The Marine Protection Area Fishing Coalition, of which the NFFO is a core member, has said  it is continuing its  important role of holding Government and its statutory advisors, Natural England and Joint Nature Conservation , to account. The  Coalition raised key issues relating to the process of establishing a network of marine protected areas in UK waters at a recent meeting in London. Fifteen new zones have now been earmarked.

"We cannot be held to ransom"

Scottish Conservative MEP Struan Stevenson will attend a major summit in the Faroe Islands in a bid to break the deadlock over mackerel quotas.

TALKS to try to end the mackerel stand-off between Iceland and the Faroe Islands and the European Union are to be held in Brussels next month, it was announced at the weekend.

DESPITE constant talk of government cuts, funding is to be made  available to fishermen and fishing companies in England  who want to improve their businesses, it has been announced.

Brixham Coastguard have been co-ordinating assistance this afternoon to two seriously injured men, a 41 year old father and his 25 year old son from Stoke on Trent, who were both thrown from their vessel, a 17 foot Dory with an outboard engine.

FISHERMEN in the South East were returning to sea today after learning  the amount of Dover sole they are allowed to catch has been increased. A few weeks ago skippers in Ramsgate and Whitstable feared for their livelihoods after the North Sea sole fishery closed .Government negotiations with the Netherlands and Germany have now increased the EU sole quota for boats under 10m (33ft). Every boat can now catch 550lb (250kg) a month, worth about £2,000.

THE Cornish port of Newlyn may have tuned its back on a new fish market recently, but this weekend it will be celebrating its fishing heritage in style.

Scottish Conservative MEP Struan Stevenson has hit back at an MSP who accused him of “childish name calling” in the row over mackerel quotas with Iceland and the Faroe Islands.

ICELAND'S Fisheries Minister said today that his country wants to reach an agreement with the European Union and Norway over its controversial mackerel quota.

DIVISION appears to be opening up in the Iceland coalition government over the country's plan to join the European Union  - with the fishing industry  at the heart of it.

ICELANDIC research indicates that mackerel is moving into Icelandic waters in "huge numbers," according to the country's IceNews website.

A NEW government report on Sweden's fishing industry is proposing radical changes to allow a better distribution of fishing rights between the commercial sector and leusire fishing.

The Scottish Fishermen’s Federation is calling for a freeze on any further reductions in the number of days fishing vessels can put to sea and is warning that a significant proportion of the demersal fleet is facing financial collapse unless there is an easing of the current management restrictions.

The Seafish Board is pleased to announce the appointment of Dr Paul Williams as interim Chief Executive with effect from October 2010. Paul joined Seafish in 2004 as Research Director, and this promotion is the result of a selection process which began in December 2009, but which stalled when Seafish lost the legal challenge to levy on imports in the Court of Appeal earlier this year.

A FORMER Devon trawlerman who used to fish the English Channel in an old herring drifter has sailed back to his home county - this time in a £100 million super yacht.

UK fishermen who operate in the English Channel in vessels under ten metres in length are now approaching the end of their catch quota limits for sole, plaice and skate, it has been announced.

THE Faroese have sent a strong  letter of protest to the Scottish Government over the blockade of the mackerel trawler Jupiter in Peterhead harbour last week.

Scotland and Norway have joined forces to call for an end to the so-called "mackerel dispute" which is threatening to punish the responsible actions of Scottish and Norwegian  fleets.

Seafish has been successfully taking its responsible fishing message thousands miles across to the Indian Ocean.

THE Faroese fishing boat at the centre of the mackerel row yesterday has now left Peterhead  and headed back out to sea with its catch still on board.

THREE men have died following a fire and explosion on a fishing trip off the Southern coast of Ireland last night.

THE United States has opened up another large area of the Gulf of  Mexico fishing grounds, indicating that the threat to seafood stocks from the BP oil rig disaster is not as bad as first feared.

THE European  Fisheries Commissioner  Maria Damanaki has said Brussels would be sending a "very clear message" to Iceland and the Faroe Islands over their self declared mackerel quotas. Europe, she added, would be  demanding a sustainable deal.

The Faroe Islands had no choice but to set its own quota when faced with its exclusion from this year’s northeast Atlantic mackerel agreement by the EU and Norway, according to the Faroe Shipowners’ Association (FSA).

Responding to this weeks news that the Faroe Islands has decided to follow Iceland’s lead and declare a massively increased mackerel quota for this year, the Scottish Fishermen’s Federation is urging the Faroese to reverse their decision and rejoin the previously operated international regime of sensible, sustainable and rational fisheries management.

ICELAND is continuing to defy the European Union and Norway over its controversial mackerel quota with two of its main fishing companies announcing  maximum effort.

AS European pealgic fishing companies renewed their call for a ban on Icelandic and Faroese seafood this week as a reprisal for their unilateral stand on mackerel fishing, Iceland's trawler owners hit back with a statement that their position  is both "legal and responsible."

SNP President and Euro MP Ian Hudghton MEP has backed the stand by  Scottish fishermen  on the recent unilateral action by Iceland to extend their mackerel quota and on their forthcoming referendum on EU membership.

AN official inquiry into the loss of a 16 year old  fishermen off the Scottish Coast after his vessel was in collision with a North Sea passenger ferry has formally begun.

MANY Gulf Coast fishermen are worried that fish may still not be safe to eat despite Government reports that the fishing grounds are in better shape than was earlier feared.

ANOTHER downbeat report on the state of Britain's fish stocks has just been published.
The study by the New Economics Foundation and the European lobbying group Ocean 2012 says that the UK fishing industry cannot cope with demand because it has supplies which only last for seven months of the year.

A LARGE search resumed at first light today for a fishermen who went missing after his vessel was in collision with a ferry off the Berwickshire Coast.

ANOTHER downbeat report on the state of Britain's fish stocks has just been published.

