|
----------------------------------------
Back
to top
----------------------------------------
10)
Australian oyster tray to make shellfish meatier
Aquaculture scientists in Australia have developed an
oyster tray from a polymer that can prevent the growth of
organisms that interfere with the shellfish's food supply.
The rearing tray - designed by a team from Australia’s
leading scientific establishment, the CSIRO, and the
Co-Operative Research Centre for Aquaculture - breeds
higher-grade, meatier oysters, because the young, growing
oyster is not obstructed from the free flow of
nutrient-rich seawater it feeds on.
The polymer contains slow-release, harmless biodegradable
anti-fouling chemicals within its molecular structure,
which are slowly released over time. The anti-fouling
chemicals are environmentally safe organic compounds that
degrade in seawater in hours.
27 Jun
2003 Source: Matthew Brace
----------------------------------------
Back
to top
----------------------------------------
2
Boat people to be questioned
More than 50 Vietnamese boat people will be questioned on Christmas Island
this week about why they had come to Australia.
The government expects processing the Vietnamese who arrived on the West
Australian coast in a fishing boat last week could take 18 weeks.
The Australian Democrats questioned the suitability of the detention camp
on the island which was erected during the Tampa crisis in 2001.
"The only open space is a large dirt patch with a concrete path running
through it and then open air eating facilities that are covered,"
Democrats Leader Andrew Bartlett told ABC television.
Opposition Treasury spokesman Mark Latham described applying the Pacific
Solution to the new arrivals after they had effectively reached Australia
as a waste of money.
"It's a very expensive exercise, it's an example of waste and
mismanagement," he said.
The 53 Vietnamese arrived at the camp after being shipped aboard the
frigate HMAS Canberra 1,800km from the Australian coast.
Christmas Island Shire president Gordon Thomson said he had no doubt the
intention was to make them as inaccessible as possible from advocacy
groups.
Monday 7 July 2003, 6:05 AM
----------------------------------------
Back
to top
----------------------------------------
4
Ruling
clears way for $15m case against Amaltal
Nelson fishing company Amaltal failed in a
bid in the High Court at Auckland to knock out a $15 million action by a
former partner alleging fraud.
Japan's Maruha claims to have been duped by Amaltal over fishing quota and
tax savings when the pair were partners in a joint venture from 1985 to
1991.
In a judgment delivered last Friday, Justice Rodney Hansen refused
Amaltal's application for a summary judgment against Maruha and also an
alternative application by Amaltal to strike out parts of Maruha's
statement of claim.
The decision clears the way for the case to go to trial.
The joint venture was called Amaltal Taiyo Fishery Company.
Maruha put in the deepsea trawlers and technology, Amaltal the fishing
licences and quota.
The Japanese company says it learned in 2000 that Amaltal had benefited
from a hoki quota mix-up in 1986, where the Ministry of Agriculture and
Fisheries allocated 3000 tonnes to the joint venture and 7000 tonnes to
Amaltal despite intending the reverse.
03.07.2003 By
PAUL PANCKHURST
5
Rescue ship hits fishing
boat
A SEARCH and rescue ship looking for six missing sailors from a fishing
boat that sank four days ago was engaged in a second collision in the same
area today, the Japan Coast Guard said.
The 499-tonne Fisheries Agency ship Karashima collided with the
4,000-tonne class South Korean ship Korex Kunsan at 7:37 am (0837 AEST)
off the coast of Fukuoka prefecture, some 850 kilometres west of Tokyo,
the coast guard said.
"A search was being conducted for six people missing from the previous
collision in the area when the second collision occurred," said Tetsuya
Okazaki, a spokesman for the Kitakyushu coast guard branch.
"We are not sure of the weather but we are told that visibility was poor,"
he said.
All 16 crew members of the Karashima were transferred to another fisheries
vessel involved in the search after it began to take on water.
The South Korean ship, believed to be a cargo vessel, was not in immediate
danger, he said.
Japan was searching today for six of the 21 crew members missing from the
fishing boat Koyo-Maru No 18, which sank Wednesday after a collision with
the Panamanian-flagged freighter Heung-A Jupiter in the same area.
Fifteen of the fishing boat's crew had been rescued by other boats, but
one of them died after he was airlifted to a hospital in Fukuoka, the main
city on Kyushu. Two sustained broken bones.
From a corresponent in Tokyo
July 06, 2003
6
Commercial fishermen compete to invent bird-safe gear
Fishermen are coming up with all kinds of ways to reduce unwanted catches
of seabirds. It's a problem that occurs in all oceans, when birds drown
after diving for bait on fish hooks and are pulled under or get tangled in
fishing gear. Catching too many of some seabirds, such as the endangered
short-tailed albatross, can trigger fishery closures. In Alaska, many
longliners must use streamer lines to scare the birds away. Elsewhere,
fishermen are experimenting with blue-dyed bait and placing weights in
lines to make them sink faster.
A global movement gained momentum in November, when a Spanish organization
called SEO Birdlife launched a competition calling for the best ideas to
avoid seabird bycatches. The contest is open only to fishermen, and so far
more than 40 proposals from nine countries have been received. The winner,
who will be announced in Spain in November, receives 18,000 euro, roughly
the same in U.S. dollars.
