New Dutch trawler aims to cut fish suffering with electric shocks

DutchNews, November 1, 2019 

Photo:Depositphotos.com 

A new type of trawler fitted with equipment that stuns fish using electric currents when caught joins the Dutch fleet on Friday. 

The UK 205 Spes Nova is the brainchild of the Ekofish Groep and will ‘contribute to efficient fishing with a low ecological footprint,’ company director Jacob Kramer says in the invitation to Friday’s launch ceremony. 

The trawler is 32 metres long and costs €7.5m. Fish are cooled in a water tank, stunned with an electric shock and then stripped for processing automatically. 

Femie Smit of animal rights group Dierenbescherming says she hopes more fishermen will switch to the new vessel on a voluntary basis. 

Mooi dat er weer nieuwe schepen bijkomen op Urk #Moed #Vertrouwen #Visserij #UK205 #LT295 pic.twitter.com/8YYAh9Hmkh

— Albert Hartman (@AlbertVCU) 10 september 2019

Currently fish are left to suffer for minutes, even hours, before they die, but some are processed while still alive, she said. ‘We don’t cut open live chickens to take out the fillets, but we do it to fish,’ she said. ‘This apparatus stops that, so make use of it.’ 

The boat’s owner Louwe de Boer told local broadcaster Omroep Flevoland he believed that this sort of equipment ‘is the future’ and will become law within a few years. 

The trawler was built by Damen Maaskant Shipyards.

As expected, European parliament votes to ban pulse fishing

DutchNews, April 16, 2019

A pulse fishing net. Photo: Ecomare/Pam Lindeboom via Wikimedia Commons

The European parliament on Tuesday voted to ban pulse fishing in a move that will see most of the Dutch trawler fleet losing its licence to use this form of fishing in June. 

A small group will be able to continue for two more years, but that may be no more than 15 trawlers, broadcaster NOS said. 

The vote was not unexpected and MEPs voted in favour of a ban last year. Tuesday’s vote follows consultations with the European Commission and member states. 

Dutch fishermen have invested millions of euros in specialized equipment since the ban on pulse fishing was lifted several years ago under a scheme to allow research into ‘innovative methods’. Some 40% of the Dutch fleet now uses the system. 

Pulse fishing involves sending a current of electricity through sections of the sea bed, partially stunning sole and plaice and forcing some into the net. 

Its supporters say pulse fishing is less destructive than beam trawling, which involves dragging a heavy metal bar across the sea bed. Opponents say it is a cruel and unnecessary method of fishing and is depleting fish stocks.

Dutch trawler industry furious as Brussels votes to ban pulse fishing

DutchNews, February 14, 2019

A pulse fishing net. Photo: Ecomare/Pam Lindeboom via Wikimedia Commons

Dutch fishermen have reacted furiously to Brussels’ decision to phase out pulse fishing, a form of trawling using electric currents. 

‘Lies and emotion have beaten science,’ fishermen’s organisations said after the vote. ‘The European Council, the European Commission and the European parliament have been misled by the lies and emotional campaign fought by French environmental organisation Bloom.’ 

In total, 42 Dutch trawlers will have to stop pulse fishing this year and 42 can continue until 2021. The agreement also states that six trawlers can continue to use the technique for research purposes. 

Dutch farm minister Carola Schouten said the compromise was ‘the best’ that could be won in the negotiations. It is, she said, a dark day for the Dutch fishing industry which had been banned from a ‘sustainable and innovative’ way of fishing. 

The financial damage to the Dutch fishing sector could be as high as €200m, the fishing organisations said. 

Research 

Dutch fishermen have invested millions of euros in specialized equipment since the ban on pulse fishing was lifted several years ago under a scheme to allow research into ‘innovative methods’. Some 40% of the Dutch fleet now uses the system. 

Pulse fishing involves sending a current of electricity through sections of the sea bed, partially stunning sole and plaice and forcing some into the net. 

Its supporters say pulse fishing is less destructive than beam trawling, which involves dragging a heavy metal bar across the sea bed. Opponents say it is a cruel and unnecessary method of fishing and is depleting fish stocks.