THE growth in Norwegian seafood exports seems unstoppable. The latest figures published today show overseas sales of both farmed and wild caught fish soared by over 15 per cent to a record 3.8 billion kroners (around £380 million sterling).

THE National Federation of Fishermen’s Organisations in collaboration with the North Sea Regional Advisory Council and other Fishermen’s representative bodies are again running the North Sea Stocks Survey that invites fishermen to contribute their knowledge on the status and trends in stocks subject to TACs.

A RECENT high profile court case has shown that it doesn't pay to tamper with fish in the United States.

THE Marine Management Organisation (MMO) the fishing watchdog for England and Wales has presented the Natural History Museum in Plymouth with a rare angel shark.The MMO officers discovered the shark while inspecting sales on Plymouth Fish Market.

OVERALL tonnage and value of fish handled at Peterhead is running well ahead of last year, according to figures issued by Peterhead Port Authority.

CONFIDENCE is at last returning to the fishing industry in the Gulf of Mexico, badly hit by the oil spill this summer.

KENT Coast fishermen are facing a major crisis because they have virtually run out of catch quota and will  not be able to put to sea until next year.

ICELAND and the Faroe Islands are facing  the increasing demands for a ban on at least some of their seafood exports unless they back down on their decision to give themselves a unilateral mackerel quota.

THE new Parliamentary Under-Secretary for the Natural Environment and Fisheries, Richard Benyon, has met sea users from the Irish Sea to talk about the process to recommend Marine Conservation Zones in the Irish Sea project area.

ICELAND has told the European Union that its fishing grounds are not open to negotiation and must remain under the control of the Reykjavik Government.

THE owner and skipper of a French fishing vessel are the latest to pay a heavy penalty for a series of mainly technical  related offences.

REGIONAL  fishing advisory councils, frustrated at continuing weaknesses in many International Council For the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) fish stock assessments, are working on a major new initiative to address data deficiencies.

THE outlook for commercial fishing in the Gulf of Mexico, badly hit by the BP oil spills, is becoming a lot  brighter.

NORWAY may change its fishing year calendar cycle to model on that of Iceland when it comes to fixing fish catch quotas.

A FISHING vessel has played a mercy role after a yacht hit trouble off the West Coast of Scotland.

THE next decade is likely to see a new scramble for the resources of the sea, including fish, Chris Parry, chairman of the Marine Management Organisation has warned.

IRELAND'S Prime Minister has signalled that the country's fishing industry will be encouraged to help lead the charge back towards economic recovery.

ICELAND’S cod quota will rise next year but other quotas will fall including haddock.

FISH buyers in the UK and Europe can expect more cod, but a lot less haddock from Iceland over the next 12 months.

ICELAND has already fished a third of its unilateral and controversial 130,000 ton mackerel quota, it has been revealed.

SEAFISH has  been given the go ahead  to appeal to the Supreme Court over the controversial High Court levy ruling

FISHING needs to get its act together on the issue of seafood sustainability and traceability.

FISHERMEN and fish merchants in Jersey will be taking the day off on Saturday to stage the island's annual fish festival.

SCOTTISH Fisheries Secretary Richard Lochhead revealed today that some of the so-called emergency measures, imposed by the European Commission on the West of Scotland, are under review.

THE  Gulf of Mexico oil spill crisis is beginning to impact on shellfish prices across Europe and Britain, exactly as predicted by Fishupdate shortly after the disaster first happened in April.

THE National Federation of Fishermens Organisations (NFFO) has described its first meetings with EU Fisheries Commissioner Maria Damanaki as "groundbreaking"

THE inquiry into the loss of the Peterhead trawler Trident with seven of her crew is nearing its conclusion.

TWO 'doomsday' scenario reports on the state of fish stocks, one global and the other closer to home in Scotland were published at the weekend.

ICELAND has announced that it is delaying its controversial individual transferable quota recall plan for 12 months. The announcement, by Fisheries Minister Jon Bjarnnsson comes in the face of mounting criticism from within the fishing industry and from leading economists.

AT the invitation of the new Fisheries Minister, Richard Benyon MP, representatives of the New Under Tens Fishermens Association (NUTFA) met with him in Westminster on Tuesday 6th July.

MANY tributes have been paid to John Oliver, a director and founder  of the Whitby trawler building company Parkol Marine who died suddenly recently.

IT sounds crazy, but some shellfish are getting high on the anti-depressant drug Prozac - and it could  make them more vulnerable to attack by predators.

THE European Union has conceded that tough talks lie ahead to bring Iceland and the Faroe Islands into line over mackerel fishing.

A UK fisheries delegation today met with the new EU Maritime and Fisheries Commissioner, Maria Damanaki, at the European Parliament in Strasbourg.

The Marine Management Organisation  is helping  fishermen  on the south coast to publicise a problem they are having with non-native American lobsters that  have been illegally released into the sea - and could pose a threat to British species.

THE European Commission has adopted a Regulation to modify the 2010 fishing possibilities for sandeel in the North Sea and Skagerrak.

The Scottish Fishermen’s Federation has reaffirmed its commitment to the protection of our seas and the sustainable harvesting of fish and shellfish by producing a new Environmental Policy Statement that underlines its core guiding principles for environmental responsibility.

As part of a UK fishing industry delegation, Bertie Armstrong, chief executive of the Scottish Fishermen’s Federation, will represent the interests of the catching sector of the Scottish industry in a meeting tomorrow (7 July) in Strasbourg with Mrs Maria Damanaki, the new EU Fisheries Commissioner.

A DELEGATION from the National Federation of Fishermen's Organisations (NFFO) says it has had a constructive meeting with the new Fisheries Minister Richard Beynon.

THE  Sainsbury supermarket group has been voted fish retailer of the year - by a meat magazine!

WHITING is unquestionably leading the list of concerns in terms of North Sea quota exhaustion, a fish producer organisation chief warned today.

