http://www.icsf.net/ International Collective in Support of Fishworkers 2010-09-01T18:33:44+00:33 http://www.fifa.com/aboutfifa/federation/news/newsid=1292214.html One sight that leaves a lifelong impression is watching the fisherman of Ecuador playing football on the beaches alongside the Pacific Ocean. It is after long hard nights fishing and facing the elements you can observe the artisan fleet heading homeward bound for their fishing villages and ports along the thousand kilometers or so of Ecuadorian coastline. They come ashore with their catches of sea bass, dorado and fresh sole that later on will be served up as part of exotic menus and dishes around the country. Once the fishermen’s work is done and the boats pulled onto the beaches it’s time for football, making use of the wide and long beaches as their natural football pitches. A couple of markers are placed on the sand as goal posts, afootball is positioned in the centre and the game is on. Amazingly there are literally hundreds and even thousands of fishermen doing the very same thing all along the coastal region of Ecuador, every single day. In Ecuador you can find organised beach football competitions throughout the year being played in the main coastal cities, but one very important thing is missing, everybody has been playing under local rules, far away from the rules and regulations set up by FIFA for Beach Soccer. Recognising that this needed to be addressed the Ecuadorian Football Federation requested the presence of FIFA instructors to correct and align Ecuador’s Beach Soccer during a coaching course organized from the 16 to 20 of August in Guayaquil. The Ecuadorian Football Federation’s general secretary, Francisco Acosta commented: “We have been aware that many people play soccer on our beautiful beaches, all over the country, and that it was time to bring this under the federations’ jurisdiction and in turn under the FIFA umbrella. This is a great opportunity for many young players living in the coastal regions of Ecuador, just last year we missed out through a late goal to make it to the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup in Dubai, imagine what we will be able to do and how far we can go once we have organised beach soccer in the country.” It is through the FIFA Beach Soccer course that the FEF have placed certain short and medium term objectives; the first objective is to organize an Ecuadorian beach soccer championship under FIFA rules. Ecuador is also in line to host the South American Beach Soccer championship in the city of Manta scheduled for December 2011. http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=1&article_id=118811#axzz0yKa6Y3vZ Sidon’s fishermen are outraged by the death of huge quantities of fish in their harbor, with some attributing the incident and its impact on their livelihoods to the high levels of sewage pouring into the area. Sidon’s municipality has been gradually closing up sewage outlets which poured their contents into the sea, redirecting the waste to Sidon’s new sewage treatment center. However, due to severe power shortages, the pumps go off-line several times a day, causing sewage to find its way back out to the sea through the only remaining opening located near the fishermen’s harbor. Mustapha Qobrosli, a fisherman, called for an immediate solution for the problem. “Let this massacre against fish stock stop now,” he said. “Some [fish] died in the peak of their season,” he said, saying thousands of fish were exterminated, and adding that he expected a “real disaster” if a solution was not found. He held Sidon’s municipality responsible for “sewage pipes that burst in the sea and in streets.” The fishermen’s harbor is a virtually closed-off area in which stagnant water forms as a result of a stone pier that surrounds the harbor. Another concern for fishermen is the huge waste dump lying on Sidon’s seaside. The solid waste from the dump falls into the sea during the windy winter weather and threatens the coasts’ marine life. Sidon’s municipality has been holding extensive meetings to kick-start the waste-treatment plant that is hoped will put an end to pollution caused by the country’s most notorious dump. Abed Renno, another fisherman, said it was the first time he had seen such a huge quantity of fish perish.“They [fish] suffocated,” Renno said, who voiced his fears that pollution would reach deep into the sea and threaten Sidon’s entire fish stock. One fisherman who requested anonymity urged the fishermen’s syndicate to take immediate action and contact the municipality regardless of the political camp it was backed by. “Our daily bread is more important than all leaderships,” the fisherman said. Sidon’s Mayor, Mohammad al-Saudi, told The Daily Star the municipality would close the sewage outlet and connect it to the sewage treatment center before the end of Ramadan. http://www.hindustantimes.com/Pakistan-releases-100-Indian-fishermen/Article1-593845.aspx Pakistan today released 100 Indians, the first batch from the 442 Indian fishermen languishing in a jail in Karachi, after rights activists fought a legal battle in the Supreme Court against their unlawful detention. The first batch of 442 Indian fishermen to be freed from Pakistani prisons was released from Malir Jail in the