How electric pulse fishing works, with past EU legislation and complaint by French NGO pic.twitter.com/ueCpz6YvIj

— AFP news agency (@AFP) February 16, 2019

Dozens dead after fishing trawler sinks off Russia's far east

At least 56 people have died and 13 are missing after a fishing trawler sank in the Western Pacific Ocean off Russia's east coast. More than sixty have been rescued from the freezing waters.

Deutsche Welle, 2 April 2015

Representative photo of a fishing trawler

At least 56 people died when a Russian fishing vessel went down late on Wednesday in the Western Pacific Ocean in the Sea of Okhotsk near the Kamchatka Peninsula.

There were 132 crew on board the Dalniy Vostok trawler, according to Russia's state-run TASS news agency and 63 have been rescued from the freezing waters, says a maritime rescue coordination center in the area.

The vessel is reported to have sunk quickly after its engine room was flooded. "The ship did not send a distress signal," according to an official at the rescue center. One of the possible causes of the sinking may have been an extreme impact of ice on its hull.

Survivors have been taken to medical centers in Magadan, on Russia's main coast, by helicopter.

According to preliminary data, 78 of the ship's crew members were Russian while 54 were from Myanmar, Ukraine, Lithuania and Vanuatu. The Dalniy Vostok is assigned to the port of Nevelsk and reportedly belongs to a company called Magellan.

The 103-meter-long and 16-meter-wide refrigerated trawler Dalniy Vostok was designed to process, refrigerate and deliver fish to the nearest port.

The trawler was built in 1989 in Ukraine and until 2014 operated in the Baltic Sea off Riga, Latvia, under the name 'Stende.' Last year, it was acquired by Magellan and transferred to Russia's far east where it was renamed and assigned to a new port.

jm/gsw (AFP, Reuters, dpa)

EU bans sea bass trawling to save species

Yahoo – AFP,  19 Jan 2015

Pelagic trawling of sea bass in European waters will be banned during
spawning season which runs until the end of April (AFP)

The EU said Monday it will ban open water trawling of sea bass during the spawning season through April in order to ensure the stock's survival.

The European Commission, the EU executive arm, said it is working with Britain, France, Belgium and the Netherlands to implement the ban which should take effect at the end of January.

"Emergency measures will be implemented to ban pelagic trawling of sea bass during spawning season which runs until the end of April," it said in a statement.

It said pelagic, or open sea, trawlers operating during spawning season "make up 25 percent of the impact on the stock" when the stock is at "its most vulnerable."

The European Union said it had resorted to its right to impose emergency measures to protect threatened species after member states failed to agree to act on warnings from experts.

The commission said it is also working with the countries involved on measures alongside the ban, such as managing recreational fishing and limiting catches of all other commercial fisheries.

The International Council for the Exploration of the Sea recommended for 2015 an 80 percent decrease in catches in the English Channel and the North Sea.

French fisherman account for 70 percent of the haul.

Uphill battle to tackle Indonesian shark fishing

Yahoo – AFP, Olivia Rondonuwu, 17 Dec 2014

A man removes the fins from sharks at a traditional market in Tanjung Luar in

Lombok, West Nusa Teggara, November 9, 2014 (AFP Photo/Sonny Tumbelaka)

Tanjung Luar (Indonesia) (AFP) - Sharks are hauled ashore every day at a busy market on the central Indonesian island of Lombok, the hub of a booming trade that provides a livelihood for local fishermen but is increasingly alarming environmentalists.

Now a Singaporean is luring the fishermen away from Tanjung Luar market, where an array of other sea creatures including manta rays and moray eels are also sold, by offering them jobs as local guides for the growing number of tourists visiting the island.

"The whole dream is that there's enough tourists coming, not on a daily basis because the corals would be affected, but maybe on a weekly basis," said Kathy Xu, a former teacher who gave up her job to focus on the project.

Vendors sell freshly caught sharks at a

 traditional market in Tanjung Luar in Lombok,

 West Nusa Teggara, November 9, 2014

(AFP Photo/Sonny Tumbelaka)

"Hopefully I can engage more fishermen to do this."

