"Revealed: most of #EU delegation to crucial #fishing talks made up of fishery lobbyists
- More than half of the EU’s delegation to a crucial body of #tuna stock regulators is made up of fishing industry #lobbyists, the Guardian’s Seascape project can reveal, as #Europe is accused of “neocolonial” overfishing in the Indian Ocean

https://www.theguardian.com/global/2023/apr/26/revealed-most-of-eu-delegation-to-crucial-fishing-talks-made-up-of-fishery-lobbyists

"At the last annual IOTC meeting, the EU’s 40-strong delegation was made up of at least 24 industry lobbyists listed as “advisers”, Guardian analysis shows. At the smaller special session on FADs this year, at least half of the 10 EU delegates were from the tuna industry."
...
The numbers could shed some light on why the EU recently objected to an agreement by African and Asian coastal nations to restrict harmful fish aggregating devices (FADs) that disproportionately harvest juvenile tuna. Stocks of yellowfin tuna are overfished in the Indian Ocean."
...
"In February, a proposal by Indonesia and 10 other coastal states in the region – including India, Sri Lanka and Pakistan – for a 72-day ban on FADs used by purse seine vessels was adopted by the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC), the main regulatory body. With a two-thirds majority vote, the measure was welcome by conservationists as a “huge win” for yellowfin and other marine life.

Retailers including Tesco, Co-op and Princes have previously issued calls for tough action to preserve and rebuild the $4bn yellowfin industry, while this year Marks & Spencer warned EU officials that FADs are a major cause of yellowfin tuna overfishing, and that they cripple future stocks.

The devices, typically made of plastic, also pollute the ocean and small island states when lost or discarded.

But earlier this month the EU, which is the largest harvester of tropical tuna in the region, objected to the measure, effectively exempting it from the restrictions. Critics described the move as “neocolonialism”, pointing to the influence of industry lobbyists from France and Spain in ignoring the will of many coastal nations."

#Colonialism #NeoColonialism #IndianOcean #Overfishing #CommercialFishing #Exploitation #Plastic #France #Spain #IOTC #India #SriLanka #Pakistan #Guardian

"‘Phenomenal loophole’ in quotas could lead to massive #overfishing"

(Guardian Exclusive) "Drastically weakened rules on how vessels document their catches of #endangered species could endanger the #marine #ecosystem, confidential #EU papers reveal

"A push by EU fishing nations including #France and #Spain to weaken how fish catches are reported could see massive overfishing of endangered species and even “call into question” the whole point of setting quotas, according to confidential EU documents seen by the Guardian.

Europe’s most commonly fished species – which include mackerel, tuna, Atlantic herring and sprat – could be threatened under the latest proposal, which would apply to all vessels in EU waters.

At issue is how fish catches are logged to ensure that vessels are not overfishing. Bloc rules currently allow a 10% margin of tolerance between the declared catch for each fish species in a vessel’s logbook and the quantity they report after landing. But fishing nations want to expand a loophole applied to the #Baltic in 2016 that widens the scope of the 10% margin to vessels’ total catches.

Such a “phenomenal loophole” removes any penalty for vessels that submit completely inaccurate estimates for vulnerable fish species, according to one of the European Commission papers.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/mar/16/loophole-quotas-overfishing-endangered-species-eu-papers

#SpeciesExtinction #CommercialFishing #Fishing #Species #Fish #EuropeanCommission #Europe

This boat mechanic has style, I’ll give him that. I thought it was funny that a gull hitched a ride on the hoist, but I liked the move the mechanic made to come up to a fishing boat with engine trouble. There’s a California sea lion hanging around in there too, between the berths.

#CommercialFishing #PillarPointHarbor #HalfMoonBay

Japan firm opens whale meat vending machines to push sales - This is disgusting and abhorrent. #whales #extinction #ocean #endangered #fishing #commercialfishing #japan https://apnews.com/54c5606b6cc729191afe850aadbd4487

When Fishing Boats Go Dark At Sea, They're Often Committing Crimes – [They] Mapped Where It Happens
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https://theconversation.com/when-fishing-boats-go-dark-at-sea-theyre-often-committing-crimes-we-mapped-where-it-happens-196694 <-- article
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https://globalfishingwatch.org/ <-- Global Fishing Watch webpage & webmap
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https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.abq2109 <-- shared paper
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#GIS #spatial #mapping #remotesensing #satellite #radar #fishing #illegalfishing #illegal #transponder #SAR #nightlight #goingdark #IUU #AIS #surveillance #global #commercial #fisheries #commercialfishing #EEZ #fisheries #fisheriesmanagement #management #humantrafficking #forcedlabour #forcedlabor #humanrights #humanrightsviolations #maritime #ocean #monitoring
International Maritime Organization | Global Fishing Watch

#CommercialFishing King crab

#CommercialFishing Halibut

#CommercialFishing King crab

#CommercialFishing Red Salmon

#CommercialFishing Catching Red Salmon

#CommercialFishing Dry dock

#CommercialFishing Kodiak Alaska Harbor

Global News BC: Ottawa aims to reduce size of salmon fishing industry by buying licences https://globalnews.ca/news/9348991/ottawa-reduce-salmon-fishing-industry-buying-licences/ #globalnews #britishcolumbia #news #FisheriesandOceansCanada #commercialfishing #FishingIndustry #salmonindustry #pacificsalmon #Environment #SalmonFarms #FishFarms #Politics #BCSalmon #Salmon #DFO

A few more pics from yesterday. #Boating #Harbor #CommercialFishing #NorthCarolina

Article by Ed Yong that explains why those headlines that more that 50% of the ocean is being fished is obscuring the deeper issues of how to manage commercial fishing and conservation.

#Oceans #Fish #Conservation #CommercialFishing #Fishing

https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2018/09/wait-so-how-much-of-the-ocean-is-fished-again/569782/