One contender could be Dave Kellian of New Zealand, who has developed a
machine that sets hooks under water. "It's like a sewing machine except
the needle is 10 meters long. You put the bait at the top of the stroke,
and when it gets to the bottom, it releases the bait before returning to
the top," Kellian, who spent nearly a decade refining his invention, told
the Dominion Post. The toughest challenge was working out how deep the
bait should be released. In tests, he said, birds readily dived to eight
meters -- 26 feet -- "but at 10 meters they didn't even bother trying."
Further trials were under way and if they are successful, the machines
will be ready soon for commercial manufacture.
Longliners aren't the only ones plagued by unwanted sea bird catches. More
recently, trawlers are encountering problems when birds interact with
"third wires," an electronic conduit between the sonar device that is
built into the net and the wheelhouse. "It's a way of monitoring how the
catch is entering the net and how the net is performing under water," said
Bill Wilson, protected resources coordinator for the North Pacific Fishery
Management Council.
The third trawl wire is invisible to seabirds, and it can cause them to be
injured or killed. "Some birds hit the wire and break a wing. Or as the
trawl is moving through the water, birds may be overtaken by it and can't
get away," Wilson explained.
Wilson said the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will issue a biological
opinion next month on endangered seabirds taken by trawl gear. It will
include a statement that the trawl fleet is allowed to take two
short-tailed albatrosses through the end of 2006. That's two birds for the
entire fleet for that entire period throughout the Bering Sea and Gulf of
Alaska, Wilson said. He added that if a third albatross is taken, there
will be "an immediate reconsultation with managing agencies to decide what
to do."
Meanwhile, the industry is working hard to come up with creative
solutions. "Some ideas include rerouting the third wire from the gantry
down to the stern of the vessel and getting it to go underwater
immediately or hanging streamers, plastic slinkies or a float that
chatters along the water and creates a disturbance," Wilson said.
Powerful brand. Alaska is the third most recognized brand on the nation's
menus, according to the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute. It falls
behind Black Angus beef and Oreo cookie ice cream, and ahead of Idaho
potatoes and Washington apples, the marketing agency said its research
shows. Another finding: 70 percent of America's seafood is eaten in
restaurants.
Laine Welch is a Kodiak-based fisheries journalist. She produces Alaska
Public Radio Network's fisheries report. Her column appears Saturdays.
LAINE WELCH
FISHERIES (Published: June 28, 2003)
----------------------------------------
Back
to top
----------------------------------------
11) Monkfish
Management Must Change, Says Smith
[ AQUACULTURE:
Shetland Mussel Farm Bid
Scuppered As Oil Business Is Set To Revive]
[
Shetland Cannery Is Saved ]
URGENT changes in monkfish management was demanded today
by a fishermen’s leader.
With UK entitlement for this year for the species fast
running out, Scottish
Fishermen’s Federation President Alex Smith said monkfish
assessments are “so out of kilter” with the actual stock.
“The reality is that little or no survey work has been
done on this stock and scientists do not know its size.
“They are basing their assessments on landings but what we
have seen in the last four years is a 72% reduction in
quota.
“We have asked the peer group at the North Sea Commission
to look into this.
“This precautionary TAC situation has been there since day
one and is totally inadequate.”
Meanwhile, Mr Smith hit at continuing delays in releasing
the Scottish Executive’s £10million transitional aid
package.
But there had to be adequate preparation to avoid another
delay in pay-outs once EC state aid approval is fnally
forthcoming.
“A lot of people have already used most of their quota and
the need for this transitional cash will continue until
the end of the year.A lot of skippers I know have already
tied up and borrowed money in the meantime to pay their
crews and costs,but that cash is drying up.”
Published on: July 01,
2003
AQUACULTURE:
Shetland Mussel Farm Bid Scuppered As Oil Business Is Set To Revive
A BID to employ ten people to grow and process shellfish beside Europe's
busiest oil port has been scuppered by the local authority.
And plans to host an international yacht race in two years has put another
shellfish development in Shetland on hold.
Shetland Islands Council's marine development committee has thrown out
applications from Lindsay Laurenson, of Scalloway, to farm mussels at four
separate sites in Yell Sound, opposite Sullom Voe oil terminal - at
Collafirth, Gluss and Queyfirth.
At the moment no application will be considered until the terminal's oil
throughput is less than half its peak levels of a million barrels a day,
and even then no actual farming would be permitted until the terminal
actually closed.
Throughput has yet to decline to that extent, and is likely to increase
again soon. Work started last week on laying a new pipeline to bring the
first oil from the enormous Clair field west of Shetland directly into
Sullom Voe. Imports from the Schiehallion field are also up on
expectations, indicating that aquaculture in the area would appear to be a
long way off.
Councillor Frank Robertson, vice chairman of the committee, said: "Our
policy is clear, but it may be that this applicant thought it was time
that policy was reviewed. He believes that throughput has gone down enough
for us to look at it again, but things are going to start picking up quite
rapidly with the additional oil from Clair."
Published on: July 01, 2003
Shetland Cannery Is Saved
THE future of Shetland's fish cannery, based on the island of Yell, has
been secured in a deal which will see four main shareholders take control.
