlers.” Click here to read more about this story.
EU quota loophole could lead to overfishing: A “phenomenal loophole” in EU fishing legislation could see massive levels of overfishing take place in European waters, and the use of the entire quota system could even be called into question. The loophole was discovered when confidential EU documents were seen by the Guardian. Currently, EU fishing vessels are allowed a 10 per cent margin of error between their quota catch limit (which is recorded in the vessel’s logbook) and the amount of fish which are recorded after landing. But a number of EU fishing nations want to extend this margin of error to the vessel’s entire catch. Such a move would remove any penalties for fishing boats which catch more than their quota and would make the use of quotas as a measure against overfishing almost completely redundant. The plans for the new system were circulated around the EU parliament in February, with the European Commission itself referring to it as a “phenomenal loophole” which “incentivised hidden overfishing.” The disagreement over quotas is part of an internal EU argument over fishing reforms which has been rumbling on since 2018. Read more on this story by clicking here.
Fears over Scottish fishing ban: Plans to restrict both commercial and recreational fishing in 10 per cent of Scotland’s waters have led to an outcry from fishermen and politicians. The establishment of Scottish HMPAs (Highly Protected Marine Areas) is currently under consultation by the Scottish government. If they are implemented then any areas which are designated as HMPAs will see both commercial and recreational fishing banned, and even swimming, snorkelling and surfing could be restricted. John Finlayson, a local councillor with the Highland Council, criticised the Scottish government for not advertising the consultation, which started last December, and said that the proposals would receive a “robust response.” He added “While we need to consider all our environmental responsibilities we must also ensure that fishermen, fishing communities and other marine operators who have invested heavily in their livelihoods, do not suffer from legislation that does not take account of the history, culture and importance of all maritime jobs in our important coastal communities. Read more on this story on the STV News website here.
Rare shark washes up on Hampshire beach: A rare species of shark has washed up on a Hampshire beach, but scientists have been unable to study the creature as, before they arrived, the head of the animal was removed and its whereabouts are currently unknown. The 6ft long smalltooth sand tiger shark was seen in the Solent and was then found washed up, but still alive, on a beach in Lepe in Hampshire. A member of the public dragged the shark back into the sea and saw the shark swim away, but it was found dead on the beach the following morning. It was identified as a smalltooth sand tiger shark, a species which is usually found in the warmer waters around the equator and is only very rarely found any further north than the Bay of Biscay. Scientists were sent to the area to recover the body of the shark but before they arrived someone had sawed off the head of the shark and removed it from the scene. Scientists, backed by historian Dan Snow, are now calling for the head to be returned so they can study it. Read more on this story by clicking here.
Ocean treaty signed after years of negotiations: A history treaty to protect the world’s seas and oceans has been signed after a decade of negotiations. The High Seas Treaty, which aims to protect 30 per cent of the high seas, was signed in New York after a final thirty-eight-hour bout of negotiating. It had looked likely that disagreements over fishing would derail the signing of the treaty, but these were eventually resolved. The high seas are the areas of the ocean which are beyond the jurisdiction of any nation and are therefore mostly unregulated. The treaty will designate protected areas where fishing will be prohibited, set out new shipping lanes to protect marine mammals from collisions and will also regulate damaging activities such as seabed mining. The countries which signed the treaty will need to meet again to be formally adopted, and then work will have to begin to implement the treaty. Click here to read more on this story.
UK ‘protected’ areas subjected to intensive fishing: A study by Oceana, the world’s largest marine conservation organisation, has found the seabeds around Britain have been subjected to 136,000 hours of industrial fishing over the last year. At least 7,000 hours of destructive bottom trawling were carried out within MPAs (Marine Protected Areas) which are supposedly protected from damaging activities. Oceana worked on the study with Global Fishing Watch, a non-profit marine conservation organisation which specialises in using satellite data to track fishing vessels. It was found that almost 1,000 EU and UK fishing vessels appeared to be active in MPAs in 2022, and the time they spent fishing in protected zones increased by 4,000 hours when compared to 2021. Hugo Tagholm, the executive director of Oceana UK, said that the British government needed to “stop destructive fishing in marine protected areas” and “end the public deceit that these regions [MPAs] are safeguarded from industrial exploitation.” Read more on this story by clicking here.
