Tag: fisheries

Iceland is not on a 'fast track' to EU accession, but on a 'fair track', Ambassador Thorir Ibsen told EurActiv in an exclusive interview. Iceland's envoy to the EU said he expected his country to open all or almost all negotiation chapters by June, before the end of the Danish presidency.

Iceland started EU accession negotiations yesterday (27 June), opening four chapters and immediately closing two of them in a turn of events hailed as "something new" in the EU's history. All negotiating chapters are expected to be opened within a year, announced the country's foreign minister, Oessur Skarphedinsson.

Icelanders may appear sceptical about joining the EU, but the country needs the European Union more than the other way around, Estonian MEP Indrek Tarand (Greens/European Free Alliance), a member of the EU-Iceland joint parliamentary committee, told EurActiv in an exclusive interview.

After fears of a "mackerel war" were rekindled on Tuesday (24 August), a timely discovery by EU researchers could ease future fisheries spats as a natural method for extracting mass quantities of bluefin tuna eggs has been found, the European Commission announced yesterday (25 August).

In the wake of huge depletion in stocks of bluefin tuna, EU Fisheries Commissioner Maria Damanaki decided yesterday (9 June) to ban large-scale bluefin tuna fishing in the Mediterranean and eastern Atlantic. The ban has already come into effect.

European Union ministers on Wednesday vowed to overhaul their 840 million euro-a-year fishing subsidies policy by next year to avoid overfishing and make the industry more sustainable.

Governments attending the UN Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) have rejected an EU-backed proposal to ban trade in Atlantic bluefin tuna to give the species time to reproduce.

The European Commission said yesterday (22 February) that the EU should press for an unprecedented ban on international trade in Atlantic bluefin tuna, a species driven towards extinction by insatiable demand from Japan, where a single fish can fetch $100,000.

EU fisheries ministers agreed on Tuesday (20 October) to crack down on overfishing, saying their fishermen would get points on their fishing licences each time they broke rules or quotas and would be banned for excessive infractions.

The EU and its member states have made separate moves recently to tighten up controls against illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing. They are set to meet this week to decide whether to support a ban on bluefin tuna, as scientists warn of a looming collapse in fish stocks.

EU fisheries ministers yesterday asked the Commission to "kick-start preparations immediately" for widespread reform of the Union's fisheries policy. Meanwhile environmental groups repeated calls for bloc's fleet to be reduced in size.

Fisheries ministers from the 27-member bloc have given their unanimous backing to Commission proposals to combat illegal fishing and protect vulnerable marine ecosystems, in a move welcomed by European environmental groups.

EU agriculture and fisheries ministers have agreed on the outlines of a system to tackle illegal fishing, but questions remain on whether the rules should apply to Community vessels and how sanctions should be enforced.

Ahead of new proposals to tighten controls on illegal fishing in EU waters, Fisheries Commissioner Joe Borg told ministers yesterday (18 February) that the phenomenon remains a major cause for concern due to "serious shortcomings" in the enforcement of the Common Fisheries Policy.

Overfishing linked to major shortcomings in the EU’s fisheries management system is endangering European fish stocks, according to a new report from the European Court of Auditors.

The Commission has proposed tough measures to combat pirate fishing and thus protect fragile ecosystems in the high seas. Under the proposed new system, EU vessels would need to ask for permission to fish in waters not governed by international rules and importers would need to prove that their products are not a result of illegal action.

Ministers have adopted a common position on a proposed Marine Strategy Directive, opposing the Parliament on a number of important points. Meanwhile, the Commission is faced with fragmented governance structures and poor coastal surveillance, which hamper its efforts to formulate a common EU maritime policy. 

In a new study, the Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC) argues that climate change is fundamentally altering marine life and that the problem is compounded by human activity such as fisheries, energy production and tourism.

A proposal to reintroduce fishing subsidies in the form of grants for fuel-efficient engines in small fishing boats is causing uproar among conservationists who warn stocks are already on the verge of collapsing.