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Fishy Business: Fish POs in the EU

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Press Release – for immediate release

Fishy Business: Fish POs in the EU

How the failure to properly recognise and regulate the EU’s fish producer organisations [POs] is failing the Common Fisheries Policy and smaller-scale fishermen and what should be done to resolve it.

There is increasing interest amongst the small scale coastal fishers (SSCF) of Europe [80% by number of the overall EU fleet] in the possible benefits to them of creating small scale fisher specific producer organisations.

This would be good news for all parties interested in achieving the CFP’s objectives as the regulations acknowledge that POs are “the key” to achieving those objectives” and Europe’s small scale coastal fishers represent a large majority of all Europe’s fishers.

LIFE commissioned this report to determine whether the regulations and structure that Europe’s SSCF would be signing up to are fit for purpose, open, fair and equitable.

The report makes clear the need for the Commission and the Member States to take action to ensure that the conditions for recognition of producer organisations and inter-branch organisations laid down in Articles 14 and 16 of the Common Organisation of the Markets Regulation respectively are complied with.

Their continued failure to do so is a direct threat to the key objectives of the Common Fisheries Policy and the Common Organisation of the Markets.

We urge the Commission to carry out an urgent review of its Member States’ POs’ compliance and to consider our recommendations, which are intended to constructively propose ways to address the current regulatory system’s failure.

Note for Editors: The Low Impact Fishers of Europe platform [LIFE] is an organisation of organisations of small scale commercial fishermen across Europe, run by fishermen, for fishermen. Its mission is to achieve conditions in which fishing is performed in a sustainable manner and small scale low impact fishermen and women in Europe can maximise their social and economic viability.

ACCESS THE OFFICIAL REPORT IN ENGLISH HERE

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FRENCH (short version)

SPANISH (short version)

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For further information contact Claudia Orlandini, Communications Officer in LIFE’s Brussels office on 0032 2741 2433 or for UK based inquiries; 0044 1437 751242

Fundacja MARE & LIFE for a cleaner Baltic Sea

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Update on the “Clean Baltic” project promoted by Fundacja MARE 

140 tons of ghost nets retrieved by 533 Polish small-scale fishers…and counting!

Warsaw, 23 November 2017 – Abandoned, lost and discarded fishing gear (ALDFG), also known as ghost nets, are a well-known global problem in ocean governance. Fishing nets of all kinds, when left in the water, continue catching fish as well as marine birds, mammals and other organisms. If lost on wrecks, they can also be a danger to amateur and professional divers. They contribute to pollution of the oceans with plastics – some 10% of plastics in the ocean come from ALDFG, which as sometimes referred to as “tumbleweed of the oceans” as it bundles up on the seabed and under certain conditions may accumulate in tangled piles, suffocating corals and other benthic marine life.

This is why five organizations of Polish fishers, including three LIFE Members – Darłowska Group of Fish Producers and Fishing Boat Owners, Wolin Fishermen Association and Mierzeja Boat Fishermen Association – have embarked on a large-scale project promoted by Fundacja Mare to deal with this acute problem. The retrieval actions are pursued by 533 small boats in the 12-mile zone, coordinated by the fishers’ organizations themselves and are not confined to ALDFG alone – they also include any marine litter that the fishers find during the action. They use retrieval methods having a minimal impact on the environment, particularly the seabed. Until now, a total of 140 tons of ghost nets and other marine litter has been retrieved.

“Over the last years, the level of societal consciousness on the marine litter problem, including ghost nets, has significantly increased. There are many activities undertaken all over Europe to reduce the negative impact of ghost nets on the environment. We are particularly happy to see the engagement of fishermen in caring for the environment on which they depend.  Their own initiatives, such as the “Clean Baltic” project implemented by five fishers’ organizations across the Polish coast, are particularly valuable” – states Marcin Rucinski, LIFE’s Baltic and North Sea Coordinator

Eager to learn more?

Access the “Clean Baltic” project Facebook page

Access the “Clean Baltic” project Instagram page

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BFT, ICCAT & SSFs

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Historically High Bluefin Tuna Quota Set by ICCAT

The Bluefin tuna industry received a windfall in Marrakech, with proposed TAC increases over the period 2018 to 2020, culminating in the highest TAC ever set. There is a hike on the 2018 TAC of 4,500 tonnes, up to 28,200 tonnes from 23,655 in 2017, with a projected increase to 36,000 tonnes for 2020. This is despite uncertainties over the extent of the recovery of the resource, uncertainty which meant ICCAT was unable to move from a recovery plan to a management plan.