Continuing the relationship launched before the general election, Scottish Fishermen’s Federation president Alan Coghill and chief executive Bertie Armstrong met with Richard Benyon, the new UK Fisheries Minister, on 1 July.

THE owner and skipper of a beam trawler boarded by Royal Navy fishery protection officers in the North Sea have been ordered to pay a total of almost £15,000 for a number of fish related offences.

SEAFISH is about to carry out an exhastive study into the current financial state of the fishing fleet throughout the United Kingdom.
Fieldwork  by the industry watchdog organisation begins this week for the annual Seafish Financial Report on the UK Fishing Fleet.

With Scottish fishermen being briefed today (2 July) by Marine Scotland scientists on the latest advice from ICES (International Council for the Exploration of the Sea) on the status of fish stocks, the Scottish Fishermen’s Federation is underlining that it is totally unacceptable for automatic cuts in fishing opportunity to be introduced next year based on uncertain science.  The SFF is offering to do everything it can to contribute to the assessment process, and demands that action be taken by the EU against Member States failing to produce the necessary data.

FAILURE to reform the Common Fisheries Policy could be catastrophic  for fish stocks EU fisheries ministers were told at their Luxembourg summit.

FUNDS for fishing projects are still available despite big cutbacks in Britain and Europe.

Following the release of the latest scientific advice on fish stocks, Orkney MSP and Scottish Liberal Democrat Fisheries Spokesman, Liam McArthur, has backed the Scottish Fishermen’s Federation call for the adoption of a commonsense approach to fisheries management next year.

Following the release of the latest scientific advice on the status of fish stocks, the Scottish Fishermen’s Federation is urging for the adoption of a commonsense approach to fisheries management next year and recognition given to the huge conservation efforts made by the Scottish fleet.

THE Marine Stewardship Council is holding a meeting titled “The Sustainable Seafood Arena and the MSC” on 28 September.

FISHERIES Secretary Richard Lochhead yesterday attended the Council of Ministers in Luxembourg where the future of the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) was up for discussion.

Speaking ahead of today’s (Tuesday 29 June) European Fisheries Council meeting in Luxembourg, Bertie Armstrong, chief executive of the Scottish Fishermen’s Federation, said:

THE master and owners of the Newlyn beam trawler Nellie, pleaded guilty to a total of seven logbook offences at Camborne Magistrates Court on 24 June.

COMMON Fisheries Policy reform will take centre stage when Europe's fisheries ministers hold their summer council meeting in Luxembourg.

IRISH Fisheries Minister Sean Connick has said the country's fishing industry could play a major part in helping Ireland's economic recovery.

Alan Coghill, the Secretary of the Orkney Fisheries Association (OFA), has been elected as the new President of the Scottish Fishermen’s Federation.

NORTHERN Ireland’s Fisheries Minister Michelle Gildernew has met with EU Fisheries Commissioner Maria Damanaki in Brussels, ahead of next week’s Fisheries Council which will be held in Luxembourg.

FISH imports play a crucial role in supplying the European market, yet fisheries and aquaculture are strategic sectors that do not lend themselves to a purely free-trade approach, believes the European Parliament Fisheries Committee. In a draft resolution adopted on Tuesday, MEPs say that imports should meet the same standards as European-produced fish and fishery products should be classified as "sensitive" in trade talks.

THE Scottish Fishermen’s Federation has thrown its full support behind the Scottish Government’s decision to challenge the Faroese application for Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) accreditation of its mackerel fishery.

FAROE and Iceland have sparked major uncertainties surrounding management of the key North East Atlantic mackerel fishery, a leading industry group has underlined.

ANOTHER fishing vessel skipper and owner has been forced to pay a heavy bill of breaking the rules. This time it is the master and owners of the Newlyn beam trawler Nellie, who have pleaded guilty to a total of seven logbook offences at Cambourne Magistrates Court.

The Scottish Fishermen’s Federation has thrown its full support behind the Scottish Government’s decision to challenge the Faroese application for Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) accreditation of its mackerel fishery because of its failure to reach a stock management agreement with other participants in the north-east Atlantic mackerel fishery.

ICELAND'S new controversial new mackerel  season has got off to a bumper start with good fish yields and high quality fish.

THE owners and the skipper of the British scallop dredger, Vertrouwen, were ordered to pay a total of £6,277 in fines and costs by Brighton Magistrates on 3 June for retaining undersize scallops.

THE Commerce and Employment Department's Sea Fisheries Section of the Guernsey Government is to tighten the licensing controls on vessels scalloping in Bailiwick territorial waters.

A Scottish scallop dredger owner and its skipper and a South Coast fish merchant are two of the latest fishing businesses to find themselves in court facing prosecution by the new Marine Management Organisations (formerly the Marine and Fisheries Agency) for infringement of the rules.

THE Spanish fishing company facing a $7-million fine in the United States has strong denied federal allegations of illegal fishing.

ICELAND'S Government has been warned that if it interferes with the country's individually transferable quota system it could tip many fishing companies into bankruptcy.

AN SNP MSP has pressed the new Secretary of State for Scotland, Michael Moore, over Scottish representation in EU fisheries negotiations.

WITH the exception of mackerel, overall fish values at Peterhead are powering away from last year’s levels, according to figures issued by Peterhead Port Authority.

WEST of Scotland fishermen are waiting to see if expected heavier prawn landings over the summer will have a detrimental effect on a market which, in prawn tail terms, is already “pretty stagnant.”

AMERICA's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has again extended the closed fishing area in the Gulf of Mexico as the impact of the BP oil spill worsens.

THE Scottish Traditional Boat Festival kicks off in Portsoy this month and is expected to pull in locals and visitors alike to sample the very best food and drink Scotland has to offer, as dozens of the country’s top food producers descend on the quaint fishing village to share their gastronomic passion for using the finest produce.

A POLITICAL row is brewing in Iceland over plans to merge the all important Ministry of Fisheries with other government departments.

