LIFE Platform

Aalborg, 4 June 2024 – LIFE is enthusiastic to be part of a consortium of 16 partners from across the European Union, Norway and Thailand who joined in Aalborg, Denmark, to officially launch the Seaglow Project and accelerate the transition of the fishing sector towards renewable and low-carbon energy sources. The initiative, led by NorthDenmark EU-Office, aims to demonstrate that when using the right combination of technologies, small-scale fisheries can reduce their dependency on fossil fuels and positively contribute to restoring marine ecosystems and improving fishing communities’ well-being.

The SEAGLOW consortium will design, construct, and operate five technology pilots, including the replacement of conventional diesel engines, on four vessels in Denmark, Estonia, Norway, and Sweden. Researchers and fishers will then conduct tests in real-life conditions during operations covering at least two fishing seasons, which is rarely done due to the complexity of the task. “We are very excited to kick off this ambitious project”, – states Hanne Bregendahl Pihl, Head of Unit of NorthDenmark EU-Office – “it is a unique opportunity to test and demonstrate some of the available green transition solutions on the market and showcase the impact of these on real, active fishing boats across the Baltic and North Sea. Seaglow has received very high evaluations from the European Commission and encompasses a consortium with a high political reach, which provides optimum conditions for providing feedback on what works in practice, what are the challenges the fishermen are experiencing when engaging in the green transition and what needs to be changed or adapted in future regulations, funding programs and setups.”

LIFE will be involved in several project activities, ranging from communication tasks to producing policy recommendations. Cleaner energy sources are a top priority on the European agenda, with the indicative target for the fishing sector to reduce fossil fuel intensity (in litres per kg of landed product) by >15 % from 2019 to 2030, with the ultimate goal being CO2 neutrality by 2050. Thanks to the Seaglow Project, the small-scale fishing sector will take significant steps forward in overcoming the regulatory and technical challenges of switching to the use of cleaner energy sources and reducing dependency on fossil fuels.

*Cover photo: Partners part of the Seaglow Project (Photo by courtesy of the Seaglow Project).

*Photo: LIFE staff during the kick-off meeting held in Aalborg, Denmark

*Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency (CINEA). Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.

On 24 April 2024, Muireann Kavanagh travelled to Strasbourg with her father Neily Kavanagh for a series of meetings facilitated by Sinn Féin MEP Chris MacManus.   She highlighted the impact of the recent closure of the line-caught pollack fishery on the island and other communities.

Access the PR by IIMRO and LIFE in English here

Accédez au communiqué de presse de IIMRO et de LIFE en français ici.

PRESS RELEASE
April 5 2024

The group made up of the Syndicat des Petits Métiers d’Occitanie, the Plateforme de la petite pêche artisanale, the Low Impact Fishers of Europe (LIFE), the Comité départemental des pêches du VAR and the Prud’homie des pêcheurs de la Ciotat (Bouches du Rhône) has applauded the decision on 28 March by the Administrative Court of Appeal (ACA) in Toulouse to uphold the annulment of a ministerial order setting out the arrangements for allocating the bluefin tuna quota granted to France for 2017. More than 7 years after going to court to challenge the legality of the allocation of  bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnus) quota, the group has not waited in vain. 

After an initial ruling in its favour in June 2021, followed by the appeal lodged by the State in September 2021, this result raises the hopes of many small-scale fishers who face an unbearable situation in terms of the distribution of fishing quotas. Large vessels often monopolise quotas, leaving small-scale fishers with little or nothing.

The ACA simply confirmed the Montpellier Court’s 2021 ruling: Article L. 921-2 of the French Rural and Maritime Fishing Code lacks a legal basis. It governs the allocation of fishing opportunities based on three criteria, namely producers’ track record, market trends and economic balance, ignoring the integration of the environmental criterion into national texts required by European regulations and specifically art. 17 of the Common Fisheries Policy, which states that “Member States shall use transparent and objective criteria, including environmental, social and economic criteria. 

The case of bluefin tuna is particularly emblematic of this unfair situation, with a national quota of nearly 7,000 tonnes almost entirely redistributed to Mediterranean industrial fishing for export.

Thanks to major management efforts, the bluefin tuna stock has been recovering over the past 10 years, and we can only congratulate ourselves on its good state today. This positive trend has led to an increase in the French quota from 3,226 tonnes in 2017 to 6,693 tonnes in 2024. However, its internal distribution is still very unbalanced between industrial and small-scale fisheries in the Mediterranean and the Atlantic.

The group hopes that this legal breakthrough regarding access to resources will have a tangible impact on the ground for the hundreds of fishers fighting for survival.