The new company, to operate under the registered trading name SNPC Ltd,
will be managed by Steady Bergen A/S, Pål Krantz, Kåre Offerdal and Agust
Alfredsson.
SNPC Ltd will be funded with private investment from the new shareholders.
The company has also applied for funding from Shetland Development Trust
and grant and loan assistance from Shetland Enterprise.
The contract to formalise the new arrangement will be in place week
commencing July 14 and when concluded will see Anders Offerdal take over
as acting general manager and Eric Peterson of Lerwick-based solicitors
Tait & Peterson as company secretary. Until then, the factory will be run
by joint receivers from Deloitte & Touche.
Shetland Norse Preserving Company Limited has been in receivership since
13 May 2003.
Mr Krantz said SNPC Ltd will continue its core business of processing and
canning around 400 tonnes of crab each year for existing and new
customers, including John West Foods Ltd.
"John West has continued to buy dressed crab and lobster from the Shetland
cannery over the last few difficult months, and we are grateful for its
full support without which the future of the factory would have been much
more uncertain."
SNPC Ltd will extend into other lines including salmon, mackerel and
herring, to maximise potential of the new canning line which has a ten
million cans annual capacity.
Published on: July 02, 2003
----------------------------------------
Back
to top
----------------------------------------
3)
Suspicious boats
in Australian toothfish waters
Two suspicious vessels have been chased away from protected Australian
waters after a legal toothfish operator sighted one boat fishing,
apparently illegally, just 100 metres outside of local waters. The
incident occurred on Friday afternoon (27 June), after the vessel was
spotted hauling its lines by the Southern Champion, owned by an Australian
member of the Coalition of Legal Toothfish Operators (COLTO), Austral
Fisheries.
About 1.30 pm Western Australia (WA) time,
the skipper of the Southern Champion, Steve Paku, contacted the Perth
office of Austral to report a sighting of a boat fishing 100 metres
outside of Australian waters, according to a press release. There are no
legal licences to fish inside waters protected by the Convention on the
Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) other than
those issued by the Australian government.
Pictures and video were taken of the
suspicious boat before the captain took steps to warn the vessel that it
had been sighted fishing illegally and would be subsequently reported to
authorities.
With no visible flag or call sign, no name
or homeport on the stern and only a partially visible name on the bow, the
boat is in contravention of International Maritime Law. Such a lack of any
means of identification usually indicates the boat is "stateless", and
therefore operating as pirate ship.
A spokesperson for COLTO said that the boat
has been identified as the Strela, which is known to be an IUU (illegal,
unregulated and unreported) operator, flagged to Russia. Australian
authorities recently found documentation on board an illegal vessel that
identified a number of boats, all operating illegally, with professionally
coordinated fishing activities, trans-shipment of fish at sea, refuelling
at sea, and operational techniques designed to evade apprehension.
COLTO said it was hopeful that appropriate
action would be taken by CCAMLR and flag states against this illegal
activity to prevent it from continuing.
----------------------------------------
Back
to top
----------------------------------------
7)
Endangered Dolphin Species
Protected
The New Zealand Ministry of Fisheries recently banned commercial use of
set nets to catch fish along the upper west coast of North Island in order
to help prevent the endangered Maui's dolphin from becoming extinct.
"All commercial set netting (has been) banned within four nautical miles
of the coast," said a Ministry spokesperson. "Amateur set netting (was)
already banned in the zone."
According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature and
Natural Resources, there are only about 50 Maui's dolphins currently
alive.
"The Maui's dolphin is the world's rarest marine dolphin," said World
Wildlife Fund - New Zealand Chief Executive Jo Breese.
Members of the species were called North Island Hector's dolphins until
the end of last year. The renaming was prompted by the discovery that the
animals are genetically distinct from Hector's dolphins.
"The World Wildlife Fund welcomes the restriction on commercial...set
netting," said Breese. "However, the measures should go further. We
believe that trawling within the dolphins' range needs to be banned. We
have been assured that fishers do not trawl within the dolphin's range,
but sightings show this to be untrue. Therefore, we must act as decisively
as possible to save this species from extinction."
Sources
World Wildlife Fund takeaction.worldwildlife.org/results/hectors.asp
Fishing Ban Will Protect Maui's Dolphin
by Becky A. Dayhuff and David Milner
----------------------------------------
Back
to top
----------------------------------------
9)
New
dietary intake limits for mercury
- Experts convened by
the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and the
World Health Organisation (WHO) have studied the data and
agreed to reduce the safe intake level for methylmercury,
the most toxic form of mercury, in foods.
Forty-eight scientists from 17 countries participated in
the 61st meeting of the Joint Expert Committee for Food
Additives and Contaminants (JECFA) from 10-19 June at
FAO's Rome headquarters.
Established by FAO and WHO in 1956, JECFA meets regularly
to provide safety and risk assessment advice to countries
and to the Codex Alimentarius Commission. Codex – meeting
this week in Rome to discuss world food trade and food
safety- recommends international standards for food safety
and quality, as well as codes of practice and guidelines.
After looking at new data for methylmercury and,
crucially, in order to sufficiently protect the developing
foetus, the experts decided to revise the PTWI,
recommending that it be reduced to 1.6 µg per kg body
weight per week.