STEPHEN Lockwood, chairman of the Marine Protection Zone Fishing coalition, has set out his views on protecting the marine environment while respecting the needs of the fishing industry.

The new  Marine Management Organisation, which looks after fishing and related matters around the English coastline, received its official launch in  Gateshead yesterday - with a pledge to balance the new development such as wind farms with the need to protect fishing.

THE North Sea Regional Advisory Council is about to launch a ground breaking initiative by holding a series of meetings with fishermen and other stakeholders in the main nephrops (prawns, lobster etc) ports.

A SPANISH flagged fishing vessel faces a fine of over $7-million for dozens of offences of fishing in United States waters without an official permit.

SEAFOOD prices in some parts of the southern United States have shot up by an average of well over  per cent  following the BP Gulf of Mexico oil spill.

CHARLES Clover, author of the hard hitting End Of The Line book and film on the future of fish stocks, has hit out at Iceland over its plan to unilaterally allocate itself a 130,000 ton quota.

A GRIMSBY fishing boat has been involved in a collision with a Dutch trawler in the North Sea and its four man crew have been rescued, say the emergency services. No-one on either vessel is thought to have been injured.

LIFEBOAT crews from Kirkwall and Dunbar are to be presented with special awards for exceptional bravery by the Royal National Lifeboat Institution at the charity’s Scottish Annual Meeting in Perth today. The awards will be presented by Admiral The Lord Boyce, Chairman of the RNLI.

THE Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) is seeking detailed proposals from qualified consultants to review MSC Scheme Documents.

Interview by John Whitehad with Fishupdate

A Scottish Euro MP has sought reassurance from the EU’s fishing supremo that Europe will not cave in to Iceland and the Faeroe Islands over disputed mackerel stocks.

Seafish, the authority on seafood, today announced the appointment of John Whitehead as interim Chair of the organisation following the completion of Charles Howeson’s three-year term as chair.

INTERNATIONAL attempts to curb illegal fishing activities are not working, a group of researchers have warned.

THE European Commission has decided to close down the bluefin tuna fishing season early because stocks are in serious danger of being depleted. The ban, which takes in fishing grounds in the Eastern Atlantic and the Mediterranean,  comes into effect immediately and, at the moment, is open ended. However, it would have ended on June 15th in any case.

Based on the announcement today that the European Union’s industrial fishermen have already reached their share of this year’s Atlantic bluefin tuna catch and must return to port at midnight tonight, WWF points out that this indicates the huge overcapacity of fleets – and is urging fishing countries to scrap their industrial vessels as soon as possible.

AN RAF helicopter was called out to rescue two fishermen who got into difficulties after their vessel capsized off the Humber Estuary yesterday.

A lone fisherman was rescued tonight after his small mackerel boat capsized one nautical mile off Peterhead.

WORLD-wide legislators are looking at proposals to establish huge fishing no-go areas to save vulnerable stocks from collapse.

MARINE Management Organisation chief executive Steven Gant and his top team recently met the National Federation of Fishermen’s Organisations executive committee at the MMO’s new headquarters in Newcastle.

ICELAND'S trawler fleet looks set be allowed to catch an extra 10,000 tons of cod during the next fishing quota year which begins in September.

A Brixham fishing company and its fishermen accused of not declaring the catch area for Dover sole have been found guilty at Exeter Crown Court.

ICELAND'S fishing industry will throw off the country's economic woes this weekend to honour the men who bring home the catch week in and week out.

PLANS to build a new £5 million  fish market in Newlyn hang in the balance.

Seafish, the authority on seafood, successfully piloted a new questionnaire at the Glasgow Fishing Exhibition as part of their annual UK fishing fleet survey.

THE fishing crisis in the Gulf of Mexico following the BP oil spill worsened last night as the American federal authorities extended the fishing no go zone for the third consecutive time.

GRANTS worth almost £1 million have been awarded to a number of English fishing companies from the European Fisheries Fund and Marine Management Organisation, formerly the Marine and Fisheries Agency.

H.M. King Harald will officially open Nor-Fishing 2010 in Trondheim, Norway on the 17th of August. The Minister of Fisheries and Coastal Affairs, Mrs. Lisbeth Berg-Hansen, will also attend together with prominent guests from the fisheries authorities of several countries.

MANY United States fishermen may  be having a difficult time following the Gulf of Mexico oil disaster, but things are looking up for the industry in catching grounds around other parts of the country.

THE relatives of the Peterhead trawler Trident which sank 36 years ago with the loss of her seven crew members have expressed anger that they were not told about an earlier report questioning the vessel's sea worthiness.

SEAFISH, the authority on seafood, has responded to the Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) Trilogy Report.

PROVISIONAL statistics published today by Scotland’s Chief Statistician show a £47 million (12 per cent) increase in the value of fish landed by Scottish vessels in 2009.

Following the publication by the EC last week of how it plans to act upon scientific advice when proposing catch limits for 2011, the Scottish Fishermen’s Federation is urging the Commission to take greater account of catch data from fishermen so as to close the information gap.

THE bodies of two Irish fishermen who went missing at the weekend have been found, bringing the  fishing death toll in the country  to four in the past two weeks.

THE crew of a Spanish fishing trawler have successfully fought off an attack by Somali pirates off the coast of Madagascar. This is thought to be the first time that pirates have operated so far south.

Seafish, the authority on seafood, today responded to the Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) Trilogy Report. The report, which investigated the tragic loss of three fishermen’s lives from incidents involving the vessels Korenbloem, Osprey III and Optik, calls for an urgent, properly funded plan of action to improve fishing safety.

THE master and owner of the French fishing vessel Allegro each pleaded guilty at Truro Magistrates' Court to using a net which exceeded the permitted twine thickness, and to failing to maintain an accurate log-book.

TONNAGE and gross value of fish handled at Peterhead so far this year are both running ahead of last year’s performance, according to figures issued by Peterhead Port Authority.

AN operation by wildlife crime officers has been launched to crack down on the illegal destruction of Scotland's freshwater pearl mussels.

