DECEMBER/JANUARY 2023 l VOL 71 ISSUE 10
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Viewpoint 3 | Insight 12 | New Horizons 14 | Analysis 17 | Fishing Technology 33
WASHINGTON ENDS FISH FARMING The US state of Washington’s public aquatic lands will no longer be home to commercial finfish net pen aquaculture after Commissioner Hilary Franz announced an executive order prohibiting such activities in areas managed by her agency, the Washington State Department of Natural Resources (DNR). “As we’ve seen too clearly here in Washington, there is no way to safely farm finfish in open sea net pens without jeopardising our struggling native salmon…We, as a state, are going to do better by our salmon, by our fishermen, and by our tribes,” Franz said. “Commercial finfish farming is detrimental to salmon, orcas and marine habitat. I’m proud to stand with the rest of the west coast today by saying our waters are far too important to risk for fish farming profits.” Commissioner Franz’s order will align Washington’s net pen salmon aquaculture policy with policies already in place in Alaska, California and Oregon. Franz’s order directs DNR staff to develop
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necessary changes to agency rules, policies, and procedures to prohibit commercial finfish aquaculture on state-owned aquatic lands. The order only applies to commercial net pen finfish aquaculture and does not apply to hatcheries that restorative or boost native stocks. Commercial finfish farming has operated in marine net pens in Puget Sound for more than 40 years, operating on aquatic lands leased from DNR.
ICCAT PROTECTS BLUEFIN The International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) has agreed new sustainable management procedures for bluefin tuna and shortfin mako sharks and better protection for sea turtles. Measures agreed by the EU and the 47
8 The new bluefin tuna management plan has been developed with active engagement of EU scientists and with EU funding
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contracting parties of ICCAT at this year’s annual meeting will see key measures put in place to ensure improved management of its fisheries. After years of research, analysis, modelling and testing, ICCAT said that the newly adopted management procedure for the iconic bluefin tuna will be “more transparent, inclusive and robust”. Based on the recent scientific knowledge of the stock’s reproduction and migration patterns, the new management procedure has been developed with active engagement of EU scientists and with EU funding. It will provide the basis for total allowable catches (TACs) totalling 40,570 tonnes for the eastern stock, with a share of 21,503 tonnes for the EU. The EU also tabled an ambitious proposal for the conservation of South Atlantic shortfin mako to prevent the southern stock from following the same downwards trajectory as the northern stock. A new recommendation for the conservation of sea turtles was also agreed. But no agreement was reached on a recommendation for a new multi-annual conservation and management programme for tropical tunas.
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SPECIAL REPORT
By-product solutions page 21
NEWBUILDS
Artemis arrives in Scotland page 18
AQUACULTURE
Russia puts on a brave face page 36