The foetus is exposed to methylmercury through
contaminated food eaten by the pregnant mother. This new
recommendation changes the prior recommendation for a
dietary limit of 3.3 µg per kg body weight per week.
According to the committee some fish species – such as
swordfish and sharks - are the most significant source of
methylmercury in food.
However, not wishing to steer consumers away from real
health benefits found in the large majority of fish
species, the committee stressed that when providing advice
to consumers and setting limits for methylmercury
concentrations, public health authorities should keep in
mind that fish play a key role in meeting nutritional
needs in many countries.
01/07/03
----------------------------------------
Back to top
----------------------------------------
12)
Agreement with EFTA benefits Chilean aquaculture
[“Friends
of the Fish” proposal to WTO]
[Squid
shortage hastens season end] [
New coastal and large fish market opens in Vigo
] [NAFO scientists recommend 50
% cut in halibut catch] [
Argentina will review fishing licences
]
The Chilean government signed a free trade agreement on 26
June - with members of the European Free Trade Association
(EFTA) - that could be very beneficial for the local
aquaculture industry. Signed in Kristiansand, Norway, the
agreement will allow more than 90% of Chilean exports to
enter EFTA member countries duty free. This will include
exports to Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland.
The percentage could be as high as 96% of the products
taking only exports to Norway and Iceland into account,
reports Aqua.
This free trade agreement is considered very important for
the Chilean aquaculture sector. It will help to expand the
market for finished products and facilitate the commercial
exchange of supplies, equipment and technology for
developing marine aquaculture. Another aspect that
benefits Chile is the elimination of the protectionist and
anti-dumping measures in the commercial activities covered
by the agreement.
The agreement includes a system for handling disputes and
the creation of a Joint Council comprising Chilean and
EFTA authorities that will be responsible for the
development and application of the agreement.
The main goal of the agreement is to promote bilateral
trade, which has plenty of precedents in Chile. Between
1974 and 2002, the EFTA member countries invested USD 922
million in the country, with funds mainly from Norway and
Switzerland. The fishing and aquaculture sectors received
37% of these investments and topped the list of
contributions from EFTA countries, reports the Chilean
Economy Directorate (Direcon). During 2002, the country's
main exports to that European group were fishmeal,
carrageenan, algae, salmon fillets and fishing vessels.
The European representatives that signed the treaty were
the Norwegian Commerce and Industry minister Ansgar
Gabrielsen, Foreign Affairs ministers from Liechtenstein
and Iceland, Ernt Walch and Halldor Asgrimsson, and Swiss
Economy minister Joseph Deiss.
“Friends of the Fish” proposal to WTO
A Chilean delegation belonging to the "Friends of Fish"
group has presented a new proposal on possible approaches
to improved disciplines on fisheries subsidies to the
Negotiating Group on Rules of the World Trade Organisation
(WTO).
The WTO Negotiating Group on Rules met on 18 and 19 June
to consider a number of submissions on issues relating to
anti-dumping, subsidies and countervailing measures, and
addressed the new Chilean submission during the meeting,
reports the Weekly Trade News Digest.
The proposal begins by
observing that fisheries subsidies impede trade with
non-subsidising countries, as countries that do not
subsidise their fisheries sector cannot participate on
equal terms in the exploitation of shared, and sometimes
their own, fishery resources, a classic 'tragedy of the
commons' example. It has also been seen how the
subsidisation of fleets can impact negatively on
conservation measures put into place by other WTO members,
as this encourages a certain amount of exploitation of
fish stocks under pressure.
After considering previous submissions of the US and the
EU, the Chilean paper proposes a "red box" of banned
fisheries subsidies, and an "amber box" of conditional
subsidies.
All subsidies that promote
overcapacity and over-fishing would be included in the
"red box". These would include subsidies that transfer a
country's ships to the high seas or local waters of
another country; allowing the purchase of new or used
ships; to modernise the fleet; and therefore reduce costs
of production factors. Subsidies that come in the form of
positive discrimination in tax treatment or access to
credit would also be banned.
The "amber box" would include all other subsidies that do
not cause injury to other Members, and would only occur
after other Members receive notification. This category of
subsidy would include social subsidies that are designed
to assist small-scale fisheries and coastal communities,
and to improve the overall management of a fishery that
would encourage sustainability.
In terms of the notification
aspect of the "amber box", the paper outlines issues for
discussion. For example, notifications under the WTO
should complement other existing schemes belonging to
other agencies, such as the Food and Agriculture
Organisation of the United Nations (FAO). And also
proposed is that notification should be mandatory. Chile
also supports the EU proposal that a scoreboard of
notifications should be made public.
Other members from the
"Friends of Fish" group supported the Chilean proposal
during the Negotiating Group meeting, and a brief
discussion was held over technical details. However, two
members, Japan and Korea, who are reported to
substantially subsidise their fishing fleets, took a
cautious stance during the meeting.
Members of the "Friends of Fish" group include the US,
Argentina, Iceland, New Zealand, Norway and Peru, as well
as Chile.