WITH concerns growing about future supplies of Icelandic cod, increasing volumes of Norwegian cod and cod are now appearing on UK wholesale and coastal markets.

FISHERMEN and fish processors on one of Canada's East Coast provinces are up in arms over new prices levels for shrimps (prawns in UK).

JOHN Buchan Jnr from Peterhead was named commercial ‘Fisherman of the Year’ on Saturday following a tough competition at the Fishing 2010 exhibition in Glasgow.

ENVIRONMENTALISTS must not fall into the trap of making sweeping generalisations about fisheries and the marine environment, according to Bertie Armstrong, chief executive of the Scottish Fishermen’s Federation.

ICELAND'S new herring season is about to get under way, but early reports suggest that catches are proving to be elusive.

Don’t ignore the risks – wear a lifejacket – that’s the message to fishermen at Fishing 2010 from the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA).

BRITAIN'S oldest trawlerman has just celebrated his 80th birthday and shows no sign of giving up the sea yet.

THE United States federal fishing authorities have again extended the "no catch" zone in the oil spill hit Gulf of Mexico region.

The Scottish Fishermen’s Federation will tell environmentalists at a seminar at the Fishing 2010 exhibition in Glasgow that due recognition should be given to the huge sacrifices and effort made by the Scottish fishing industry to ensure that the fleet today is sustainably harvesting a renewable resource.

THE European Commission has finally thrown its hands up to a blunder that saw hard-pressed Scottish fishermen lose valuable days at sea, said Scottish Conservative MEP Struan Stevenson today.

THE European Ombudsman, P. Nikiforos Diamandouros, has welcomed the European Commission's acknowledgment of an administrative error concerning fishing quotas in the West of Scotland. This came in a letter to the Ombudsman from the new Commissioner for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, Maria Damanaki, reversing the position the Commission had adopted during the inquiry.

ICELAND has announced a big increase in its inshore fishing quota which makes a significant contribution to industry earnings, especially during the summer when most of the activity takes place.

With sections of the Scottish fishing fleet struggling to survive against a background of increasingly restricted fishing opportunity, the Scottish Fishermen’s Federation has laid down a challenge to the Scottish and UK Governments to urgently put resources into finding a solution.

THE World Wildlife Fund has announced what many UK fishermen have been saying for years - North Sea cod stocks are in a much healthier state.

REGIONAL interests are almost certain to play a key role when the Common Fisheries Policy is redrawn and reformed, says the National Federation of Fishermen's Organisations. But it also has concerns of another over elaborate structure.

Fishing 2010 – the UK’s only annual commercial fisheries exhibition - gets underway later this week boosted by the news that the number of exhibitors at this year’s event is significantly up on 2009.

FISHING is to banned in arguably the most sacred catching grounds in the world - the Sea of Galilee, where Jesus walked on water.

AN investigation is being launched as to why a Grimsby fishing vessel sank in the town's fish docks. As the inquiry gets under way, an attempt is being made to salvage the fishing trawler Jubilee Intrepid.

THE Federation of Irish Fishermen (FIF) has welcomed the initiative by Fine Gael to introduce a Private Members Bill, to be debated in Dáil Éireann today and Wednesday, which would create a framework for the introduction of Administrative Sanctions in respect of minor fisheries offences.

Environmental journalist and author Charles Clover will outline to fishermen at a breakfast seminar event at the Fishing 2010 commercial fisheries exhibition in Glasgow of the need for urgent action to conserve fish stocks.

SHELL fishermen based in the Yorkshire port of Bridlington may take legal action against at least one Scottish trawler company which they claim has damaged some of their crab and lobster pots.

THE United States federal fishing authorities have at the weekend extended the "no-go" fishing zone in the Gulf of Mexico following the huge oil spill off the coast of Louisiana.

The Scottish Fishermen Federation has issued a stark warning to the new incoming UK Government and the current Scottish Government that the very survival of the fishing industry is at stake unless urgent remedial action is taken – otherwise large sections of the fleet will be forced out of business.

A SPLIT is looming  over  European fishing reform - and transferable quotas in particular - following this week's ministerial meeting in Vigo, Spain.

ANGER is growing  over  Gordon Brown's refusal to allow Scottish Fisheries Secretary Richard Lochhead attend a key European fisheries meeting in Spain.

An exciting new ‘Fisherman of the Year’ competition will be staged at this year’s Fishing 2010 exhibition in Glasgow with prizes worth at least £5,000 on offer in a three-day event to seek out the UK’s most experienced and proficient fisherman.

EUROPEAN fisheries ministers and stakeholders will be discussing the future shape of the EU's Common Fisheries Policy at two major events in Spain over the next days however Scottish Fisheries Minister Richard Lochhead has expressed his anger at not being allowed to participate in the most important meeting.

COMMERCIAL  fishing over a large area of the Gulf of Mexico has been closed by the US authorities in the wake of the massive oil spill following last week's rig disaster.

At 5:30am today, Stornoway Coastguard received a Mayday call from the Irish registered fishing vessel Ainmaire, 30 miles West Northwest of the Butt of Lewis.

SEAFOOD experts are playing down fears that the massive oil spill off the Gulf of Mexico could have a major impact on fish caught for human consumption in that area.

ICELAND''S fishing grounds seem to have escaped any serious  ill-effects from the recent volcanic eruption, tests in the last few days have shown.

MORE than 20 American senators and congressional representatives are urging the US Government to take emergency steps to increase fishing catch quotas, indicating that the country's catching industry is beginning to attract greater political status.

SEAFISH has produced a strategically  important new publication into the future of the Icelandic cod and haddock supply into the UK.

A FISHERMEN’S leader said today that skippers would be willing to increase cod conservation measures in order to head off fishery closures.

Proposed changes to European fishing rules could sound the death knell for Scotland’s traditional fishing communities, a Scots MEP has warned.

