News – Added: 19 October 2023
SCOTTISH ADDITIONAL QUOTA CONSULTATION
Today Scottish Government have launched their Consultation on how they will distribute their share of Additional Quota.
The consultation is open for 12 weeks and you must respond by 11 January 2024.
I urge all members to complete this consultation and have copied the link below.
The consultation can be accessed here: https://consult.gov.scot/marine-scotland/fish-stocks-allocation-of-additional-quota
News – Added: 29th August 2023
FUTURE FISHERIES MANAGEMENT LIVE
There is a Future Fisheries Management public meeting being held in the Palace Hotel Wednesday 6th September 2023 at 4.30pm in the Palace Hotel Peterhead.
DEFRA are hosting this meeting to interested parties and the focus will be on Future Management Plans, REM and Discard Reform Consultations.
All are welcome but you can register at Future Fisheries Management LIVE! | Eventbrite
News – Added: 26th June 2023
VIA COD LICENCE AMENDMENTS
Please see below amendments to the licence conditions for all vessels.
The amendment imposes a combination of controls for cod catches; a 1 tonne per trip limit AND a by-catch limit of 5% (within trip total).
The condition has been written to deliver a fairer opportunity of catches across vessels of differing sizes and to ensure that some vessels are not simply conducting directed fisheries for cod in 6a. Effectively any vessel with a trip haul less than 20t is restricted by the by-catch limitation and vessels landing more than 20t are restricted by the 1 tonne limit.
News – Added: 25th June 2023
FINAL ALLOCATIONS
Final allocations have now been issued and are uploaded to your sheets.
News – Added: 3rd May 2023
PROVISIONAL ALLOCATIONS
The provisional allocations have now been published and added to your sheet along with Additional Quota and Banking & Borrowing for 2023.
Please note these are Provisional figures and we are aware of an error in the Hake banking & borrowing figures, as a result they have not been included until the mistake is rectified. There is also an error in the West Coast Whiting calculations and these figures will be amended in due course.
News – Added: 29th March 2023
This is to inform you that the UK SI for Spurdog comes into effect from Friday 1 April.
The two spurdog stocks (North Sea and western) are to be managed differently in 2023. The NS stock is to be treated like a ‘normal’ TAC species and will be distributed accordingly, although on 75% of the TAC will be apportioned initially. The western quota is to be retained at a UK-level and catches will be managed by licence condition. UK domestic licences have/will be varied with effect from 0001hrs 1 April, with the following agreed text:
FISHING RESTRICTIONS FOR SPURDOG
A fishing vessel may retain on board and land spurdog, or Picked dogfish, (Squalus acanthias) caught in Western (ICES areas: 6, 7 and 8; United Kingdom and international waters of 5; international waters of 1, 12 and 14) and North Sea (ICES areas: United Kingdom and European Union waters 4; United Kingdom waters of 2a) areas, provided that the following conditions are met:
- It is prohibited to retain, trans-ship or land specimens over 100cm in length as measured from the end of the tail to the tip of the snout.
- In ICES areas 6, 7 and 8; United Kingdom and international waters of 5; international waters of 1, 12 and 14 (Western spurdog), no more than 5 tonnes (live weight), may be retained on board or landed per calendar month.
UK Fisheries Administrations will keep the western catch limit review and amend when necessary.
Defra has provided updated “spurdog guidance” on UK Spurdog guidance – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) which you may wish to read.
News – Added: 20th March 2023
Estimated Tonnages
Estimated tonnages are now uploaded onto the website, Banking and Borrowing and Additional Quota will be added once Provisional Allocations are published.
News – Added: 20th October 2022
North Sea Cod and North Sea Saithe
Every member in NESFO operates on an ITQ basis and the Board want to ensure that all members are able to fish their own quota without others impacting on their operations. The quota for North Sea Cod and North Sea Saithe is going to be extremely challenging for the remainder of the year and there is very little slack in the system. It is with this effect that each vessel must have sufficient quota in place prior to landing.
News – Added: 2nd August 2022
VIA COD
On the 28th July 2022, Marine Scotland revoked 7 licences for vessels fishing in Area VIA, 5 Scottish and 2 English vessels. They are monitoring the situation closely and more vessels may have their licences revoked if the by catch limits are breached. The landings of VIB Cod have spiked in the last month and vessels may have their licences revoked for this Area also if the by catch limits are not adhered to.
The by catch limits for VIA Cod is 2% and VIB Cod is 0.5%
Please adhere to the licence variations so that a full years fishery for 2022 is achievable.
News – Added: 23rd May 2022
PROVISIONAL ALLOCATIONS 2022
Provisional Allocations are now uploaded onto the website including the Additional Quota and Banking & Borrowing for North Sea and West Coast Ling.
News – Added: 17th May 2022
PROVISIONAL ALLOCATIONS 2022
Provisional Allocations are now uploaded onto the website for Existing Quota, Banking and Borrowing and the Inward Transfers from Norway.
There is no North Sea Ling or West Coast Ling B&B added at this time as there is a discrepancy in the figures. As soon as this situation is resolved these will be added to your sheets.