southern port city of Karachi today, rights activists said. The fishermen were all arrested and convicted for illegally entering Pakistani waters. A group of 100 fishermen emerged from the jail at 8 am and began their journey to the eastern city of Lahore, said B M Kutty, a representative of the NGO Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research, which works for the release of prisoners. "The fishermen will reach the Wagah land border at 10 am tomorrow so that they can be repatriated to India," Kutty told PTI. The fishermen are travelling to Lahore in two buses with a 20-strong police escort. There were emotional scenes as the fishermen came out of the jail to be greeted by members of Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research and Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum, which had filed a petition in the Supreme Court seeking the release of all fishermen who have completed their prison terms. Many of the fishermen embraced members of the two NGOs and thanked them for campaigning for their release. Most of the fishermen had been detained for up to three years even after completing their sentences ranging from six months to a year. All the fishermen freed today were presented an 'ajrak' or Sindhi cotton shawl by the NGOs as a gesture of goodwill. Kutty presented the first ajrak to Kanti Lal, a fisherman from Gujarat who has emerged as a leader of the Indians held in Malir Jail. Kanti Lal, who was given a six-month sentence for illegally entering Pakistani waters, was detained for three years after completing his term. Former law minister Syed Iqbal Haider, who represented the petitioners in the Supreme Court, Justice (retired) Nasir Aslam Zahid, a member of the India-Pakistan judicial commission on prisoners and other rights activists visited Malir Jail to meet the fishermen. Three more batches of Indian fishermen will be freed from jails in Sindh province on September 2, 4 and 6. Several NGOs are supervising the travel of the fishermen and their handing over to Indian authorities at Wagah. The Prisoners Welfare and Legal Aid Office run by Nasir Aslam Zahid will bear the travel expenses of the fishermen. Pakistani authorities issued orders for the release of the 442 fishermen on August 28 after the NGOs filed the case in the Supreme Court. At the last hearing on August 26, the apex court asked the federal Interior Ministry to explain why 456 Indian fishermen were being held in several jails in Sindh even after they had completed their prison terms. http://www.vancouversun.com/technology/Fish+stories+Seafood+labels+always+reliable+says+study/3470135/story.html So much for guilt-free seafood. An international program run by the Marine Stewardship Council purports to certify only sustainably harvested fish but is "failing" to protect the environment and needs radical reform, says a highly critical report released Wednesday. Many of the MSC's claims are "eco-babble" and very misleading, Jennifer Jacquet, a University of B.C. researcher and co-author of the report, said this week as she checked out the seafood at Capers, a trendy grocery store in Vancouver. Fresh halibut was selling for $49.90 a kilogram under one of the council's aqua blue signs guaranteeing "sustainability" and "a sound environmental choice." The certification program is run by the non-profit council based in London. The MSC's blue "eco-labels" can be found on seafood sold at Capers, Whole Foods Markets and Walmart in North America and many stores in Europe. Controversy has been brewing over the certification program for years but the MSC's recent decision to slap its eco-label on an Antarctic krill fishery prompted the researchers to spell out their concerns in the journal Nature this week. Jacquet is a resource management specialist who authored the report with noted UBC fisheries biologist Daniel Pauly and colleagues in the U.S. and Italy. In May, the council certified the krill fishery, despite scientific evidence that suggests the shrimp-like creatures at the base of the Antarctic food chain are in decline. Much of the krill caught is used to feed farmed fish, pigs and chicken and "any fishery undertaken for fish meal should not be viewed as responsible or sustainable, and should not qualify for MSC certification," the researchers say. Co-author Paul Dayton, at the University of California's Scripps Institution of Oceanography, said the krill certification "is an embarrassment as it flies in the face of existing data and denies any sense of precautionary management." The MSC argues that the less than one per cent of krill is under fishing pressure. The report also takes issue with the way the council's eco-labels adorn fish that have undergone serious declines. The U.S. trawl fishery for pollock in the eastern Bering Sea is the largest certified fishery, with an annual catch of one million tonnes. "It was certified in 2005, and recommended for recertification this summer, despite the fact that the spawning biomass of those pollock fell by 64 per cent between 2004 and 2009," the report says. "Similar declines in biomass" have occurred in Pacific hake, the report says, noting that the hake "was certified in 2009 despite a population decline of 89 per cent since a peak in the late 1980s." The researchers say "certification should not be granted until a fishery is shown to be actually sustainable." The council acknowledges the hake and pollock have seen "declines" but insist the fisheries deserve certification. "The stock is rebuilding and continued improvements in Alaska pollock biomass is expected as favourable conditions prevail," said Mike DeCesare, director of MSC communications in North America. The council was created in 1997 by the World Wildlife Fund and Unilever, one of the world's largest seafood retailers. It has certified 94 fisheries which account for about seven per cent of the global catch, including several in Canadian waters. It is now assessing 118 more fisheries, including the Antarctic toothfish, which is sold as Chilean sea bass. Many environmental groups oppose certification of the toothfish, and with good reason, says the Nature report: "Almost nothing is known about this fish: no eggs or larvae have even been collected." Jacquet, Pauly and their colleagues are calling on the council to adopt more stringent standards, crack down on its "arguably loose interpretation" of sustainability, and alter its process "to avoid a potential financial incentive to certify large fisheries." If the current certification "scheme" doesn't undergo "major reform" they say, there are "better, more effective ways" to spend the MSC's $13 million-a-year budget, such as eliminating harmful fisheries subsidies, or creating marine-protected areas. Such measures could "have a real impact on the water," said Jacquet. She said the reality is that there is not enough seafood to meet the current global appetite. Consumers need to accept the need to "scale back on consumption," she said, and at the same time "hassle" politicians and industry to take concrete steps to better protect fisheries. At Capers, the staff selling fish under the MSC label referred queries to Vicki Foley, in public relations at Whole Foods Market, which owns Capers. Foley did not return calls before deadline. A salesclerk said that Capers is no longer selling supplements made from krill because of "ethical" concerns. But she said she could special-order the krill supplements if customers want to buy them. DeCesare, at the MSC, said the report in Nature is the "personal opinion" of the authors. The council, he said, bases its certification on "rigorous and independent science." "There is no question that improvements in the MSC standard will continue to enhance its effectiveness," DeCesare said by email. "But the facts also demonstrate there is no question that for more than a decade the MSC, along with its many partners, has been contributing significantly to environmental progress around the world." http://www.examiner.com/pets-in-hartford/flipper-s-trainer-leads-international-protest-against-dolphin-hunting-japan Ric O'Barry, the former dolphin-trainer for the 1960s "Flipper" TV show, is currently in Japan leading a protest against the slaughter of dolphins scheduled to begin today in the village of Taiji, where the 3,500 residents claim that the dolphin-killing is a vital part of their tradition and a livelihood. In the past, some of the captured dolphins have been sold to aquariums. Some are also eaten as meat. The hunt was featured in the movie "The Cove," which won this year's Academy Award for best documentary, and depicted how a handful of fishermen from Taiji herded a group of dolphins into a cove where they stabbed them to death, “turning the waters red with blood” The 70 year old O'Barry has made trips to the village in past years, accompanied by other conservationists, around the beginning of the hunt to express opposition to what they say is “a cruel slaying of animals that are as intelligent as human beings.” He plans to take a petition signed by 1.7 million people from 155 nations demanding the end of the dolphin hunt to the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo. Tokyo police will escort him for security reasons escorted by police security because of threats from an ultranationalist group. A planned trip to bring it to the Japanese Fisheries Ministries was canceled on advice of Japanese police. http://www.nation.com.pk/pakistan-news-newspaper-daily-english-online/Karachi/29-Aug-2010/Sindh-govt-orders-release-of-442-Indian-fishermen Sindh government on Saturday issued orders for release and repatriation of 442 Indian fishermen, including two minors, to their country. They have been under detention in four Jails of the province at District Jail Malir, Karachi Nara Jail Hyderabad, District Jail Badin and District Jail Naushehro Feroz. According to Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum (PFF) and Pakistan Institute Labour Education and Research (PILER), the home department of Sindh government released 442 Indian Fisherman, including two minors. The provincial Home Department issued the notification No SO (PPT) HD/01-09/09, dated 28th August 2010 and ordered repatriation of these Indian Fisherman. A copy of the notification was received by former Attorney General and Federal Minister for Human Rights, Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs whereas, Senator (R) Iqbal Haider and jail authorities have confirmed it. The initiative has been taken after hearing of the constitutional petition filed in the Supreme