Safety will be a major theme at the Fishing 2010 exhibition in Glasgow with the importance of wearing a lifejacket on deck and a display on the difficulties of retrieving a man overboard being two of the key messages.

FISH buyers in the UK face the most difficult week of the year so far with very little in the way of cod and haddock supplies coming in from Iceland - and this time it has little to do with the volcanic ash cloud.

THE new Marine Maritime Organisation has made its presence felt again with the prosecution of three North Shields skippers and fishing vessel owners for log book offences.

Seafish, the authority on seafood, today announced the publication of new research into the supply of Icelandic cod and haddock to the UK.

TWO of Canada's most important fishing states, Newfoundland and Labrador have reported a worrying decline in the value of the province's seafood industry.

BANFF & Buchan MSP Stewart Stevenson has joined critics of the UK Government’s decision to send an unelected member of the House of Lords with no background in fisheries to important discussions on the future of the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP), instead of the Scottish Government’s Fisheries Secretary Richard Lochhead.

Stornoway Coastguard were called on Thursday evening to assist a Norwegian registered fishing vessel  with an injured crewman, fishing sixty nautical miles west of North Uist.

DELAYS in getting to the scene of a fishing tragedy off the West Coast of Scotland last year were unlikely to have affected the outcome of the accident, an investigation has found.

A BRIXHAM trawler skipper and his  fishing company have become the first to brought to court by the new Marine Maritime Organisation, which replaced the Marine and Fisheries Agency at the beginning of the month.

THE Scottish Fishermen's Federation is calling for talks to try to settle the simmering shellfish dispute off the Yorkshire Coast.

WHEN it was first launched it looked very much like one of the many conventional side winder distant water ships that once fished out of Grimsby, Hull and Aberdeen.

THE Cromer Crab Company is offering fishermen who supply the business increased prices for their catches if they are part of the Responsible Fishing Scheme.

FURTHER evidence of a growing rift between Iceland's fish catching industry and the government emerged at the weekend in a new dispute about monkfish.

The Scottish Fishermen’s Federation has unveiled its mini-manifesto for the forthcoming General Election, highlighting the main measures it would like the next Government to support.

Norwegian police are investigating an attempt in the early hours of Saturday morning to sink a Norwegian whaling ship, the  'Sofie', while she was berthed in Svolvær harbour.

A POLICE investigation has been launched into an Easter weekend  attempt to sink a Norwegian whaling ship anchored in a remote Nordic fishing port.

THERE is an urgent need to tackle the “clear imbalance” between what fishing vessels are allowed to catch and what they are able to catch, a leading industry figure has underlined.

SCARBOROUGH’S RNLI all weather lifeboat launched on 30 March at 03:45hrs at the request of Humber Coastguard to assist a scallop trawler which had suffered a mechanical failure and was in danger of running aground.

THERE is an urgent need to tackle the “clear imbalance” between what fishing vessels are allowed to catch and what they are able to catch, a leading industry figure has underlined.

A NEW fishing dispute is threatening on the rich shell fishing grounds off East Yorkshire - involving local boat owners and Scottish fishermen.

THE Icelandic Group, which owns two large UK seafood companies, has just unveiled an impressive financial transformation - turning heavy losses of 159 million euros (£132-million sterling) in 2008 into a profit of just over six million euros ( £5-million) last year.

THE President of the Scottish Fishermen’s Federation is switching roles, it emerged today.

FOLLOWING the recent Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) certification of their Atlanto-Scandian herring fishery, members of the Scottish Pelagic Sustainability Group (SPSG) celebrated their success with a victory lunch.

CREATING a truly sustainable fishing infrastructure could make a significant contribution to establishing real global food security, says an international working group of economists, marine scientists and seafood experts.

CLEARWATER Seafoods, the big Nova Scotia fish producer, has reported a $25.8-million profit for last year - in the face economic difficulties outside its control.

TRADE was brisk on the Humber fish market today with the start of Holy Week landings - traditionally, the busiest period of the year. But supplies were below their normal Easter allocation and prices firmed up as a result.

FLEETWOOD fishing chiefs have welcomed the news that plans for a new £15-million fish processing village in the port are moving ahead.

THE Humber Seafood Cluster has been hailed as the best industrial grouping in Britain.

Competing against 15 major industries like aerospace, life sciences, biomedical and electronics, the Grimsby based fish group was chosen by an independent judging panel, chaired by the Business Minister Ian Lucas.

LARGE fish farms may not have a bigger environmental impact on the seabed than their smaller counterparts, according to a University of Aberdeen study.

IT IS inevitable that cuts in quotas and days at sea will have an impact on the white fish fleet this year, which highlights the need for fleet restructuring at some stage. This is the view of one leading industry figure today, who said that quota uptake levels were already pointing to the exhaustion of some North Sea white fish quotas well before the end of this year.

AFTER years of planning and several million pounds of funding, work on Brixham's new look fish market has been finally completed.

GOVERNMENT TO LEAD APPEAL TO SUPREME COURT

- Seafish receives backing of the UK Government against decision from Court of Appeal

DEFRA - the Department For Environment Food and Rural Affairs - has pledged financial support to Seafish following last week's shock High Court ruling on the fish levy. Defra also confirmed its intention to appeal the decision which ruled that British Seafood and, by implication every other seafood business, did not have to lay the levy on fish landed abroad and imported into the UK.

Effective April 1, 2010, Rodrigo Torrijo will assume the responsibility of General Manager of Troutlodge :: Chile, replacing the outgoing John Dentler. Mr. Torrijo has previously served as the Sales & Development Manager for Troutlodge in Chile since June 2009. Mr. Torrijo will continue in this capacity as part of his General Manager duties.

THE skipper of the French stern trawler Maranello which fished for six hours inside an area off Trevose Head, Cornwall, which is closed annually to demersal trawling to protect spawning cod, has paid an expensive price.