At the moment we do not have a timeline when the AQ element will be issued.
News – Added: 5th May 2022
VIA by catch limits
The by-catch limits are as follows:-
VIA Cod 2%
VIA Whiting 20%
Looking at this weeks weekly spreadsheets the uptake on 6a Cod landings have increased by nearly 50% on this time last year. If the same level of 6a Cod landings continue we will see an early closure of the entire West Coast fishery for 2022.
I want to emphasis again that members please adhere to the by catch licence conditions so that a 12 month fishery is achievable for the whole fleet.
News – Added: 21st February 2022
VIA by catch limits
The by-catch limits are as follows:-
VIA Cod 2%
VIA Whiting 20%
Please adhere to the licence conditions on the by catch limits so that a full 12 month fishery is achievable during 2022.
News – Added: 15th February 2022
ESTIMATED TONNAGES
The estimated tonnages for 2022 have now been uploaded to your quota sheets and are now available to be viewed via the website. Banking and borrowing will be added once we receive Provisional figures from Marine Scotland
News – Added: 1 December 2021
NORTH SEA COD
The last round of International Quota Swops are now closed and there is very little slack in the system domestically and I would like to take the opportunity to emphasis again that members must have sufficient North Sea Cod quota in place before landing so that they do not encroach on other members activities.
Thank you again for your co-operation in this matter.
News – Added: 30 April 2021
Additional Quota
Additional Quota tonnages achieved through the TCA have now been added to your quota sheets.
Each member needs to be vigilant this year as we are uncertain on how or if any inward swops/transfers there will be and domestically it will be challenging to acquire anything further.
News – Added: 26April 2021
Provisional Allocations
Please be advised that the Provisional figures are now published on your quota sheets, and the banking figures for 2021 have also been added. I am hoping by the end of the week for the Additional Quota figures received through the Brexit negotiations to be added also.
News – Added: 13 January 2021
Update
We are now all aware that the Brexit negotiations were not to say in the least favourable for the UK demersal fleet. With this in mind and with the serious problems with the new Rules and Regulations for exporting fish to the EU, please liaise closely with your salesmen on what is required for markets. As stated quotas are going to be very tight for 2021 and opportunities to acquire extra fish extremely hard so I urge all members to be very careful in what they land until everyone has a better idea on what their tonnages will be for 2021. The trilateral talks have just started yesterday and will give you a further update when the TAC settings have been agreed.
News – Added: 6 August 2020
VIa Cod By Catch
The by-catch figure for VIa Cod is reducing from 5% to 2% at 00.01 hours Sunday 9th August 2020. VIa Whiting remains at 5%.
News – Added: 15 April
Provisional Allocations
Provisional allocations for 2020 are now available to be viewed on website.
News – Added: 27 March 2020
Estimated tonnages
Due to the ongoing pandemic, and staff redeployment, provisional allocations are now hoped to be issued by Marine Scotland in the first week of April.
News – Added: 19 February 2020
Estimated tonnages
Estimated tonnages for 2020 are now available to be viewed on the website. Banking and borrowing will be added once Provisional tonnages are received from Marine Scotland.
News – Added: 6 February
West of Scotland by-catches
The by-catch for 6a Cod is 5% and for 6a Whiting 10% of all quota and non quota species onboard your vessel as from 1st January 2020.
News – Added: 25 November 2019
NORTH SEA COD BANKING 2020
The 2020 Banking rules for 2020 only are that any vessel may bank 10% of their current total balance and will receive 1:1 in 2020. Normal banking rules will apply to all other species.
News – Added: 15 November 2019
WEST COAST BY CATCH
The by catch for 6a Cod is 25% and for 6a Whiting 10% of all quota and non quota species onboard your vessel.
News – Added: 9 September 2019
WEBSITE
We are having IT issues with the downloads to our website and some landings are missing from your sheet. I will inform you once the problem is rectified.
If you wish an up to date position, please contact the office.
Sorry for any inconvenience.
News – Added: 3 July 2019
FINAL FIGURES 2019
The 2019 Final quota figures are now available to view on the website. All in year adjustments have now been updated. The significant changes are that Cod has been increased slightly but the North Sea and West Coast Saithe figures have decreased considerably.
News – Added: 20 March 2019
PROVISIONAL FIGURES 2019
The 2019 Provisional quota figures are now available to view on the website. Banking and Borrowing have also been added but these could change as they have not yet been confirmed by the Commission.
News – Added: 26 February 2019
PRE PROVISIONAL FIGURES 2019
The 2019 Pre Provisional quota figures are now available to view on the website.
News – Added: 24 October 2018
NORTH SEA MACKEREL & NORTH SEA HERRING
To All Members
Please do not land anymore North Sea Mackerel or North Sea Herring as we have exhausted our quota in both species.
News – Added: 9 August 2018
FLAGS
I will be receiving NO FISHING SELL-OUT flags, if you would wish to fly them from your vessel they will be available to pick up from the office next week, or I can post them if that is more convenient.