But Xu recognises that she faces an uphill battle to tackle a lucrative industry, which is fuelled by demand for fins, particularly from China, and has transformed the vast Indonesian archipelago into the world's biggest shark fishery.

On a recent visit by AFP to Tanjung Luar, 10 sharks were laid out on the dirty tiled floor before being auctioned off, but an environmental group said on a busy day up to 300 are brought to the market.

"Sometimes there are so many sharks we can't fit them all in here," Ismail, a businessmen who finances local shark fishermen and goes by one name, told AFP.

So far Xu has persuaded a handful of fishermen to work with tourists, mostly from Singapore, taking them snorkelling on beautiful coral reefs and to secluded white-sand beaches, on average twice a month.

She also takes visitors to the market to raise awareness about the impact of shark-fishing in Indonesia, where 110,000 tonnes are caught a year, according to the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization.

During a recent tour, 25 Singaporean students aged 13 to 15 watched women transfer fish from colourful baskets into buckets, workers sharpen their machetes and porters haul sharks hung over their shoulders.

“Normally you find out these problems from picture books, saying killing sharks for their fins is bad, but they don't really go further than that and you don’t really think about it anyway,” said 14-year-old Ray Chua.

World's biggest shark fishery

A man cuts off the fins of a shark at a

 traditional market in Tanjung Luar in

Lombok, West Nusa Teggara, November

9, 2014 (AFP Photo/Sonny Tumbelaka)

Despite Xu's efforts, hunting sharks remains a better option for many local fishermen.

"We get much more money from hunting sharks than taking tourists to swim. On a lucky day, I can get 10 times more for catching sharks," said Sulaiman, who goes by one name.

While the fins are sold on to China and other countries where they are considered a delicacy, the rest of the shark is sliced up and its meat and skin made into meatball soup and snacks that have become part of the local diet.

There has even been a recent trend towards eating shark pups, which are being sold in major grocery chains on the main island of Java, said shark protection campaigner Riyanni Djangkaru.

Conservationists have long been raising the alarm about shark-fishing in Indonesia, and point to signs that populations have been declining around Tanjung Luar and across the whole archipelago, which consists of over 17,000 islands.

The Lombok market is one of the few where sharks are openly landed. In other parts of country, fishermen hunt sharks in the open sea, slicing off their fins and dumping them back in the water to die.

Sharks for sale at a traditional market in

 Tanjung Luar in Lombok, West Nusa

 Teggara, November 9, 2014 (AFP Photo/

Sonny Tumbelaka)

However, protection groups point out that careless fishing by tuna trawlers is the biggest killer of sharks.

Far more of the creatures die when they are accidentally caught in trawlers' nets in places such as Bali, central Sulawesi island and in the south of Java, than by fishing, they say.

They say the responsibility to protect the creatures should lie with the government. Only one species of shark, the whale shark, currently enjoys full protection in Indonesia and the few regulations that exist are not properly enforced, they say.

At the moment, it is left to conservationists and others such as Xu to help the world's oldest predator. And while she recognises that her effort alone will not be enough, the Singaporean is happy to do what she can.

"The more I dived the more I got to see the sharks and they just grew on me," she said. "It is just too beautiful, and I don't want my grandchildren to not get this experience."

Seized Russian trawler leaves Senegal after $1 mn payment

Google – AFP, 23 January 2014

The Russian trawler 'Oleg Naïdenov'is moored in Dakar on January 5, 2014

(AFP/File, Seyllou)

Dakar — A Russian trawler impounded by Senegal which accused it of illegal fishing has left the port of Dakar following an agreement by Moscow to pay $1 million, a military source said Thursday.

The Senegalese navy official in charge of monitoring the ship -- impounded in the capital for almost three weeks -- told AFP the Oleg Naydenov "left the port of Dakar yesterday evening, it is no longer here".

The ship's release follows an announcement by Russia's fishing authority that it would pay the $1 million (750,000-euro) "deposit", while Senegal referred to it as a fine.

