Seminar participants recommended greater benefits for third countries under Sustainable Fisheries Partnership Agreements and greater consistency between EU policies, including trade and development policies.

Recent studies show that, while these closures can momentarily lead to increased fish sizes and abundance, their socio-economic impact on fishing communities is dire.

To mark International Women's Day, and taking advantage of her visit to Brussels as part of the Fisheries and Oceans Dialogues organised by the European Commission, we interview Raïssa Madou, a fish processor in Côte d'Ivoire.

The European Commission seeks to unlock further benefits from the ocean whilst ensuring conservation; however small-scale fishers warn that this will bring compromises in which they are going to be the most vulnerable sector.

The EU Long Distance Advisory Council (LDAC) and CFFA have published the report of the seminar on European fishing investments in third countries they jointly organized last May in Berlin, in the headquarters of the NGO Bread For the World.

At a conference on working conditions for non-European fishers on board EU vessels, participants raised the need to bring more transparency and better supervising for the practices of fishing agents.

The declaration touches upon most fisheries’ hot topics: the fight against IUU fishing, good governance, transparency, fisheries subsidies, among others. On most of these topics, emphasis is put by the Ministers on small scale fisheries.

The Cypriot commissioner-designate faced the questions of the European Parliament fisheries committee (PECH) regarding the strategic framework which should bring coherence among ocean-related policies, including the Common Fisheries Policy. PECH backed him for his future mandate.