Saving Seafood

UK fishing industry faces ‘grave’ threat from new EU policy

January 2, 2019 — The United Kingdom’s fishing industry faces a “grave” threat from a new European Union policy due to be introduced on Tuesday, a House of Lords committee warned after hearing evidence on how fishing quotas will be enforced.

The new rules alter how discarded fish affect the quotas for each species. In the past, fish that were discarded would not count towards the total haul by crews. The new regulations mean that fishers must bring back their total haul, in a measure designed to reduce waste caused by dumping dead but unwanted fish.

Barrie Deas, the chief executive of the National Federation of Fishermen’s Organisations, described the rules, which will be phased in over a four year period, as “badly designed.”

According to evidence presented to the House of Lords EU Energy and Environment sub-committee, crews could reach their quotas for each year much earlier than before. That would mean they would have to stop their fishing until quotas were renewed.

Read the full story at Yahoo

Royal Navy gunships offer extra protection to UK fishermen in British waters post Brexit

November 26, 2018 — The Royal navy’s five Offshore Patrol Vessels, each armed withstate-of-the-art weaponry, will support Britain’s fishing fleet in the wake of the recent clashes between British and French fishermen in the English Channel dubbed the “” earlier this year, after which there were calls on social media to “send in the navy”. They will also offer a boost to national security as the country heads into the uncertain waters of a post-Brexit world – and increasing incursions into British waters by Russian vessels. The future of the Batch 1 Offshore Patrols Vessels (OPVs), HMS Tyne, HMS Mersey and HMS Severn, which currently support the Fishery Protection Squadron and which were due to be commissioned, have been secured by an intervention by Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson.

All three will be retained for the next two years at least in order to bolster the UK’s fishing fleet as well as its shores.

Currently the Royal Navy provides about 200 days of fishery protection a year – but Mr Williamson’s announcement means the ships will now be able to offer a combined total of up to 600 days of fishery protection a year if necessary.

Each ship will “forward-operate” from their namesake rivers – from Newcastle, Liverpool and the Cardiff area respectively – in order to boost rapid responses in British waters up and down the nation.

The versatile ships are also vital to the Royal Navy’s anti-smuggling and counter-terrorism work, and often escort foreign vessels, including those from , through the English Channel.

Read the full story at The Daily Express

Scallop row: UK and French fishermen strike a deal

September 18, 2018 — The agreement, starting on Tuesday, will see larger British boats withdrawing in return for greater fishing rights elsewhere.

In August, boats collided and fishermen threw stones at each other as the French accused UK boats of depleting scallop stocks.

British fishermen said they were legally entitled to fish there.

Under the terms of the new deal, UK scallop dredgers over 15m long will leave the scallop beds off the coast of Normandy from midnight for six weeks.

In return, France will transfer fishing rights for scallops in areas such as the Irish Sea.

Smaller British boats are not restricted under the deal and can continue to fish in the Bay of Seine, where the row broke out.

Fisheries minister George Eustice said: “I commend the UK fishing industry for its patience throughout negotiations and welcome this pragmatic outcome.

Read the full story at BBC News

Talks to end ‘scallop wars’ between UK and France collapse

September 13, 2018 — Negotiations between British and French fishermen to end the ‘scallop wars’ in the Channel have collapsed.

Industry leaders had been working to agree compensation for UK mariners to prevent them foraging for the molluscs in a disputed territory during a period when the French are banned under domestic law.

But it was announced on Wednesday that talks had ended without a deal, risking a return to recent skirmishes in the Baie de Seine north of Normandy.

The Scottish White Fish Producers Association said it was “disappointing for everyone”, adding: “No one wants to see conflict on the high seas.”

The French food and agriculture minister, Stephane Travert, said he “regretted” the failure, but he added that he “salutes” the efforts of the French fishermen to “propose reasonable compensation”.

Talks had been held both sides of the Channel after trouble flared in recent weeks.

Some 35 French boats confronted five British craft off the coast of northern France, with reports of rocks and smoke bombs being hurled at UK vessels.

Read the full story at The Guardian

Climate change conflicts are here – and ‘scallop wars’ are just the beginning

September 11, 2018 — As the planet warms, species are moving further north to climate zones which are closer in temperature to what they originally evolved in. The oceans have absorbed most of this temperature increase, and so many marine species, including commercially fished scallops, are under particular stress to migrate northwards to cooler waters.

In the face of this disruption, legal boundaries for fishing fleets could become increasingly irrelevant. As the fish stocks they once contained move out, conflict is likely to arise between countries exploiting neighbouring fishing grounds.

As a result, the ongoing “scallop war“, which has seen tense physical confrontations between French and British fishers over access to these prized molluscs, may be a taste of worse to come.

The habitat ranges and migration patterns of commercial species in the ocean have been carefully studied throughout history, so that fishing fleets can exploit them more efficiently. This understanding has informed the division of fishing grounds according to who has the right to harvest them.