Senegal impounded the Oleg Naydenov on January 4 after accusing it of fishing without a permit in its waters, causing an uproar in the Russian press.

Senegalese Fisheries Minister Haidar El-Ali said on Wednesday he had agreed to the payment because going to court "would take a lot of time and the outcome would not be guaranteed".

El-Ali, a renowned environmentalist turned minister who has long fought for the west African nation's waters, said on Wednesday: "Senegal has shown its determination to manage its fishing resources well."

After he became fisheries minister in 2012, El-Ali cancelled the licences of more than 20 foreign trawlers amid growing resentment among locals whose 30-foot canoes could not compete with a heavily subsidised European Union fleet of 10,000-tonne factory ships.

But non-EU trawlers are continuing to overfish the coastline, and families are finding it increasingly difficult to source the main ingredient for Senegal's national dish, a fish and rice meal known as tieboudienne.

Related Articles:

Senegal Seizes Russian Trawler Fishing 'Illegally'

Russia accuses Greenpeace of encouraging Senegal to seize trawler

Fishermen Slam Trawling Resumption

Arti Ekawati, The Jakarta Globe, January 8, 2009

 

The government’s decision to lift a ban on trawling by commercial fishing vessels will further deplete the country’s fish resources and hurt the thousands of traditional, small-scale fishermen who depend on the sea for a living, said an organization representing the workers.

 

Riza Damanik, the general secretary of the People’s Coalition for Justice in Fishing, or Kiara, said on Wednesday that the decision by the Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries to once again allow the use of trawl nets in designated areas was a retrograde step for the industry. Instead of stimulating economic growth, he said, the legalization of trawling could reduce the incomes of fishermen by up to 60 percent.

 

He said the economic circumstances of traditional fishermen were worrisome. According to ministry figures, fishermen earned an average of Rp 519,000 ($48.27) per month in 2008. Meanwhile, more than 70 percent of the national fish catch was landed by small-scale fishermen using boats weighing less than three gross tons.

 

“It is completely unacceptable for the government to permit trawling again, even if it is to be confined to designated areas,” Riza said.

 

The use of trawl nets in Indonesian waters was prohibited by a 1980 presidential decree. However, the maritime affairs and fisheries minister issued a regulation in April authorizing the granting of permits for the use of trawl nets.

 

According to the regulation, trawling will only be allowed in designated areas off East Kalimantan Province, with all of the waters involved being within the maritime boundaries of Nunukan, Bulungan, Nunukan, Tana Tidung, and Kota Tarakan districts.

 

The use of trawl nets is frequently criticized by environmentalists because of the damage they cause to the sea floor and the fact that they snare both marketable and non-marketable fish, with the latter being dumped. The practice can also lead to overfishing.

 

Damanik argued that the minister had no power to overrule the presidential decree, which has been on the statute books for more than 20 years.

 

Originally, the ministerial regulation was due to come into effect on Jan. 1, but this has been pushed back as the ministry is still working on quotas for the number of vessels that will be allowed to use trawl nets.

 

Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Minister Freddy Numberi said trawling would only be allowed in waters off East Kalimantan. He said a licensing system was needed to counter illegal fishing in Indonesian waters by large Malaysian vessels.

 

“The Malaysian vessels have an advantage in fishing our waters off East Kalimantan because they are equipped with trawl nets for deep-sea fishing. By contrast, our vessels aren’t equipped with these nets as our regulations prohibit trawling,” Numberi said.

 

Due to this situation, he said, the ministry had decided to issue trawling licenses to help boost the earnings of local fishermen.

 

Numberi said the issuing of trawling licenses also had a bearing on national territory. “The more Indonesian vessels there are in one area, the clearer it will be that it is our territory. So the Malaysians won’t be so easily able to exploit it,” he said.

According to ministry figures, the traditional fisheries sector landed 5.17 million tons of fish in 2008, worth Rp 43.9 trillion, compared with 5.04 tons the year before.

