At their meeting on 22-23 May, European Union Fisheries Ministers will meet to strike a deal on the European Fisheries Fund (EFF), which will determine how millions of euros of public funding should be spent on the European Fisheries sector over the next seven years. The Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) reform, agreed by Fisheries Ministers … Read more
As the annual negotiations to set fishing quotas for next year approach, Oceana urges Ministers not to dodge the difficult decisions that need to be made in order to prevent the collapse of many stocks. In advance of the Fisheries Council meeting, the European Commission has tabled a timid set of proposals for 2006 quotas, … Read more
At the ministerial meeting of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) held in Hong Kong between 13 and 18 December, Oceana called on representatives of the countries present and the Director General of the WTO, Pascal Lamy, to put a stop to fishing subsidies that encourage overfishing and other destructive fishing practices. “In this respect, the … Read more
A fleet of barely 20 fishing vessels manages to discard each year between 2,000 and 15,000 tonnes of anglerfish, generate more than 1,000 kilos of waste and “ghost nets” and overexploit stocks of anglerfish, deep-sea red crab and deep-sea sharks. Every day, more than 6,000 kilometres of fixed gillnets (known as rasco) are deployed in … Read more
The detention by Norwegian patrols of two vessels flying Spanish flags, apprehended while catching Greenland halibut, has once again highlighted the wide-ranging practice of rogue fishing by companies that have received subsidies from Galician and Spanish authorities. One of the detained vessels, the Monte Meixueiro, belongs to the Vigo-based company Valiela, S.A., which has received … Read more
Threatened species include sharks, rays, deep-sea fish, cod, hake, anchovy and eels. The international organisation for the defence of the seas, Oceana, has carried out a study on the state of the main fishing stocks in the waters of the North Atlantic to evaluate their situation. Based on the latest scientific evaluations, it has reviewed … Read more
The fishing industry in the European Union (EU) receives a significant amount of government subsidies, which have promoted the overcapacity of European fishing fleets, resulting in overfishing1, and rendering fisheries in many European countries unprofitable and a poor investment for taxpayers. In 2011, Oceana released a study estimating the total expenditure in fishing sector subsidies … Read more
Last night, Fisheries Ministers passed one of the last hurdles in the negotiations on the reformed European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF) by reaching an agreement on the criteria that will be used to determine how the money will be allocated and spent. While Oceana was pleased to see Ministers steer clear of reintroducing subsidies … Read more
Today, after a year and a half of negotiations, the Fisheries Committee of the European Parliament failed to match the new fisheries subsidies mechanism to the ambitious reformed Common Fisheries Policy. In their vote on the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF), the representatives of European citizens refused to seize the opportunity to create a … Read more
Once again, we’ve uncovered a disturbing amount of hidden subsidies to the EU’s fishing sector. You may remember in 2011, we calculated that a staggering 3.3 billion Euros in subsidies had gone from the EU to its Member State industries in just one year (2009). This year, we decided to take a look at state … Read more
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