Court by Piler and PFF, challenging the detention as well as arrest and prosecution of 582 Indian fishermen in various jails of Sindh. Sayed Iqbal Haider, senior advocate of the Supreme Court had been pursuing and arguing this petition in the Supreme Court. The release and repatriation of the first batch of the detained Indian Fisherman will commence from 30th August 2010 Malir Jail at about 8:00 AM, for transfer to Wagah border, Lahore. Justice Nasir Aslam Zahid, Member of the Pak-India Joint Judicial Commission, Senator (R) Iqbal Haider, Senior Advocate of the Petitioners, as well as Chairman PFF Mohammad Ali Shah and PILER team will bid farewell to the detained Indian fishermen at the Malir Prison at 8:00 AM. Meanwhile, the Executive Director of PILER Karamat Ali and PFF Chairman Mohammad Ali Shah has congratulated all the released Indian fishermen. Besides, peace activists of both sides have hoped that India would reciprocate this gesture of goodwill by releasing over 150 Pakistani fishermen. They also reiterated their demand that arrest of the fishermen by both Indian and Pakistani maritime security agencies and Navies near Sir Creek in must be stopped forthwith and a mechanism should be evolved so that in case of violation of un-demarcated borders in Arabian sea by fishermen, they should be released after giving them warnings. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/mumbai/UNDP-steps-in-to-save-marine-sanctuary/articleshow/6458311.cms The state forest department has been unable to conserve the first marine sanctuary of Maharashtra at Malwan in Sindhudurg. Recently, the United National Development Programme (UNDP) sanctioned a fund of Rs 25 crore, which will provide alternative means of livelihood to the fishermen who operate in the core zone of the sanctuary and disturb the flora and fauna. Forest officials are hoping that once fishing is stopped, the sanctuary and underwater life will be preserved. The forest officials have also drawn up a plan to save the vultures in the marine sanctuary and are planning to finance the conservation programme with UNDP funds. The measures will also preserve the swift (a small bird similar to the barn swallow) population that uses the sanctuary area for nesting. Malwan is the first marine sanctuary in India to get UNDP aid. Prior to this, the UNDP gave financial aid to a sanctuary in the Gulf of Munnar. Sawantwadi's former deputy conservator of forests Naresh Zurmure told TOI, "The marine sanctuary was sanctioned by the government in 1987. Soon after the notification, our guards started enforcing the law in the sanctuary. But they were met with stiff opposition and finally they gave up.'' Soon after Zurmure took over three years ago, he started drawing up a plan. "We wanted to make the fishermen self-sufficient and provide them with alternative means of livelihood in the field of tourism. They were given boats with glass floors and taught aquaculture, floriculture and coconut thatching. We also acquainted them with other cottage industries like production of kokum sherbet, kokum spread and alphonso juice,'' Zurmure added. The sanctuary plan faced a lot of opposition from politicians who say that the fishermen would be dislocated. The work of rehabilitating the fishing communities is being carried out with the help of a consultant Sarang Kulkarni. Locals are also being trained to run small lodges with bed and breakfast packages. According to forest officials, once the villagers are given training in promoting tourism, their income will increase and their dependence on fishing will reduce. The Malwan fort built by Chhatrapati Shivaji is located in the same area. "We plan to demarcate the area into a historical zone that will comprise the fort and a tourism zone where fishermen can start related activities,'' the officials said. The marine sanctuary is spread over 22 islands called Bertland Island series, but only four are accessed regularly. The islands have swift nesting. The Chinese have been taking the help of locals to steal the nests that are used in soups and some medicines. "The Chinese and the Japanese use the swift's nest as an aphrodisiac. Once the fishermen get alternative jobs and we increase the security cover in the islands, the birds will be protected,'' said Zurmure. The islands and the coast of the marine sanctuary are also used by Olive Ridley turtles for nesting. In 2008, the turtles laid 1,302 eggs and 1,129 hatched. In 2009, about 1,500 eggs were laid and 1,234 hatched. The reduction in fishing activity will also preserve the turtle population. The forest department has proposed that an officer of the assistant conservator of forest rank should be posted to supervise the sanctuary. A faster patrol vessel to ward off fishing boats and a small motorboat to be used by a forester would also be provided. According to the plan, the security staff at the sanctuary must be chosen from the fishing community. Besides, an anti-poaching unit of retired Navy and Coast Guard personnel will help reduce anti-wildlife activities, including the smuggling of swifts' nests. http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/regional/artikel.php?ID=189446 Members of the Ghana Inshore Fisheries Association (GIFA) have reiterated their call on the Ministry of