----------------------------------------
Back
to top
----------------------------------------
Squid
shortage hastens season end
The Argentine Illex argentinus season has come to an end
due to the scarcity of stocks. Almost all of the 100
vessels fishing in Argentine waters have remained in port
after researchers recommended closing the fishery in the
south. The fleet had caught barely 210,000 tonnes in the
Patagonian fishing grounds during May prompting the
Federal Fisheries Council (CFP) to suspend the fishery
south of parallel 44. The CFP decision was based on
National Institute for Fisheries Research and Development
(Inidep) recommendations.
Considering the results of the first four months of the
season, Inidep researchers warned that if catches
continued at the same rate there were serious risks that
stocks would not recover for next season.
Once the fishery was suspended in the south, vessels moved
north of parallel 44 where the season was expected to last
until 31 August. But hardly anyone is still fishing
because it is not profitable, according to Oscar Fortunato,
head of the Argentine Fishing Companies Council (CEPA).
Companies withdrew their vessels because they lose too
much money staying at sea for very poor catches, Mr.
Fortunato told La Capital. Although the season has closed
early many times before, he said this season was one of
the worst in recent year.
The head of the National Fisheries Defence Centre (Cedepesca),
Ernesto Godelman, said it was the first season to have
ended so early. Mr. Godelman agreed that the particular
nature of squid was the main reason for the low
availability but also implied that over-fishing may have
played a part at some point.
"It's not easy to determine if there was overexploitation
because we don't have reliable monitoring. But there were
certainly a lot of vessels authorised this year," he told
La Capital.
Guillermo de los Santos of Rosales Industrial Pesquera -
the only company in Mar del Plata dedicated entirely to
squid - defended the decision to ban fishing and said the
poor catches had devastated the local industry.
"All we did was to wet the hooks," he said. But Mr. de los
Santos emphasized that not only biological aspects can be
blamed for the situation, “there were also some political
issues that may have contributed to the present
situation”. Mr. de los Santos specifically mentioned the
large number of vessels licenced to join the fishery and
the lack of control over foreign vessels fishing illegally
in Argentine waters.
----------------------------------------
Back
to top
----------------------------------------
New coastal and large fish market opens in Vigo
Galicia's President, Manuel Fraga, officially opened the
new coastal and large fish market in the port of Vigo.
More than EUR 6.5 million was spent on the building and
modernisation which is part of the Galician government's
plan to upgrade the fish auction facilities. Vigo’s Port
Authority president Julio Pedrosa, Galicia's Fisheries
minister, Enrique López Veiga, and the recently appointed
mayor of Vigo, Ventura Pérez Mariño, were also present at
the inauguration ceremony.
The new market is a three storey building. The ground
floor area covers more than 5,200 m2 and houses the
exhibition and auction room, the processing hall and the
loading wharf. The processing hall has cleaning and
evisceration facilities with workstations for both
horizontal and vertical tasks, i.e. with the fish hanging.
The processing facilities can accommodate any kind of
product. The room has two exits - one for the processed
product and the other for waste; and has folding doors to
separate the clean and dirty areas.
There is direct access from the wharf to the loading bays
so the fish goes straight from the market to the
refrigerated truck to maintain the cold chain and avoid
any possible contamination. There are shelters, hydraulic
ramps and doors that keep the wharf closed when there is
no loading taking place.
On the first floor, there are sixteen offices covering a
total area of 3,500 m2. All of the offices are external
and from the corridor it is possible to observe the market
activity. The top floor houses a parking lot.
The fishing port of Vigo has been extensively developed in
the last five years: besides the new fish market, it has a
deep-sea fish and a shellfish market as well as storage
and manufacturing facilities. Last year, 82,604 tonnes of
fishery products worth almost EUR 169 million were sold at
Vigo port.
The sponsors of an aquaculture feed conference are
inviting scientists specialising in aquatic animal feeds
to submit papers for the conference. The Aquaculture
Interchange Programme (AIP) of the Oceanic Institute are
sponsoring the conference, Alternative Protein Sources in
Aquaculture Feed, in Honolulu from 3 to 7 November, 2003.
The conference will host a range of subjects, including an
overview of aquaculture diets; animal, plant, and
unconventional sources of protein for aquatic feeds; and
the use of additives to improve the nutritional value of
plant proteins, reports Aquafeed.com.
There will also be a discussion on various protein
sources, which will include fish by-products; meat, bone,
and blood meal; poultry by-products; soybean, cottonseed,
and canola meal; lupin; distillery by-products; yeast and
bacteria; krill meal, and other plant protein sources.
Presentations will be made on the use of animal
by-products and plant protein in crustacean diets and the
use of soybean meal in freshwater fish, salmonid, sea
bass, and sea bream diets.
The Oceanic Institute was founded in 1960 as an
independent, not-for-profit, applied research organization
dedicated to the development and transfer of technology
and applications in aquaculture, environmental science,
and marine biotechnology. The institute later established
the Aquaculture Interchange Program in 1989 with the aim
of disseminating information on aquaculture, in a bid to
facilitate a rapid development of the commercial
aquaculture industry in the United States. The Oceanic
Institute is located at Makapu'u Point on O'ahu, the third
largest island in the Hawaiian chain.
