Common Fisheries Policy

Recovery for Europe’s fisheries, or just wishful thinking?

Posted by Willie — 4 July 2012 at 11:51am - Comments
All rights reserved. Credit: © David Sandison / Greenpeace

Basic first aid tells you the most important thing to do is not cause any more harm: don’t make things worse. That makes sense, of course, but if you happen upon someone lying bleeding on the pavement, simply not kicking them on the way past isn’t really a good enough reaction.

I’ve been struggling for analogies to use, ways to try and explain just what is so bad about the recent EU Council ‘agreement’ on fish stocks.

Article tagged as: CFP, common fisheries policy, EU fisheries, EU Fishing, Fishermen, fishing, sustainable fish

A good deal for our oceans, or does something smell fishy in Luxembourg?

Posted by Willie — 20 June 2012 at 11:30am - Comments

EU Council meetings – the epitome of fun. These are when representatives of each EU member state, usually the relevant government minister, get together to discuss issues of importance.  Last Monday - all day, and into the small hours, it was the turn of  the UK’s minister, Richard Benyon to get together with his 26 counterparts to discuss and agree a way forward on Common Fisheries Policy reform.

Article tagged as: baff, CFP, common fisheries policy, overfishing

Fixing fairness in fisheries starts at home

Posted by Willie — 30 March 2012 at 10:23am - Comments
Artisanal fishing boat 40 miles off the coast of Mauritania
All rights reserved. Credit: Greenpeace / Pierre Gleizes
Artisanal fishing boat 40 miles off the coast of Mauritania

Approximately 1.5 MILLION small-scale fishermen live and work along the coast of West Africa. They live a life directly dependent on the seas on their doorstep. And it's not just them - their families and communities depend on it too, of course. Yet here in the seas off West Africa it's clear to see their interests are being ignored in favour of allowing massive, industrialised, factory fishing vessels to gobble up all the fish. Of course some of this is illicit, but much of it is legitimised plunder, such as the huge PFA vessels down here with EU subsidies and paid-for Fisheries Partnership Agreements. 

Article tagged as: artisanal fishermen, CFP, common fisheries policy, fishing, Mauritania, oceans, west africa

Flags, convenience and bending the rules to steal Africa’s fish

Posted by Willie — 26 March 2012 at 5:46pm - Comments

 We’re currently following a stern trawler as it fishes. It’s not the biggest vessel out here, but, like many others it is fishing up and down where the shallow continental shelf meets deeper waters. That there is fish in these waters there is no doubt, and proved by the birds, whales and dolphins we encounter here, as well as the fishing vessels.

Article tagged as: CFP, common fisheries policy, overfishing, west africa

What is the UK’s biggest fishing boat doing in West African seas?

Posted by Willie — 23 March 2012 at 2:04pm - Comments

I’m out in the Atlantic Ocean, somewhere off Mauritania in West Africa, aboard the Greenpeace ship, the Arctic Sunrise. We’re here to document and expose the shocking overfishing of Africa’s coastal seas by huge fishing vessels from the EU and elsewhere.

Article tagged as: arctic sunrise, CFP, common fisheries policy, overfishing, west africa

UK minister Benyon flexing his political muscles in Brussels

Posted by Willie — 16 March 2012 at 5:30pm - Comments

EU council meetings are rarely something that the vast majority of us get excited about. These meetings are when the representatives from each of the EU governments get together, to discuss specific topics. Usually it’s the relevant minister who goes, but they are effectively deputising for their government.

Article tagged as: CFP, common fisheries policy, discards, french, overfishing, richard benyon
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