Agriculture to ensure the total enforcement of the fisheries regulation. The regulation has banned the use of under-sized fishing nets and light fishing among other fishing methods. Mr Joe Klamoh, the Tema District President of GIFA, told the Ghana News Agency in an interview on Monday that without proper enforcement, the regulation would not yield the expected result since only a few would adhere to it. Mr Klamoh explained that whereas the regulation stated clearly that under-sized nets with less than 25mm mesh size should not be used for fishing, some fishermen are using them. He expressed regret that 93even though members of GIFA are adhering to the directives, others are using the under-sized nets, as well as mosquito nets to fish". Mr Klamoh said about 8,000 out of 13,000 canoes being manned by artisan fishermen on Ghana's waters were actively using lower sized nets contrary to the regulation. He said the practice resulted in the catching of fingerlings which should have been left to grow. Mr Klamoh said other banned fishing methods such as the use of light in fishing and pair trawling were still being practised. He called on all fishermen to use the best methods in fishing, as well as strictly comply with the fishing regulation, to protect the fingerlings and ensure better catch. Mr Klamoh appealed to the government to properly equip the Ghana Navy with logistics to help them patrol the country's waters to apprehend those who contravened the directives. http://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/Article.aspx/1881864?UserKey=#ixzz0yFcgX4xV Signs of a major rift between north-east fishermen and processors have emerged. Last night, an Aberdeen businessman lambasted the Scottish response to an escalating row over Icelandic and Faroese mackerel quotas. Andrew Charles, who runs Torry-based seafood firm J. Charles, said he was disappointed by the actions of protesting fishermen who stopped a Faroese vessel off-loading her catch at Peterhead earlier this week. He said the Scottish Government and fishing industry should be targeting their wrath at failed European Union fishing policy and not at the Faroe Islands. Mr Charles said Faroe ought to be lauded for its record on fisheries management, and claimed Scottish supermarket shelves would be 60-70% devoid of fish if there were no imports of Icelandic and Faroese fish. Recent protests – from both fishermen and Holyrood – were an “ill-judged” attack on the countries, he said, adding: “The Faroese know a lot more about fish stocks than the often subjective scientists whose data is used by the European Commission.” According to Mr Charles, the owners of the Faroese boat forced to leave Peterhead with her holds full of mackerel on Tuesday should get compensation. Iceland and Faroe claim there is more fish in the sea than scientists suggest and have complained their original quotas took no account of fish movements due to climate change. Iceland’s fisheries ministry yesterday revealed new data showing a large increase in mackerel in its waters. But the uproar gathered pace as Scottish Tory MEP Struan Stevenson called for an immediate EU-wide blockade of Icelandic and Faroese ships and goods. He also wants Faroese fisheries ministers to be summoned to Brussels for talks. Mr Stevenson said: “Iceland and the Faroes are acting just like their Viking ancestors, only this time it’s our mackerel they're plundering. “So far they have obstinately refused to bring their quotas down to sensible levels, so I believe the EU must apply maximum pressure to bring them back to the table.” Other processors were reluctant to comment but Shetland Catch managing director Simon Leiper said he fully supported the protest at Peterhead this week. Peterhead-based Caley Fisheries has processing and catching interests and Stephen Jon Buchan, its operations manager, said he recognised merit in both sides of the fishing dispute. Seafood industry body Seafood Scotland said it stood fully behind moves by the Scottish, UK, EU and Norwegian governments to resolve the matter quickly. Catch sector leaders fear the actions of Iceland and Faroe will threaten the viability of Scotland’s pelagic (mainly mackerel and herring) fleet. Scottish Pelagic Fishermen’s Association chief executive Ian Gatt said it was vital the countries respect longstanding international agreements. Scottish Fishermen’s Federation chief executive Bertie Armstrong said: “The actions of Iceland and Faroes amount to an abandonment of rational fisheries management. This cannot be tolerated by the other states with an interest in continued sustainable catching of mackerel.” A Scottish Government spokesman said: “The sooner everyone can come to the negotiating table, the better.” http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2014161,00.html#ixzz0yCjpUnTk The water separating Iceland from the rest of Europe has been choppy these past few years. After Iceland's banks collapsed in 2008, the British government used anti-terrorism laws to force Reykjavik to agree to compensation for U.K. and Dutch account holders. When one of Iceland's many volcanoes spewed an ash cloud westwards in April, it grounded European air traffic for a week. Now there is a new feud between the two and this time it is about the sea itself: Iceland — along with the tiny Faroe Islands nearby — has started trawling for mackerel, a stock that Norway and the E.U. insist is over-fished. After Iceland unilaterally raised its mackerel quota from 2,000 to 130,000 tons for the year in early August, and the Faroes raised their 25,000-ton quota to 85,000 tons, the outraged Scottish Fisheries Minister Richard Lochhead accused them of "hoovering up" stock, and warned that Iceland was jeopardizing its ambition to join the E.U. Last week, as the so-called mackerel war flared up again, a Faroes-registered trawler was blocked by local fishermen as it attempted to offload its $620,000 catch at the Scottish port of Peterhead. Scottish member of the European Parliament Struan Stevenson has called for an E.U.