 

Three fishing boats seized in conflict

PEKANBARU, Riau (Jakarta Post) : A long-running conflict between two groups of fishermen in Bengkalis regency, Riau, has led to the illegal seizure of three fishing boats and the detention of eight crew members.

The two groups of fishermen have for the last 10 years been involved in a quarrel over the use of trawling nets. During an incident two years ago three boats were set on fire.

This latest episode began Monday when the eight fishermen were seized by traditional fishermen in Teluk Tambang village.

The conflict centers on a policy issued by the Bengkalis Fishery Office, which allows the use of trawling nets four miles from the coastline.

Nets are not allowed within four miles of the coast because of the damage they can cause marine life.

Owners of the trawling nets, however, frequently ignore the ruling, and traditional fishermen blame them for destroying their fishing grounds near the coast.

A group of traditional fishermen captured seized the three fishing boats and detained the eight crew members on Monday. As of Tuesday, police were continuing to negotiate for the release of the detained fishermen.

RI forms new courts to fight illegal fishing

Apriadi Gunawan, The Jakarta Post, Medan

The government has established fishery courts in Jakarta, North Sumatra, West Kalimantan, North Sulawesi and Maluku.

The five fishery courts will make use of a number of court rooms in the district courts in North Jakarta, Medan, Pontianak, Bitung and Tual, the regency capital of Southeast Maluku, Maluku, until their official buildings are completed.

The fishery courts, which are based on Article 71 of the 2004 Fishery law, will be led by a team of judges, comprising of a presiding judge and two ad hoc justices.

Prosecutions will be carried out by prosecutors who have been trained in the field of fishery.

Twenty-eight ad hoc justices will be tasked to hear fishery cases, along with 90 prosecutors.

Supreme Court Chief Justice Bagir Manan said while officially launching the courts at Medan District Court in North Sumatra earlier this month that they were set up based on several considerations, including economic factors.

He said the country lost trillions of rupiah each year due to illegal fishing in Indonesian waters.

The country, he said, seemed helpless in facing foreign trawlers which were apparently "free to roam and steal marine riches".

"We will drag the foreign fishermen involved in illegal fishing to the fishery courts. I'm positive the courts will be able to uphold the country's sea sovereignty," said Bagir in his speech at Medan District Court.

He said he would not turn a blind eye to district court rulings that handed down lenient sentences or pardoned the accused.

Bagir said the presence of five fishery courts in five provinces was a novelty in the country, while Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Minister Freddy Numberi said it was possibly a world first.

Bagir said the country has set up special trade, human rights, corruption and industrial relations courts, while an environmental court and an agriculture court are still in the planning stages.

Freddy said the ministry looked forward to assisting the court in resolving widespread illegal fishing by foreign vessels.

"We actually want every foreign fishing vessel caught operating illegally within our waters to be immediately sunk without going to trial, so as to deter them.

"But, as the law prohibits that, we hope every illegal fishing case committed by foreigners can be handled promptly by the courts, so we can make use of their vessels for training at fishery schools across the country," said Freddy.

He said his office was still examining around 1,600 fishing boats it had seized recently, 100 of which were foreign vessels.

"The state incurs losses to the tune of Rp 30 trillion every year. This is an extraordinary figure, so that's why we should protect our seas from acts of illegal fishing, and one way is through the fishery court," Freddy told The Jakarta Post.

One thousand Bangladeshi fishermen missing in storm

Barguna, Bangladesh (ANTARA News) - About 1,000 fishermen along with nearly 100 trawlers went missing in the high waves of the Bay of Bengal, a local official said Saturday in the fishing port Barguna in southern Bangladesh.

Local administrator Selim Khan said the missing fishermen were caught in an unexpected storm which whipped up high walls of water in the bay early Friday.

Khan said hundreds of fishermen went to the bay at the advent of the autumn fishing season.

"There were about 1,200 fishermen on the missing trawlers," Golam Mustafa Chowdhury of the Barguna Fishing Trawlers` Association said.

Survivors said several trawlers were damaged by the tropical squalls.

A rescue operation has been mounted by coast guards and fire brigade divers, DPA reported.