Mercury

People exposed to high levels of mercury in fish can experience health effects such as delayed neurological development in children. Both the Food and Drug Administration and the Environmental Protection Agency have advised women of childbearing age and children not to eat certain types of fish due to high levels of mercury. Elevated mercury levels … Read more

Seafood Fraud

  By any other name… Seafood fraud is harmful to the environment, rips off the consumer and undermines conservation efforts by supporting unsustainable or illegal fishing activities. It can take place anywhere along the supply chain, from the fishermen to the wholesalers, distributors and foodservice. The problem is caused by insufficient enforcement and control of … Read more

Deep-sea fisheries in the North-East Atlantic

Species living at these depths have adapted to a cold, dark environment, with few nutrients. As a consequence, they are characterised by slow growth rates, late sexual maturity, few offspring and long lifespans. This makes them highly vulnerable to overfishing, because their capacity to recover from depletion is very limited. Deep-sea rays and sharks are … Read more

Swordfish

However, the number of a Mediterranean swordfish has plummeted to critical levels. More than 3 decades of overfishing swordfish in this area has left stocks at only 30% in 2016, with no sign of a recovery. Many swordfish caught in these waters are too young (juvenile, in fishing terms) to be able to reproduce, putting … Read more

Subsidies

According to the World Bank and the FAO (The Sunken Billions revisited, 2017), global marine fishing loses account for US$83billion each year, but this figure could be reversed if correct management measures were applied. Along the same lines, the recent study Exploitation and status of European stocks conducted by Dr.  Rainer Froese on behalf of … Read more