Despite this windfall, the Spanish industry was disappointed by the outcome. It accused the EU of not knowing how to negotiate, given the acceptance by the EU of a small reduction in its TAC allocation key. Others accused ICCAT of placing short term profit ahead of longer term conservation, and the TAC hikes a disgrace.

With such relatively large increases in TACs over the next 3 years, it is well within the powers of Member States to step up and allocate a quota to the small-scale fishery sectors, which have been on the sharp end of conservation measures since 2006.

Interestingly ICCAT highlighted that the needs of artisanal fisheries in coastal developing contracting party countries (CPCs) could receive part of the unallocated reserves from ICCAT in 2019 and 2020. This could pave the way for a dedicated artisanal fishery Bluefin tuna quota at ICCAT level, given political will to do so.

In this sea of plenty, LIFE urges the EU and Member States to do the right thing, and allocate a fair share tuna quota to small scale hook and line fishers, as we have been urging for years.

Letter of LIFE to decision-makers in English

Lettre de LIFE aux décideurs en français

Carta de LIFE a los tomadores de decisiones en español

LIFE’s documentary “Blue Hope Tuna”

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Notizie dal Ponte – ottobre 2017

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NOTIZIE DAL PONTE

La newsletter mensile dei piccoli pescatori europei

La newsletter di ottobre 2017 include:

  • Our Ocean Conference 2017: un’opportunità imperdibile per la piccola pesca sostenibile
  • LIFE organizza un seminario per incoraggiare la partecipazione ai Consigli Consultivi
  • Altre notizie dall’Europa
  • Novità dai nostri membri
  • Benvenuti a bordo
  • Rassegna stampa

Clicca qui per scaricare la newsletter di ottobre 2017

FFKP

LIFE and FFKP

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LIFE and the FAO’s Family Farming Knowledge Platform :

working together to raise awareness on small-scale fisheries 

 

Rome and Brussels, 15 November 2017

Teodor Dosa (FFKP) and Claudia Orlandini (LIFE)

 

During the 2014 International Year of Family Farming (IYFF), FAO and various partners and stakeholders expressed the need to go beyond the celebrations and to put in place a set of concrete actions aimed at addressing issues and challenges raised throughout the year. In response to that, the decision was made to implement a web-based knowledge platform that could share information and knowledge on key topics and the state of policy making related to family farming across the world in a user-friendly facility on the web. The platform therefore represents one of the main and long lasting legacies of the IYFF 2014, as a worldwide reference to facilitate informed decision making on family farming policy processes.

The Family Farming Knowledge Platform gathers digitized quality information on family farming from all over the world; including national laws and regulations, public policies, best practices, relevant data and statistics, researches, articles and publications. 

It integrates and systematizes existing information to better inform and provide knowledge-based assistance to policy-makers, family farmers’ organizations, development experts, as well as to stakeholders in the field and at the grassroots level.

By spotting a huge amount of diverse information and knowledge, the platform helps giving sense of the enormous contribution that family farms give to address some of the most press challenges we face today, such as food security and the needs of sustainable food systems that preserve natural resources in times of climate change and the challenges they face themselves. In addition, the users can find all kind of information on the work of FAO in HQ and at the field level to help family farms prosper.

The FFKP is directed to all those involved in family farming and rural development related issues: from farmers’ organizations to Governments to universities students, the audience is quite transversal.

In addition, the FFKP allows its worldwide contributors and focal points from national governments to collaborate. Currently the Platform includes more than 100 focal points appointed by their governments and another 100 contributors worldwide. A strong coalition of stakeholders sharing their knowledge is the foundation of this initiative. Contributors and focal points therefore play a vital role in this project, since they are not only FFKP users, but they also regularly feed the database with updated and relevant material. Two years after from its launch, the FFKP databases includes more than 15 000 documents and has already been visited by approximately 170 000 users since its launch, in June 2015. Among these important contributors is the Low Impact Fishers of Europe (LIFE), the association giving voice to the thousands of small-scale fishers that work along Europe’s coast. Thanks to LIFE and FFKP, data and content are now made available to governments, academia and stakeholders so that the latter can get to know better the immense environmental, social and economic value of local fishing communities and that the message of those who for too long have been labelled the “forgotten fleet” is now heard loud and clear worldwide.