Read the full judgment in French: https://toulouse.cour-administrative-appel.fr/decisions-de-justice/dernieres-decisions/l-attribution-des-sous-quotas-de-peche-de-thon-rouge-en-zone-ocean-atlantique-et-mediterranee-doit-integrer-un-critere-environnemental

Contact: communications@lifeplatform.eu

Photo: Peix Nostrum

• First of all, Welcome to LIFE! We are thrilled to welcome your organisation as a new member of the LIFE platform. Could you tell us a bit about yourself, your organisation, and the area you fish in? 

My name is Evelina, I’m the project manager of the organisation “European Association of Fishermen in the Black Sea”, which includes fishers from Romania and Bulgaria. Since November 2017, we have been members of the Black Sea Fishermen’s Advisory Council, as an integral and essential part of the process of building future policies not only at a local, but also at the EU level. Since 2020 we are also members of National Fishers Net in Bulgaria. Our members work in the Black Sea, Dunay river (Northern border between Bulgaria and Romania) and all internal rivers and lakes.

• Since when has this organisation existed? How many fishers does your association represent and in which area do you fish? 

The organisation was registered in March 2016 and we now have 103 members (commercial coastal and inland fishing) with 46 boats.

• Small scale fishers use a wide range of fish gear, adapting to the species and the seasons. Could you tell us what kind of fishing gear the fishers in your community use? How big are your boats and which are your target species?

Our fishers use different fishing gear depending on the season and type of fish they look for. These include Hooks & Lines; Traps; Gillnets and Entangling Nets. The boats used are up to 12m and the main species are Mullet, Sprat, Round Goby, Black Sea shad, Bluefish, Horse Mackerel, Red Mullet, Atlantic Bonito, Black Sea Anchovy, Turbot, Garfish, Black Sea Barbed Shark, Gurnard, Lemon Sole and Plaice. 

• The Black Sea region is quite a new area for LIFE. Could you tell us more about the region and how the war between Russia and Ukraine might be affecting the SSF’s work? 

The Black Sea is located in an area with geographical coordinates 40°55.5′N and 46°32.5′N and 27°27′E and 41°42′E. In its northern part, through the Kerch Strait, it is connected to the Sea of ​​Azov, and to the south, through the Bosphorus and Dardanelles Straits, to the Sea of ​​Marmara and the Aegean Sea. Its total area is about 423 thousand km2, and together with the area of ​​the Sea of ​​Azov it reaches 460 thousand km2. 

Regarding the war, sea mines are our biggest direct threat in the Black Sea due to Russia’s war against Ukraine. At the beginning of the war in 2022, the explosive devices that surfaced in the water area and on the coasts of Romania, Bulgaria and Turkey were not activated, but in recent months incidents have become more frequent, in which civilian vessels have been damaged. Attacks on tankers in the Black Sea have also been accompanied by oil spills with significant environmental damage for all coastal states affecting our fisheries. 

• The main mission of LIFE is to provide a voice for the sector at the European and institutional levels, but also to support fishers with overcoming their challenges on the ground. Could you tell us more about the main concerns of the fishers in your region? What are the current battles your community is engaged in? 

Our battles are probably similar to many other fishing organisations in other regions. Generational renewal and maintaining an economically sustainable fleet is our main concern. Some areas of work that we have been involved in through our organisation include providing information regarding funding available for fishers and key updates in legislation concerning them. We also work with the local authorities and schools to promote small-scale fisheries and the economic opportunities they provide for the development of small settlements. We have also organised thematic events to promote fisheries and involved stakeholders from other industries such as ecological tourism. 

Our main current focus is to attract more active young people and organisations as members of the association. We need to promote our activity at all administrative levels. We are also trying to work closely with the tourism industry to promote local catches in restaurants and communicate the value of our local SSF fishing fleet. We would also like to attract more women in our initiatives and finally increase the confidence of small-scale fishermen in government institutions. 

• Finally, could you tell us more about your motivations to become a member of LIFE? And what do you expect from being a member of LIFE?

We would like to work together with similar organisations and learn from their experience. It was very useful for our members to visit the East Hastings Sea Angling Association in Hastings and Eastborn in the UK a few years ago for example, and learn from their experience. We were particularly impressed by the social measures that are in place to help elderly fishermen and their families and their selling scheme of their catches. 

We’d like LIFE to help us with useful tips on how to better regulate the quotas and minimum sizes of catches and also support fishermen in giving value to their catches. We’d also look forward to having the opportunity to develop projects and partnerships with other mediterranean and Black Sea countries.