-wide blockade of Icelandic and Faroese ships. "This is wholly irresponsible and bizarre," says Stevenson. "Iceland and the Faroes are plundering stocks just like their Viking ancestors." (See a story on the crackdown on ocean pirate fishermen.) Environmental groups have also chimed in. The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) said Aug. 19 that Iceland and the Faroes' combined quotas would result in the fish being exploited 35% above the recommendation set by the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea. WWF added that this would spell a "death sentence" for the region's mackerel population. The Marine Stewardship Council, which issues fishery certification programs, said that if the fishing continued at this rate, mackerel would start to fall below sustainable levels by 2012. (Read about conservation issues surrounding shark-fin soup.) But Iceland insists it's justified in upping its quota. The Federation of Icelandic Fishing Vessel Owners said that it "has every right to fish for mackerel within the Icelandic jurisdiction," while Iceland's fisheries minister Jon Bjarnason dismissed as "preposterous" allegations that it was over-fishing mackerel. Yet the furious reactions from the rest of Europe, and from conservationists, show that the hiked mackerel quotas have put Iceland and the Faroes in hot water. Mackerel is by no means the only fish stock under pressure, and until recently, it was considered one of the better-managed North Sea stocks. But with fishermen feeling the squeeze across Europe, this row is being seen as a harbinger for bigger fish tiffs to come. (See the top 10 animal stories of 2009.) Part of the problem is climate change. The mackerel are seeking colder seas, and have migrated en masse to the more northerly waters around Iceland and the Faroes — whose catch quotas were originally based on the idea that their fishermen wouldn't have access to, or go looking for, mackerel. But it is also due to the overall collapse in many fish stocks in European waters, as innovations such as sonar, driftnets and industrial freezer-trawlers have made fishing too easy, putting many stocks in a vulnerable position. At the same time, policy tools have yet to be applied to prevent over-fishing. The E.U. has faced particular difficulties in devising policies to parcel up fisheries while keeping a lid on overall catches. In 1983, the E.U. set up its Common Fisheries Policy (CFP), which limits how long a boat can be at sea and sets quotas on how much it can catch. But last year, the European Commission itself admitted that the CFP had failed: In a sobering policy paper, it said too many boats were chasing too few fish, meaning that 88% of commercially caught species were being fished beyond their maximum sustainable yield, compared to 25% elsewhere in the world. The CFP also unintentionally encourages discards or "bycatch," which sees fishermen throwing millions of tons of dead fish back into the sea because they are not a stock the fishermen are authorized to catch. The WWF estimates that while 40,000 tons of cod are landed by E.U. fishermen each year, up to 26,000 tons of cod is discarded. As a result, after years of chronic over-fishing, exacerbated by poor controls and feeble fines, many species — cod and hake, for example — are depleted in certain E.U. waters. Nonetheless, there is still money in fishing. On Aug. 25, six Scottish trawler skippers admitted to taking part in a $22 million scam to beat quotas on how many fish they could land. "[Fishing] is a multi-million dollar business," says Mike Walker, senior associate at the E.U. Marine Program of the Pew Environment Group. "As long as there is money in it, we can expect more disputes like [the one between Iceland and Europe] over the next few years." But North Sea and Atlantic fishermen simply don't see their stocks as a finite resource that needs to be nurtured, says Isabella Loevin, a Swedish MEP and author of Silent Seas, a 2007 critique of the CFP. She says that as long as fish is seen as a common good — by the E.U.'s member states, Iceland, and the Faroes — no one has an incentive to restrict how much they take out of the sea. "There are no votes to be won in telling fishermen that they have to cut their catches," she says. "Everyone points their fingers at everyone else and saying, 'If they don't stop fishing, why should we?'" And unless there is a sea change in fishing — from the industry and governments — squalls like the one between Iceland and Europe are likely to become more frequent.