Those wishing to present their papers should submit their
manuscripts for publication by the AIP. Any interested
scientists or others who would like to recommend potential
presenters can contact Dr Cheng-Sheng Lee by email,
cslee@oceanicinstitute.org
,
or by telephone on +1 808 259-3107.
NAFO scientists recommend 50 % cut in halibut catch
The Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organisation (NAFO)
Scientific Council has recommended a 50% cut in halibut
catches next year, but the issue will not be discussed
until the NAFO Fisheries Commission meeting scheduled for
September. The Commission is responsible for setting the
Total Allowable Catch (TAC), but does not always follow
the recommendations of scientists, who this year advised a
maximum of 16,000 tonnes for Greenland halibut.
The NAFO Scientific Council recommended a 36,000 tonne TAC
for halibut this year, but the Commission set the TAC at
42,000 tonnes. Spokesman Antonio Vázquez said the
scientific recommendation for a drastic cut in halibut
quota follows research carried out around the Grand Banks
and Felmish Cap which showed a sharp decline in stocks
since 1998, reports Faro de Vigo.
Xavier Paz, who led the Spanish research campaign on board
the Vizconde de Eza - which was joined by the Cornide de
Saavedra - said it was the first time two Spanish vessels
had carried out joint research off Newfoundland.
He said the research had turned up "solid" scientific data
which could be combined with commercial catch data. Mr.
Paz also seemed satisfied by the estimates they have
collected this year, which he described as very "solid",
given that it was possible to combine "the scientific
campaign information with the commercial fishery data".
Mr. Paz, who is also a researcher at the Spanish Institute
of Oceanography (IEO) in Vigo, said previous research had
been limited to a smaller area but the latest studies had
covered the entire area where reefers from Vigo catch
halibut. He added that plaice and cod stocks in the area
still showed no signs of recovery while skate stocks
remained stable.
Thirty reefers from Vigo fish in NAFO waters. They divide
their time between catching halibut in the North Atlantic,
the fishery in South Atlantic international waters, and
the Irminger Sea, near Iceland.
----------------------------------------
Back
to top
----------------------------------------
Argentina will review fishing licences
All fishing permits granted to companies that operate
along Argentina's coasts will be reviewed, said Fisheries
and Aquaculture Undersecretary Gerardo Nieto. In an
interview with La Nación, Nieto said that "the historical
context in which the permits were granted" would be
analysed, and he would not shirk the responsibility of
reviewing one of the most sensitive aspects of this
activity.
When asked about the privileged situation of some national
fishing companies that hold "unrestricted and permanent"
fishing permits, Mr. Nieto explained that according to the
lawpermits were just authorisations to access the fishing
ground. His position is that "there must be a transition
process for the regulations to be adequately enforced."
Mr. Nieto wants to begin a transition process towards a
catch quota system, which several groups within the local
fishing sector are calling for. At present, Argentina
annually exports USD 780 million worth of fishery
products, which is considerable more than the export
revenue generated by beef traditionally considered the
country’s leading export products.
However Argentina also has a 4,000 kilometre coastline
that is rich in marine resources, but so far successive
governments have had little knowledge of the industry and
there have been irregularities in the administration of
resources.
This situation led to the collapse of the hubbsi hake
fishery, the country’s main commercial species from 1990
to 1999. During that period, fishery exports reached a
billion US dollars but simultaneously endangered the
sustainability of hake stocks.
Mr. Nieto admitted that the fishing agreement signed
between Argentina and the European Union (EU) in the
nineties was used as currency in exchange for other
interests, and that this partly led to the collapse of the
Argentine fishing ground.
The fisheries authorities now have to face the challenge
of reorganising the industry and try to solve conflicts
that have hindered development. Mr. Nieto said plans for
harsher sanctions were already underway and these should
be implemented as soon as possible. Mr. Nieto is also
pushing ahead with plans to reactivate the satellite
monitoring system, but anticipated that details of
fisheries surveillance would be only released when the
system is fully functional again.
"Sometimes it seems that surveillance and monitoring has
to be limited to the Coast Guard service, the Navy or the
Air Force," said Mr. Nieto adding that his Department has
plans for an integrated system "to protect resources in
each jurisdiction".
"This will allow us to become, in the eyes of the world, a
fishery nation that is aware of the importance of the sea
and conservation," he concluded.
----------------------------------------
Back to top
----------------------------------------
8) ORBIMAGE’S
ORBVIEW-3 SATELLITE SUCCESSFULLY REACHES ORBIT -- Satellite Operating As
Expected During Early Orbits --
For Immediate Release
For More Information Contact:
Lisa Andrews (703) 480-7502
andrews.lisa@orbimage.com
(Dulles, VA June 26, 2003) – Orbital Imaging Corporation (ORBIMAGE) of
Dulles, Virginia and St. Louis, MO announced today that their OrbView-3
high-resolution earth imaging satellite was successfully launched into
space today at 3:05 p.m. (EDT) onboard a Pegasus® rocket provided by
Orbital Sciences Corporation from Vandenberg Air Force Base (VAFB),
California.