French scallop fishers were incensed over their British counterparts’ alleged pillaging of scallop stocks, as smaller British boats aren’t bound by a French law that prohibits dredging in the Baie de Seine from October 1 through May 15, to allow scallop populations to recover.

While on the surface it might seem that these skirmishes are anchored to specific circumstances – potentially inflamed by existing tensions around Brexit – they highlight the enormous difficulties in clearly mapping and enforcing legal boundaries around natural habitats that are changing rapidly.

Read the full story at PHYS.org

UK-France scallop skirmish settled, subject to compensation for UK boats

September 10, 2018 — The UK and French governments have reached an agreement over scallop fishing in the eastern English Channel, with French conservation measures designed to protect the shellfish extending to UK vessels.

In a joint statement from both governments, supported by UK fisheries minister George Eustice, it was announced the previous conservation agreement involving the UK 15-meter-and-over fleet would be renewed.

In addition, there is agreement in principle for UK under-15m vessels to be included in the deal. This is subject to a “reasonable compensation package”, the details of which are set to be defined in Paris on Sept. 7.

In the meantime, there is a voluntary agreement for all UK vessels to respect the French closure period in the Baie de Seine, the statement said.

The long-running dispute in the channel particularly concerns the scallop-rich Baie, in which French fishers are prevented from harvesting due to domestic environmental laws.

Read the full story at Undercurrent News

Scallop row: French fishermen wary of UK deal

September 7, 2018 — A deal has been reached to bring an end to the skirmishes between French and British fishermen in the Channel, but boat captains on the Normandy coast have vowed to fight on if any British boats come near their fishing grounds before October.

The agreement is yet to be signed and among those with most at stake are the two captains of La Rose Des Vents and Le Sachal’eo, whose dramatic collision with a Scottish trawler last week was caught on video.

Anthony Quesnel, captain of La Rose Des Vents, returned to Ouistreham’s empty dock on Wednesday after a night at sea and almost a tonne of mackerel, sole and plaice. But, in keeping with French rules, there were no scallops until the end of the breeding season at the start of October.

Like many fishermen here, he is adamant that British boats should abide by those same French rules when it comes to fishing for scallops – even though the UK government has in the past imposed no similar restrictions on its vessels.

Read the full story at BBC News

French navy ‘ready to act’ against England over scallops

September 5, 2018 — The French navy is “ready to act” against the British over control of a scallop-rich seabed.

A seafood feud between the two countries erupted last week when French fishermen chased their Brit counterparts out of the Baie de Seine, according to the Telegraph.

The disgruntled French fishermen were fuming that the English can fish for scallops in the waters year-round, but they are barred from doing so during the summer months under a previously struck agreement.

The British accused the French of ramming their ships and hurling projectiles at them – and the French said they experienced a violent counter-attack.

“We can’t keep going on like this, we can’t keep having skirmishes like that,” French Agriculture Minister Stephane Travert said Tuesday.

“The French Navy is ready to step in if more clashes break out, as well as carrying out checks,” he added.

Read the full story at the New York Post

French, UK fishermen to seek scallops deal after sea skirmishes

September 4, 2018 — Fishing industry officials from France and Britain will try to strike a new deal on dredging for scallops next week following violent skirmishes in the Channel, authorities said on Friday.

On Tuesday, French vessels rammed British trawlers off the coast of Normandy, hurling projectiles and insults in a dispute which erupted after a previous agreement broke down.

French fishermen accuse the British of unfairly catching scallops in the Baie de Seine in the summer months when French boats are banned from doing so under rules imposed by the Paris government to conserve stocks of the shellfish.

French Agriculture Minister Stephane Travert told Europe 1 radio he had discussed the issue with a British minister on Thursday night and that the industry representatives would meet next week to work out an agreement.

“We both condemn the violent acts and we want to return to a spirit of responsibility,” Travert said.

Travert said he had asked British fisheries minister George Eustace to ensure UK vessels do not sail south of the Barfleur-Antifer line, the scene of this week’s clashes.

The industry representatives would meet in London on Wednesday and French government officials would also attend, said Dimitri Rogoff, who heads the Normandy fishing association.

Read the full story at Reuters

French and U.K. Fishing Boats Clash in ‘Scallop War’

August 30, 2018 — It’s been called the “scallop war” — a simmering rivalry that spilled out into the open again this week when French and British vessels clashed in the English Channel, French fishermen tossed what appeared to be smoke bombs at their rivals, and the British called on the Royal Navy for protection.

Video footage on French state television and on social media showed about 35 small French fishing boats menacing five larger British vessels early Tuesday morning in a stretch of international waters that separates Britain from the rest of Europe, just off the northwest coast of France.

At least one French boat slammed into the side of a Scottish vessel.

A French official said no one had been injured in the clash, but called the encounter “extremely dangerous.”

The French argue that British fishing vessels have an unfair advantage. The French government does not allow fishing for scallops to begin until October, in order to preserve the stock.

Read the full story at The New York Times