A unique fishing complex has been created within a short distance of the North Circular Road and the junction of the M11, near Redbridge roundabout East London.

SCOTLAND was continuing to demonstrate true leadership on the vital issue of fishing conservation - that was the message that Richard Lochhead took with him when he met Maria Damanaki, the new EU Fisheries and Maritime Affairs Commissioner yesterday.

ICELAND'S pelagic fishing fleet is now on the hunt for blue whiting, following the completion of the short, but potentially lucrative, capelin season. And it has got off to an excellent start.

SEAFISH has announced  that it plans to fight last week's High Court shock ruling on the fish levy all the way to the top.

BRITISH Seafood's surprise High Court levy victory against Seafish has thrown the entire industry into turmoil.

The Seafish Industry Authority, which was set up by Act of Parliament from the old White Fish Authority nearly 30 years ago, depends on the levy to fund its activities.

THE entire Japanese nation was celebrating today after a proposal to ban trade in blue fin tuna, the mainstay of the country's beloved sushi, was rejected.

THE entire UK seafood processing industry was celebrating today after it was announced that the British Seafood group had won its appeal against paying a levy to Seafish on imported fish.

THE UK Fisheries Minister Huw Irranca-Davies left Grimsby yesterday with a positive message about the port's future - but also took with him a number of concerns from local fishing leaders.

AS Norway announced another month of record seafood exports, it was disclosed that the country has entered into a ground breaking agreement with India, one of Asia's fastest growing fishing countries.

A TEN strong group of fishermen and former fishermen have netted a potentially lucrative recording deal which could take them into the charts.

NORWEGIAN farmed cod is a good fish according to the results of a market test involving 32 chefs in France and Sweden.

THE UK Fisheries Minister Huw Irranca-Davies is due in Grimsby tomorrow to meet local fishing leaders on a number of key issues..

THE Young's Fish For Life programme could be on the brink of winning global acclaim. The European Business Awards for the Environment has named the Young’s/Findus fish protection project as one of its ten international finalists. Fish for Life was the only British entry to reach the finals out of the eleven winners of the UK stage of the awards who were named in London and reported by Fishupdate.com earlier this month.

A PROPOSED international trade ban on Atlantic Bluefin is this week creating widespread division across the fishing world.The United States and Europe are supporting the ban to prevent its extinction. But Japanese fish merchants are bitterly fighting the move and Australia has refused to join in which has brought an outcry from conservation groups.

FISHING is now one of the largest contributors to the New Zealand economy, contributing more than $4 billion NZ dollars a year.

THERE is mixed news on fish supplies in the UK in the run up to Easter - traditionally the fish trade's busiest period of the year. The rise in salmon prices is particularly worrying, says suppliers.

YOUNG'S have announced they are putting 25 per cent more fish into their biggest selling ready seafood meal - Admiral's Pie. The change will consolidate the product’s appeal to its millions of regular buyers as hopefully well as making it even more attractive to new consumers. Around 14 million Admiral’s Pie are sold every year which means one is eaten approximately every three seconds, according to the company.

THE Aberdeen based Onward Fishing Company has purchased a new trawler for an undisclosed sum, it has been announced.

THOUSANDS of fishing and seafood executives arrived in Boston at the weekend for one of the world's largest and most important industry trade shows - with the message that the industry may be turning the corner out of recession. .

THE Grimsby TFA Box Company, which has a long historyof supplying the East Coast fishing industry with a wide selection of plastic fish boxes plus collection and hygienic washing services has changed hands.It will also mean a move to a moremodern location.

MORE halibut should soon be appearing on UK retail markets in the next few weeks, helping to ease the high prices that have been a feature since the start of the year.

The Scottish Salmon Producers' Organisation (SSPO) has announced that they experienced a 24% increase in exported fish compared with 2008 with more than 13 million farmed salmon exported from Scotland last year.

THE official inquiry into the deaths of three fishermen who died in a Scottish trawler fire 18 months ago is to take place this summer, it was announced yesterday.

A BRITISH-Icelandic fish company which turns fish heads into food for Third World countries is to receive a 1.4 million Canadian dollar boost from the Nova Scotia state government. JHS Fish Products Canada Ltd is an offshoot of a UK operation of the same name which opened a £2.5 million factory in Grimsby three years ago. The company also has plants in Iceland where it has its head office.

SALMON producer Loch Duart has added a new ingredient to the diet of its farmed fish as part of its bid to replicate, as far as possible, the diet of wild salmon – and in so doing achieve a similar flesh colour.

An innovative new device that could help save fishermen’s lives by warning of vessel instability is likely to provide a focal point of interest at this year’s Fishing 2010 exhibition in Glasgow.

YOUNG'S Fish for Life programme for sustainable seafood has received a major triumph by being named as one of 11 UK winners in the prestigious European Business Awards for the Environment It was the only food industry business and certainly tyhe only food - amongst the finalists.

PIRATES who have been menacing European and other fishing boats in the Indian Ocean suffered a major setback yesterday.

THE Pew Environment Group has praised the United Kingdom for taking one further step towards designating the world’s largest marine reserve.

A Euro MP has called for the £40million of dead fish Scots fishermen are forced to dump at sea to be turned into animal ‘super food’.

CHILE has started the long job of rebuilding its shattered fishing industry following the devastating earthquake nearly two weeks ago.

THE UK government was today begged by campaigners to end its careless approach to buying seafood.

AT Question Time in the Scottish Parliament last week, Orkney MSP, Liam McArthur, asked the Fisheries Minister, Richard Lochhead, what progress had been made in the review of the West of Scotland catch composition rules which are causing real problems for Orkney and other Scottish whitefish boats.

THE search is under way to find the 2010 Young Scottish Seafood Chef Of The Year.

THE administrators handling the affairs of the Five Star Fish company are thought to have received a number of preliminary inquiries about buying the business, it was disclosed last night. But so far there have been no firm offers.

