THE new Channel and West Sustainable Trawling Group today announced the launch of a bid to achieve full accreditation of key English Channel fisheries: Dover sole, megrim and monkfish.

MEDITERRANEAN bluefin tuna has one last chance to be saved from sure population and fishery collapse, with the obligatory review of its management plan set for November this year, conservation organisation WWF said today.

RECENT scientific evidence shows that UK bass stocks are collapsing, an angling group claimed today.

UK Fisheries Minister Jonathan Shaw has told East Yorkshire's beleaguered shellfish boat owners that he has ruled out direct fuel subsidies - at least for the forseeable future.

NEW figures show that the increasing trend towards importing seafood is resulting in a steady drop in the number of Norwegians employed in fish processing.

THE troubled Icelandic Seafood Group may at last be starting to turn the corner in certain areas, according to the figures for the first quarter trading results for this year.

NEW Zealand's Fisheries Minister Jim Anderton has rejected the proposal for a marine reserve covering 495 square kilometres on the northeast coast of Great Barrier Island in the Hauraki Gulf.

THE UK draft Marine Bill was today described by the Renewable Energy Association as "lacking".

ALASKAN fishermen are being urged to undertake safety training in the wake of recent loss of lives at sea.

WHAT has been described as the most ambitious research programme ever undertaken into wild Atlantic salmon begins in earnest today.

UK FISHERIES Minister Jonathan Shaw has told fishermen’s leaders that he will provide support to help offset fuel costs.But this must be linked to to a long-term strategy for the industry.

AN emergency summit of all West Coast fishermen’s organisations is being convened in Inverness within the next two weeks to decide how to tackle the problems facing the fleet and the threat that around 25% of the fleet could become unviable because of escalating fuel prices.

THE welcome improvement in the economic prospects of the Scottish fishing industry over the past two to three years is now being seriously threatened, a major industry grouping warned today.

SEAFISH recently held a workshop to discuss how fishing and aquaculture impacts on marine wildlife, and how these impacts can be reduced and managed. One of the major topics was how the fishing industry can work together to protect the marine environment.

A NEW report from conservation organisation WWF encourages the switch from the unselective diamond-mesh nets currently used by bottom-trawlers in the Mediterranean to more selective square-mesh nets, sooner than the obligatory deadline of 2010.

SHELL fishermen at Bridlington and other East Coast ports have joined the growing chorus of protest over soaring fuel prices.

THE skipper of a Belgian beam trawler who refused to be escorted to Harwich by a Fisheries Protection Vessel and instead steamed for Zeebrugge, has been ordered to pay more than £31,000 in fines and costs, by Folkestone Magistrates.

THE price of salmon is continuing to fall on northern European markets, according to the latest figures from the seafood orientated bank Glitnir.

A NEW report on sharks and related species in the Baltic Sea highlights the threats to these "over-looked" fish and calls for improved conservation policies.