Atlantic Ocean threatened by Great Atlantic Sargassum Belt: A huge bloom of sargassum – a type of floating seaweed – may threaten the health of much of the Atlantic Ocean’s marine ecosystem. Sargassum is generally beneficial to oceans as it absorbs carbon dioxide and provides a habitat for fish and other wildlife. However, the Great Atlantic Sargassum Belt has grown to gigantic sizes due to warming seas and fertiliser from intensive farming being dumped into the sea. It now stretches across the entire Atlantic, from the Gulf of Mexico in North America to the mouth of the River Congo in Central Africa. There are a multitude of threats to the environment associated with the Great Atlantic Sargassum Belt. It blocks light from reaching the seabed which prevents marine vegetation from growing and reefs and other delicate ecosystems can be destroyed when they are enveloped by sargassum. Further issues come when the sargassum reaches the shoreline – it can block the intake valves of power stations and desalination plants thick sargassum can tangle the propellors of boats, in some cases making entire harbours unnavigable. Beaches in Cancun in Mexico and Key West in Florida have been inundated with sargassum, with dead and rotting sargassum reaching heights of several feet on some beaches. Brian Barnes, a research professor at the College of Marine Science (which is part of the University of Florida) told Sky News: “Historically, as far back as we have records, Sargassum has been a part of the ecosystem, but the scale now is just so much bigger. What we would have thought was a major bloom five years ago is no longer even a blip.” Read more on this story by clicking here.
Fish deaths lead to call to stop Scottish fish farm expansion: The Scottish salmon farming industry has expanded significantly over the last few decades, with politicians and business leaders hailing the growth of the sector as a success story for the nation. However, recent years have seen the negative aspects of the industry come to light, with the high levels of fish mortality, large amounts of pollution caused by fish farms and parasitic infections of fish and seals being shot to protect farm stocks all damaging the reputation of Scottish fish farms. This month there was further negative publicity for the industry after it emerged that 16 million fish died in Scottish fish farms in 2022, double the mortality levels of previous years. Eight members of the Scottish parliament, including Green Party MSPs who rule in a coalition with the Scottish National Party, wrote to Mairi Gougeon, the Rural Affairs Secretary calling for the expansion of the industry to be halted. Green Party MSP, Ariane Burgess was quoted in the Financial Times as saying “You have these issues like the stock density is so high, [and] the infestation from sea lice, that the salmon are dying in these extremely high mortality rates.” Despite the issues and growing negative publicity faced by Scotland’s fish farming industry there are still plans to increase the revenue generated to £3.6 billion by 2030. Read more on this story by clicking here.
Scientists calculate number of plastic particles in oceans: Scientists have calculated that there are more than 170 trillion plastic particles in the world’s seas and oceans, and warned that “cleanup is futile” unless the amount of plastic entering the oceans is reduced. Scientists from the 5 Gyres Institute looked at the levels of plastic entering the seas and oceans between 1979 and 2019 and analysed 11,777 pieces of plastic. They found that from 2005 there was an exponential increase in the amount of plastic found in the sea which could be caused by higher levels of plastic being produced or by existing ocean plastic fragmenting. Mr Marcus Eriksen, who was part of the study, said “Cleanup is futile if we continue to produce plastic at the current rate, and we have heard about recycling for too long while the plastic industry simultaneously rejects any commitments to buy recycled material or design for recyclability. It’s time to address the plastic problem at the source.” The study also warned that at current rates of plastic production the amount of plastic in the oceans would increase 2.6-fold by 2040. Read more on this story by clicking here.