THE Faroe Islands has expressed its disappointment at Canada's "heavy handed" decision to close its fishing ports to Danish flagged trawlers in a continuing dispute over fish quotas and territorial claims.The ban mainly affects boats from the Faroes and Greenland which, although partly independent, fly the Danish flag because Copenhagen looks after their defence and foreign policy interests.

A REPORT on trials to reduce cod by-catches in Shetland mixed demersal whitefish trawl fisheries by putting large meshes (300 and 600mm) in the front portion of a commercial trawl has been published by Marine Scotland.

AF DECOM Offshore UK Limited and Lerwick Port Authority, Shetland have announced that they are to develop a deep water decommissioning base.

THE British Seafood crisis plunged the fishing town of Grimsby into further gloom last night with the announcement that Five Star Fish, the group's "star" performer was also in administration.

ICELAND'S capelin fishing season - a big money earner for the industry and the economy - is in full swing with the pelagic fleets working flat out to bring home catches.

THE shock waves from the collapse of the British Seafood Group are being felt well beyond the fish processing industry, it emerged at the weekend.

THE National Federation of Fishermen's Organisations has said the introduction of the new Omega electronic net gauge has been seriously mishandled, with mounting concerns among its member whether it is fit for purpose.

THE skipper of a Devon scallop fishing boat has been ordered to pay over £2,000 after he admitted fishing in a prohibited area.

Following the statement from European Fisheries Commissioner Maria Damanaki during Thursday's debate in the European Parliament on the reform of the Common Fisheries Policy that the protection of local fisheries will be a keystone of the new CFP, Bertie Armstrong, chief executive of the Scottish Fishermen’s Federation, said: 'The issue of international tradable quotas has been on the agenda during this debate in the European Parliament and we therefore welcome this statement from the Commissioner of the need to protect local fisheries.

Nutreco, a global leader in animal nutrition and fish feed has announced that Mrs Anja van Bergen-van Kruijsbergen (49) is appointed Company Secretary and Legal Director.

Leaders from eight Pacific Island nations whose waters provide a quarter of the world's tuna announced plans on Thursday to form a regional tuna cartel to increase their share of the profits from the lucrative fish.

THE first significant step towards reforming the Common Fisheries Policy came yesterday when the European Parliament voted for a major overhaul of most of its policies including a demand to an end of management from Brussels. MEPs also call for the creation of a strong aquaculture sector and an eco-labelling system.

IRELAND'S Fisheries Minister Tony Killeen has outlined his country's proposals for reform of the Common Fisheries Policy with some pointed proposals.

THOUSANDS of fishermen from across the United States converged on the capital Washington yesterday in a mass protest over the way the industry is being treated.

The export of Norwegian salmon continues to increase.

A new marketing campaign has been launched to promote Label Rouge Scottish Salmon to discerning European consumers as new figures show sales of the premium product leapt 19 per cent to record levels in 2009.

A SCOTTISH MEP has warned of the danger of a new Spanish Armada - in the shape of the country's powerful fishing fleet.

THE decision to award a £1-million European Fisheries Fund grant to the Grimsby Seafood Village project was being hailed today as a move which will save hundreds of jobs and create many new ones. The award now paving the way for a market-leading fish processing centre after more than five years of planning.

A new UK-wide fishing industry coalition to ensure that the interests of fishermen are fully taken into account during the consultation and designation process for Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) was officially launched today (23 February) at the House of Commons, London.

Smoked mackerel products have been produced on premises in Northern Ireland not registered with or approved by the district council in that area. The Agency has issued a Food Alert for Action asking district councils to make sure that two smoked mackerel products are withdrawn from sale and destroyed. The products are an unwrapped cold smoked mackerel and a wrapped hot smoked mackerel.

The Alaska longline cod companies are forming an export group, backed with a federal export guarantee and anti-trust exemptions, that will allow them to set prices, divide up export markets, and deny products to unapproved sellers in certain countries.

Last year we did a bit of Spring cleaning in the Fish Farmer office and realising that we were running out of storage space we decided to donate fisheries and aquaculture books to people who would use them.

Portree RNLI lifeboat launched at 9.35am on Saturday 20 February to go to the assistance of fishing vessel The Three Sisters, which had broken down in the Sound of Raasay.

The seafood industry was hit by a major thunderbolt last night after it was disclosed that one of its star performers the British Seafood Group had gone into administration.

PLANS for a modern new seafood village in Grimsby have finally received the go-ahead after the European Fisheries Fund announced a £1-million grant last night.

AN official inquiry into the sinking of a Scottish trawler more than 35 years ago has been unexpectedly adjourned. The Peterhead registered Trident foundered in October 1974 with the loss of seven crew members in what was Scotland’s worst fishing disaster for many years.

THE Marine and Fisheries Agency in the UK has warned that it will rigidly enforce the new EU regulations on illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing which came into force a few weeks ago. The agency says it is implementing the regulations in close collaboration with other government agencies and it hopes to set up a London based IUU office at Billingsgate Market.

SOME amazing claims have been made in the past few weeks about the health benefits of eating oily fish or fish oil - and all from serious and authoritative medical organisations.

MAJOR changes have been announced at the top of Iceland Seafood International (ISI), the worldwide organisation for fresh, frozen and salted fish.

TRAWLERS flying the Danish flag and fishing off Canada's East Coast were told yesterday they cannot land their catches at any Canadian ports.

SCOTTISH and English fishing leaders have recently met government and environmental groups as part of a high level engagement over the creation of the new marine protected areas around UK waters.

THE skirl of the pipes today marked the opening of the major Fishing 2008 show in Glasgow.

FISHERMEN are going to have to learn to deal with the impact of soaring fuel bills and act accordingly, even if this means more fleet consolidation, an industry leader warned today.

THE Federation of Irish Fishermen (FIF), the umbrella body for the four main Fishermen’s Organisations in Ireland, has said it is determined to play a central role in enhancing safety standards on board the Irish fishing fleet.