Aquaculture
Transparency of fishing activities is essential to secure sustainable and legal seafood
In recent years, the EU has taken a “zero tolerance” approach to illegal fishing practices. Now its vision to stop such practices through increased transparency needs support, writes Pierre Karleskind.
Fighting for the ocean: the story of tackling IUU
The European Union is leading the fight against illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing and has a lot to be proud of. Yet, many challenges are still lying ahead, writes Virginijus Sinkevičius.
The UK, the EU and fisheries: if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!
Just as Europeans aren’t asking for the sacrifice of British businesses in order to maintain access to the EU single market, we cannot accept the sacrifice of our fishermen, write Pierre Karleskind, Nathalie Loiseau and 57 other MEPs.Promoted content
Farming for the Future
It may feel that 2020 has been the longest year ever, but it’s hard to believe we are already celebrating the first birthday of the Farming for Generations (F4G) partnership. Launched by Danone with the support of Corteva Agriscience and...
Fur farmers failures to meet minimum EU animal welfare standards must be investigated
Exposés of animal suffering on EU fur farms repeatedly reveal failures to comply with even the basic animal welfare requirements of Directive 98/58/EC concerning the protection of animals kept for farming purposes, writes Sylwia Spurek.
Something fishy this way comes
We can have more fish in the sea and secure a profitable future for our fishermen and women if we respect the sustainable limits of catches and let the stocks recover, writes Chris Davies.
Seven benefits of having an aquaponics garden at home
The European Parliament research service recently listed aquaponics – the symbiotic cultivation of fish and plants – as one of the ten technologies that could change our lives, producing local food without any chemical fertilisers, writes Robert Woods.
Animal health law: A power tool against illegal puppy trade?
The EU needs around 8 million puppies annually to meet consumer demand - far beyond legitimate breeders’ capacity. As a result, the illegal online puppy trade is booming, and state-of-the-art trafficking networks benefit from a market approximately worth over €1 billion per year, writes Georgia Diamantopoulou.
Big agri-food industry aims to kill ‘End The Cage Age’ initiative
The Big Agri industry has launched a multi-pronged attack on the European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI) to End The Cage Age – a direct democracy tool that enables European citizens to request an end to the use of cages for farm animals, writes Olga Kikou.
Citizens are fed up with industrial agriculture
Europe's Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) was a big issue at this year's Green Week in Berlin. With all the billions of euros available, the agro-ecological transition is more than possible, especially if subsidies to agribusiness and factory farms were stopped, write Harriet Bradley and Trees Robijns.
Catch 22: Why too many EU vessels still chase too few fish
The reformed Common Fisheries Policy contain the tools to deliver profitable fisheries, thriving fish stocks and lively coastal communities. To combat over-fishing, the EU and member states must act now, demands Jan Isakson.
The EU and mako sharks: From sinner to saviour?
The EU should match its rhetoric on sustainable fisheries by leading global efforts to preserve mako sharks, argues Staci McLennan.
The EU must take the lead on international fisheries governance
As the largest seafood market in the world, importing more than 60% of its seafood from other countries, the EU has a responsibility to tackle illegal fishing, writes Dr Samantha Burgess.
Time to take fish welfare more seriously
Fish are often seen to be at the bottom of the pile when it comes to how we view animals. The general assumption is that fish are not furry and pettable, and therefore, they fall outside citizens’ scope of moral concern, write Reineke Hameleers and Philip Lymbery.
EU opportunity to make fish discarding history
On World Ocean Day (8 June), it is important to bring back to the forefront the debate of overfishing which is undermining the health of our oceans. Five years after the reform on the EU Common Fisheries Policy nothing much has changed, and discarding at sea is still common practice, writes Rebecca Hubbard.
EU should use due diligence in fisheries import
The European Parliament has adopted an initiative report this week about the conformity of fisheries products that have access to the EU market. The EU is the largest market for fish in the world and it may need to be even more vigilant to keep illegally caught fish from arriving in the EU indirectly, writes Linnéa Engström.
EU governments, businesses, consumers must work together to demand sustainable fisheries
As the seafood industry enters an era that many experts say will bring growing demand and dwindling supply, every player in the supply chain must work to advance sustainability and end illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing, writes Amanda Nickson.
Putting an end to cosmetics testing on animals, definitively
The EU ban on animal testing for cosmetics was a huge step forward but a global ban is the only guarantee that no animal will have to suffer or die for the sake of a shampoo or lipstick ever again, writes Kerry Postlewhite.
Why the tide is turning on fur farming in Europe
As ethical and animal welfare concerns grow, fur farming bans are spreading across Europe. The tide is turning and this is the time to show why the fur industry belongs in the past, write Joh Vinding and Reineke Hameleers.
New organic rules and animal welfare: Meeting social expectations or not?
The EU organic logo brings certain guarantees about high standards of animal welfare, and EU institutions ought to show strong commitment to address weaknesses in regards to animal welfare rules, writes Olga Kikou.
A yearly haggling over the North-East Atlantic quotas
Europe is fast approaching a 2020 deadline by when fishing at sustainable levels will become the rule. In the EU alone, restoring stocks, would result in an estimated 2 million tonnes increase in catches per year, contributing €5 billion more per year to EU economies, explains Lasse Gustavsson.
Time to move fish welfare from principle to practice
The unseen life of farmed fish has given them low visibility in civil society, in policy circles, and in the animal welfare movement, despite scientific consensus that fish are sentient, and suffer pain, fear, and stress. Now it is time to act, writes Douglas Waley.
Disgraceful behaviour by the EU at high-level tuna meeting in Marrakesh
While claiming to fight for the oceans and put sustainability first, the European Commission is pushing for the largest total allowable catches of bluefin tuna ever seen, without a solid scientific basis, write Linnéa Engström, Ricardo Serrão Santos and Norica Nicolai.