Eager to learn more? Explore the FFKP website by clicking here !

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Action on seabirds by-catch

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LIFE and BirdLife join forces on seabirds by-catch

Seabirds forage in highly productive areas of the ocean, which are also targeted by commercial fishing vessels. This overlap can cause them to be accidentally caught on hooks, or entangled in nets. For small-scale low impact fishers, such incidental by-catches of seabirds represent a potential danger to life and limb. For this reason, LIFE and BirdLife are jointly asking the MEPs of the European Parliament to tackle the problem with appropriate management measures within the framework of the Technical Measures 2016/0074 (COD) Regulation.

Access the official letter to MEPs by clicking here

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Notizie dal Ponte – settembre 2017

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NOTIZIE DAL PONTE

La newsletter mensile dei piccoli pescatori europei

La newsletter di settembre 2017 include:

  • LIFE partecipa alla creazione del nuovo Gruppo di Lavoro sulla piccola pesca creato della CGPM
  • I piccoli pescatori che lavorano nella zona sud del Mare del Nord preoccupati dall’impatto della pesca ad impulsi elettrici
  • Altre notizie dall’Europa
  • Novità dai nostri membri

Clicca qui per scaricare la newsletter di settembre 2017

trainee

Recruiting a Trainee Office Manager

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Trainee Office Manager

 

 LIFE is seeking an enthusiastic trainee for its European office in Brussels.

 

The Low Impact Fishers of Europe (LIFE) is a European umbrella organisation, established to represent the interests of the small-scale, low impact commercial fishers who fish in the coastal waters of Europe. Its mission is to achieve conditions in which fishing is performed in a sustainable manner and small-scale, low impact fishermen and women in Europe can maximise their social and economic viability. More information can be found on our website www.lifeplatform.eu .

MAIN AREAS OF RESPONSIBILITY

  1. ADMINISTRATION/SECRETARIAL

(a) Manage the day to day operation of the LIFE’s Brussels office

(b) Track and manage incoming and outgoing correspondence and circulate appropriately

(c) Act as a first point of contact for telephone calls

(e) Make necessary travel arrangements; arrange trains, flights, hotel and venues bookings as required

(g) In liaison with the Finance Manager process orders and invoices, maintain records of expenditure and monitor budgets

(h) Manage and monitor the annual organisation planning and reporting timetable.

(i) Maintain filing systems and records for all documents – including managing HR files and contacts with Belgian social security services

 

  1. MEETINGS and EVENTS

(a) Organise meetings by preparing and circulating agendas & documentation, in particular, for LIFE Board meetings and Annual General Assembly

(b) Take responsibility for meeting logistics, interpretation and equipment

(c) Take minutes of meetings as required, arrange translations of all papers as necessary and; track action points

 

 

PERSON SPECIFICATION

Listed below are the requirements needed to undertake this job. Selection of candidates will be based on the extent to which these requirements are met.

Administration/Secretarial

  • Proven experience in a related role
  • Experience of working with minimal supervision in a fast-paced environment
  • Experience of and familiarity with Microsoft Office software (Word, Excel, Outlook, Powerpoint) packages and video conferencing systems
  • Experience of administering meetings, including minute taking
  • Experience working with a similar organisation

Logistics

  • Ability to organize conferences, meetings (travel, accommodation, venue, catering, etc)

Communication

  • A high standard of written and oral communication skills
  • Fluency in English and French (both written and verbal)
  • Fluent in at least one Northern or Eastern Mediterranean language

Personal Qualities

  • A high degree of motivation and professionalism
  • Excellent inter-personal skills
  • Respect for confidentiality at all times
  • Ability to develop effective working relationships at all levels
  • Ability to work unsupervised and with a high level of initiative
  • Proactive, creative and flexible in finding solutions to problems
  • Ability to remain calm and deliver to tight deadlines under pressure
  • Takes in information and learns new skills quickly

Flexibility and reliability

  • Willingness to work unsocial hours if required
  • Willingness to travel within Europe if required

Based in Brussels, eligible to work under Belgian law and immediately available

This is initially a 6 months contract under Belgian “Convention d’Immersion Professionnelle”  with a monthly remuneration of € 781,30. If you are interested, please send a CV + Cover letter in English to recruitment@lifeplatform.eu . Deadline for applications is Friday 3/11, interviews will take place in Brussels mid-November with a view to start as soon as possible after that. Due to the high number of applications, only short-listed candidates will be contacted for interviews.