Approximately 10 minutes after the rocket ignition at 2:55 p.m. (EDT), the
OrbView-3 satellite separated as planned from the Pegasus rocket into its
sun-synchronous, near-polar, circular orbit. Initial communications with
the satellite were established from ORBIMAGE’s ground terminal in Point
Barrow, Alaska approximately 1 hour and 13 minutes after separation, with
initial data indicating that the satellite’s main systems are operating
nominally as expected. It will take several more days to maneuver the
satellite into its final orbit of 470 km x 470 km at an inclination of
97.29 degrees, and to confirm that all of OrbView-3’s sub-systems are
confirmed operational.
“This is an extraordinary day for ORBIMAGE,” said Matt O’Connell,
ORBIMAGE’s CEO. “We now have a lot of work ahead of us, but the successful
launch today of OrbView-3 marks the single most important milestone for
the company over the past 18 months. Once the check out is completed and
imagery starts flowing, we will begin fulfilling the large backlog we have
secured with our U.S. customers and international partners.”
“OrbView-3 is a great addition to our current portfolio of products and
services” added Timothy J. Puckorius, ORBIMAGE’s Senior Vice President for
Worldwide Marketing and Sales. “In addition to the markets we currently
serve with data from OrbView-2 and our map production services in St.
Louis, OrbView-3 will enable ORBIMAGE to meet the growing national and
international needs for detailed, accurate high-resolution images for a
broad array of primary applications such as mapping, environmental
monitoring, city planning, news gathering, agriculture, forestry and
resource management. We already enjoy partnerships around the world and
want to thank them for their support and patience. We will soon be able to
support them and their regional market needs thanks to the successful
launch today of OrbView-3.”
About OrbView-3 Satellite and Imagery:
The spacecraft was developed and built for ORBIMAGE by Orbital Sciences
Corporation (NYSE: ORB) at its satellite manufacturing facility in Dulles,
Virginia. OrbView-3 will be one of the world's first commercial satellites
to provide high-resolution imagery from space. OrbView-3's high-resolution
camera will acquire one-meter resolution panchromatic (black and white)
and four-meter resolution multispectral (color) imagery. This imagery will
be valuable to customers around the world for a wide-range of commercial,
government and consumer applications. With the ability to image virtually
anywhere in the world within three days, ORBIMAGE has established a global
network of distributor partners to produce and deliver basic imagery as
well as high-resolution value-added products.
About ORBIMAGE:
ORBIMAGE is a leading global provider of Earth imagery products and
services, with a planned constellation of four digital remote sensing
satellites. The company currently operates the OrbView-1 atmospheric
imaging satellite launched in 1995, the OrbView-2 ocean and land
multispectral imaging satellite launched in 1997, and a worldwide
integrated image receiving, processing and distribution network. ORBIMAGE
is also the exclusive U.S. distributor of worldwide imagery from the
Canadian RADARSAT-2 satellite, planned for launch in 2004. ORBIMAGE also
offers the SeaStar Fisheries Information Service, which provides fish
finding maps derived from OrbView-2 satellite imagery of the world's
oceans to fishing customers worldwide.
More information about ORBIMAGE, including details about the OrbView-3
satellite and launch, can be found at http://www.orbimage.com
----------------------------------------
Back
to top
----------------------------------------
13)
Aquaculture scales new heights SYNERGIES ... aquaculture
can operate using existing infrastructure on irrigated farms
IN its first national review of Australian aquaculture since 1997, ABARE
has found that the gross value of production of the industry has jumped by
more than $300 million in the past five years.
When releasing the report, Australian Aquaculture: Industry Profiles for
Selected Species, ABARE executive director Dr Brian Fisher said: "The
gross value of aquaculture production now totals $733 million at the farm
gate and accounts for 30 per cent of Australian fisheries' annual
production of $2.4 billion".
The largest fish farming sectors are southern bluefin tuna, Atlantic
salmon, barramundi and trout, while farmed prawns, pearling and edible
oysters round out the list of the top seven sectors by value of
production.
Farming of native inland finfish such as silver perch, murray cod, golden
perch and jade perch is increasing, along with production of freshwater
crayfish (yabbies, redclaw and marron).
"Some of the most exciting developments are occurring on the coast and
offshore, where the sea cage farming of barramundi in the Northern
Territory and yellowtail kingfish in South Australia, and the farming of
abalone and shellfish in the southern states is showing considerable
promise," Dr Fisher said.
But the industry faces a number of challenges if it is to increase
production significantly as envisaged by the federal government's
Aquaculture Industry Action Agenda.
Access to production sites, concern about environmental impacts,
streamlining regulatory processes, attracting investment capital and
achieving economies of scale in the marketing chain are all issues that
the industry will need to address.
Sectors that have provided much of the growth in recent years, such as
southern bluefin tuna and Atlantic salmon, also face the challenge of
overcoming production constraints and adjusting to changing market
conditions.
----------------------------------------
Back to top
----------------------------------------
14) Indigenous
aquaculture project believed to be first
A new $3 million
Indigenous fish hatchery and aquaculture centre in Broome, in north-west
Western Australia, is believed to be the first of its kind in Australia.
The Mambana Aquaculture and Discovery centre has a three-year stock
enhancement program which aims to return 36 million shellfish and trochus
to their natural environment.
Centre chairman Charla Clements says the facility also includes a
discovery centre which explores the theme of water and Aboriginal life.
