According to the United Nations, governments are largely ignoring a biodiversity protection treaty they signed 17 years ago, allowing the rate of species decline to continue at an alarming rate.

Among other alarming news the report also sounded the alarm on overfishing, "an area where government regulation has been particularly lax and which now threatens the impending collapse of important commercial fish stocks."

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TAGS: biodiversity, species declines, overfishing, government regulation, fish stock collapse, fisheries, sustainable

Following last week's  Vigo meeting of EU ministers responsible for fisheries, the head of the Ministry of Environment and Rural and Marine Affairs (MARM) of Spain, Elena Espinosa, announced that the ministers and the representatives of the European Commission (CE) and the European Parliament “reached unanimous agreement with regard to establishing a set of priorities” for the reform of the current Common Fisheries policy.

Espinosa described the following as priorities that had been agreed:

• Differentiation between artisanal and industrial fishing;
• Creation of a specific fund for small-scale fishing, which includes environmental, technological and trade measures, without leaving out the social dimension;
• Seeking other options for "Mixed" fisheries , noting that current policy with regard to total allowable catch (TAC) and quotas does not constitute the only viable management model;
• Avoiding discards and looking for formulas to minimise their impact;
• Taking a bottom-up approach to decision making and greatly simplifying common fisheries policy governance;
• Providing a much more active role to regional fishing organisations, particularly in those fishing areas where there is less monitoring.

The EU hopes to have its legislative reform proposal ready by 2011, so that the new policy can take effect in 2013.

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TAGS: EU fisheries, Common Fisheries Policy, fsheries, sustainable, overfishing

A recent report that claims that UK fisheries have declined by 94 per cent over the past 120 years has been described as “rubbish” by the fishing industry. Philip MacMullen of the industry body Seafish said the authors should have looked at "what's happening in today's marine environment, rather than dredging up dodgy data from the past." He condemned their failure to incorporate more recent initiatives,- such as new long-term management plans, limits on days at sea, selective fishing gears, voluntary closures of fishing grounds and decommissioning, which has resulted in a 70 per cent cut in the amount of white-fish boats in the past 10 years.

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TAGS: UK fisheries, stock declines, fisheries, sustainable, Seafish, fisheries management

Alexandra Morton, well-known eco-activist and aquaculture opponent, led protestors into Victoria Saturday in the culmination of her 500-km walk against the British Columbia's salmon-farming industry.  Morton and her supporters called for an immediate end to open-net fish farming on B.C.’s coast. She called on governments to take action.

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TAGS: Alexandra Morton, fish farming, aquaculture, salmon-farming, sustainable, fisheries