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LIFE calls for inclusive Blue Growth

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LIFE calls for inclusive Blue Growth at the Our Ocean Conference

 

Brussels, 16th of October 2017

Brian O’Riordan, Deputy Director of the Low Impact Fishers of Europe (LIFE) welcomed the FAO initiative on Blue Growth, that put small scale fisheries at its centre. This contrasted with the approach taken by the European Commission that differentiated between the Blue Economy, which included all elements of the marine economy, and Blue Growth. The latter focussed on cherry picked economic sectors considered to have potential for growth, excluding those considered to have limited potential. He felt that in shaping Blue Growth strategies, greater emphasis needed to be put on sustainable development of the Blue Economy, built as it was on three pillars of sustainable development; economic, environmental and social. The Blue Economy should work for all maritime sectors, not just a few.

Over the last 35 years, small-scale fisheries have been overlooked by the European Commission, and excluded from policy making processes in Europe. In effect, the small-scale sector – using vessels under 12 metres and non-towed gears – has become a “forgotten fleet”. The opportunities presented by the “Green Paper process” in 2009 to review Europe’s Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) prompted a group of fishers to launch LIFE in 2012 on the eve of a new CFP.

In Europe, analysis by the Scientific, Technical, and Economic Committee on Fisheries (STECF), an official advisory body of the European Commission, highlights that Europe’s small scale fishing fleet accounts for 82% of the overall fleet by numbers, and 74% of the active vessels , some 8% of the gross registered tonnage, uses 7% of the fuel, and lands 5% of the catch by weight and 12% by value. This, the majority fleet provides 51% of the employment, and at 65% GVA/revenue, has the highest gross value added as a percentage of revenue (official infographic by the EC: https://ec.europa.eu/fisheries/sites/fisheries/files/docs/publications/2016-small-scale-coastal-fleet_en.pdf ). However, earnings and wages are low, partly because the fleet is unable to access sufficient quota, having to fall back non-quota species.   

It is incoherent that small-scale fisheries, with its inherent potential for added value and increased earnings, and its synergies with tourism, should be excluded from European Blue Growth strategies, whilst aquaculture is included. Over the last 10 years, aquaculture production in Europe has stagnated, showing declines of up to 20%. Yet, it is included as a “growth” sector, and, according to DG Mare Maritime Policy and Blue Economy Director, requires “business certainty, lean administrative procedures and adequate space” to develop.

This recognition that aquaculture requires space to develop, whilst overlooking that with similar dedicated space and policies, small scale fisheries also have significant potential to grow, to provide jobs, and to contribute to local economies is misguided.

Marine Spatial Planning (MSP) is a tool with great potential to secure productive fishing grounds for small scale fishers, and to ensure that other interests competing for ocean space do not encroach in these areas. Around Europe, there are both good and bad examples of MSP being used to favour or discriminate against small scale fisheries. In the case of Malta, there are ambitious plans to establish Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) under the European Natura 2000 scheme. Natura 2000 sites have been identified by scientists within the 3-mile zone, which occupy over 40% of the small-scale fishing grounds. Small-scale fishers have not been consulted about this, and are to be excluded from fishing in these areas. Ironically the areas have been selected because of their “good environmental status”, which would imply that the centuries old fishing activities that have used these grounds are low in impact, and compliment conservation objectives.

Under EU law, these Special Areas of Conservation must address the conservation of species and habitats in conjunction with the social and economic activities in place, including fisheries.

In Catalonia, the government are passing a decree that will make fisheries co-management law, putting fishermen at the centre of governance. This will enable fishers not only to have a say in how fisheries are managed, but to ensure that their voices are heard when it comes to allocating ocean space for other activities.

It is time that decision takers recognize the importance of fishing to local and national economies, and the potential of fishing to provide sustainable jobs, food supplies, and livelihoods, if developed and managed correctly.

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