"We've had a lot of interest from other regions.
"I guess you could say they've come up, they've had a look at what we've
got here, they're very interested, what we have is the first in Australia
of its kind."
Wednesday, July 2, 2003. 11:27am (AEST)
----------------------------------------
Back
to top
----------------------------------------
105)
HACCP: limiting risk in Ireland
HACCP:
shared responsibility for success
02/07/03 - A national campaign in Ireland will tackle food safety
standards by highlighting the value of HACCP absorption, announced the
Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) on Monday.
The drive aims to increase the adoption of food safety management systems
based on the principles of HACCP (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control
Point) within the Irish food industry and to focus on temperature control
as one of the key control measures to ensure the production of safe food.
The move follows a survey - Initial Assessment of HACCP Compliance -
undertaken by environmental health officers in the health boards of 1,000
food businesses. The initiative revealed that of three food business types
examined for HACCP compliance, the majority of premises had either started
compliance or were found to be fully compliant.
According to Dr Wayne Anderson, chief specialist, food science at the FSAI,
temperature control is a crucial critical control point and one that needs
to be highlighted.
“Food businesses not only place the health of their customers at risk, but
also the viability of their business by not complying with the principles
of HACCP,” said Dr.Anderson.
The principles of HACCP incorporate identifying hazards, determining the
critical control points (CCPs), establishing critical limits, and the
corrective action.
Since 1998 all Irish food businesses are required by law to have a food
safety management system based on the principles of HACCP.
“Implementing a food safety management system is crucial in today’s
environment of increasing customer demands. Besides obvious food safety
benefits, it offers other advantages to the everyday operation of a
business.
It offers a good defence in the event of legal action, reduces product
losses and helps keep staff aware of food safety issues,” concluded Dr
Anderson.
HACCP: shared
responsibility for success
Note: to freeze animation, right-hand click on 'Play'.
10/12/02 - "HACCP is nothing without trainers," declared Dagmar Engel,
HACCP trainer and consultant from Germany, at the recent International
Food Safety Focus conference, co-hosted by the Chartered Institute of
Environmental Health, held in London at the end of October.
In her presentation she explained the problems encountered when attempting
to put into practice a thorough and effective HACCP system in the
workplace.
Dagmar's experience of modern-day HACCP is that trainers do not understand
the in-depth philosophy behind the subject and students suffer as a result
of poor application once in the workplace scenario. She has found that in
many cases HACCP is not working because the system is too theoretical and
it has been over-complicated by sophisticated terminology from a
management level.
Dagmar added that by the time the HACCP system is implemented at ground
level, users do not have an accurate understanding of the motives and
consequences of HACCP in the food-handling setting.
Poor reference to practical experience was also cited as a problem in
HACCP training. Avoiding the use of real-life examples only serves to
communicate to the student that HACCP is an academic model designed to
make their jobs more difficult, Dagmar continued.
In the final section of her presentation, Dagmar laid out her 'mortal
sins' of HACCP training: one-sided lecturing, neglecting the
preliminaries, making assumptions about student knowledge, focusing on
over complex terminology, concentrating on product specific models rather
than process specific models and getting lost in a forest of decision
trees.
She showed that trainers too often deliver the same training course,
regardless of their audience. Dagmar emphasised that demonstrating the
importance of HACCP to a butcher should be quite a different experience to
the way a director of a multi-national food processor should be trained.
Both will have quite different personal experiences of the food industry
and both will have different objectives. The way HACCP training is
delivered should be tailored according to the audience.
In conclusion, Dagmar maintained that everybody has to make their own
contribution to ensure that HACCP is successful and that no one individual
or department should be held responsible for it. As a reflection of her
common sense approach Dagmar added that too often the quality team is put
in complete control of product safety, when in fact everybody, from the
cleaning staff to the production manager, has a responsibility for HACCP
quality.
15)
Bank Dispute Over Dåfjord Laks
TWO Norwegian banks are in a dispute over the future of fish farming
company Dåfjord Laks, which went into receivership last week.
The banks DnB and Nordea are arguing about what should happen to Northern
Norway’s biggest fish farming company, which employs 300 people. DnB would
like the company to continue and the banks to put in a bid, while Nordea
wants liquidation.
For Nordea, which has lent millions to Norwegian fish farms, the loss made
on the Dåfjord estate would be covered by other fish farming companies
putting the prices up as an effect of the closure according to Norwegian
newspaper Dagens Naeringsliv (DN). However, if DnB’s alternative goes
through, jobs will be secured.
The banks do not want to comment officially on the matter, but sources
from the Nordea and DnB told DN that there is a dispute over the issue.
The deadline for putting in a bid has been set for Monday by the estate
management, if the aim is to keep the company running.
One spokesman,Joar Grimsrud confirms that DnB is in the process of putting
together a new company, which is working on an offer, but did not want to
comment on Nordea’s strategy.
The debt to the banks, including interest, is more than 900 million NOK.
And in addition, there is debt to other creditors of around a 100 million
NOK.
“Whatever the solution will be, there will be a loss of hundreds of
millions NOK from the Dåfjord situation,” Mr Grimsrud told the newspaper.
Published on: July 04,
2003 |
NEWS
82