Fishing News

Australian Border Force (ABF) has intercepted a foreign fishing vessel and apprehended seven crew members for allegedly fishing illegally in waters off the Northern Territory, Australia, after Bawinanga Rangers originally sighted the craft near Maningrida.Officers boarded the vessel and seized 750kg of sea cucumber, 30kg of salt used to preserve catch, and fishing equipment.Authorities destroyed the vessel at sea in accordance with Australian law.The fishers have been brought…

Britain's Prince William on Sunday called on world leaders and businesses to take urgent action to protect the planet's oceans, saying it was a challenge "like none we have faced before."Speaking ahead of the U.N. Ocean Conference, which begins in France on Monday, William said rising sea temperatures, plastic pollution and overfishing were putting pressure on fragile ecosystems and the people who depend on them."What once seemed an abundant resource is diminishing before our eyes…

By the time Robbie Roberge spotted the fire consuming his boat's galley last August, he knew he had just minutes to evacuate his beloved Three Girls fishing vessel, named for his daughters.As the flames spread up the boat's walls, he helped his crew into safety suits, deployed a life raft and made a mayday call to alert nearby mariners and the U.S. Coast Guard that he was abandoning ship more than 100 miles offshore.Roberge, a commercial fisherman from South Portland, Maine, learned…

Eighteen Indonesian nationals pleaded guilty to illegally fishing in Australian waters in three separate cases at Darwin Local Court on May 27.Australian authorities apprehended an Indonesian vessel fishing illegally on May 11, 2025, near Croker Island, Northern Territory. Then then apprehended two other Indonesian vessels fishing illegally on May 12, 2025, near the Cobourg Peninsula, Northern Territory.Authorities seized more than 900kg of sea cucumber with a market value up to A$90…

Ten Indonesian nationals pleaded guilty to illegally fishing in Australian waters in separate cases at Darwin Local Court on April 29 and 30, 2025. The first case arose from an incident on April 3, 2025, when Australian authorities identified, intercepted and apprehended an Indonesian vessel fishing illegally near Parry Harbor, Western Australia. Authorities seized 420 kg of sea cucumber, 300 kg of salt used to process and preserve catch, and fishing equipment including a 50-meter line with hooks and a trawling device.

Emirati-Lebanese shipbuilder Privinvest has been granted permission to appeal against Mozambique's victory in a London lawsuit over the decade-old "tuna bond" scandal, its lawyer said on Tuesday.The southeast African country sued Privinvest and its now late owner Iskandar Safa, alleging they paid bribes to Mozambican officials and Credit Suisse bankers to secure favourable terms on three projects in 2013 and 2014, including one designed to exploit Mozambique's tuna-rich coastal waters.London's High Court ruled last July that Mozambique was entitled to payment of just over $825 million from Safa and companies in the Privinvest group, plus an indemnity in relation to $1.5 billion it is liable to pay lenders and bondholders…

Three Chinese nationals were missing from Ghanaian waters and believed to have been kidnapped after a "suspected pirate attack" on their Ghanaian-registered fishing vessel, the West African nation's military said on Saturday.Seven armed people boarded the ship and fired warning shots shortly before 6 p.m. (1800 GMT) on Thursday, the military said in a statement, adding that they had stayed on board for about three hours while some crew members hid.After the suspected pirates left and the crew came out of hiding…

U.S. President Donald Trump’s regulatory freeze has injected chaos and uncertainty into a number of lucrative American fisheries, raising the risk of a delayed start to the fishing season for some East Coast cod and haddock fleets and leading to overfishing of Atlantic bluefin tuna, according to Reuters interviews with industry groups and federal government employees.America’s $320 billion fishing industry relies on a branch of the federal government, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, to manage coastal fisheries.

Researchers at Plymouth Marine Laboratory (PML), alongside colleagues at the University of Aberdeen, found that the majority of UK fishermen feel their livelihoods are being threatened by the rapid expansion of offshore wind farms (OWFs), with impacts felt across all vessel sizes and fleet sectors.The study reveals that while the UK leads globally in offshore wind energy production, providing 45% of European capacity and 24% of global capacity, this growth is creating significant spatial conflicts with the commercial fishing industry as both sectors compete for limited marine space.

The US Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) has finalized guidance aimed at mitigating the impacts of offshore wind energy projects on commercial and for-hire recreational fisheries.It provides a national framework for addressing social and economic impacts on the fishing industry and establishes clear processes for the offshore wind industry to address potential disruptions to fisheries. It ensures consistency and promotes fair treatment of fishermen, regardless of their home or landing port.The guidance emphasizes early engagement and transparency with fishing communities…

Over the past month, the Australian Border Force has intercepted 12 illegal foreign fishing vessels in waters off the Northern Territory, seizing over six tonnes of sea cucumber, 500kg of other catch, and over two tonnes of salt, which is used to preserve the catch.Operation LUNAR is multi-agency operation in the Northern Territory established on December 8, 2024 to target the increase in illegal fishing along the +10,000km of remote Northern Territory coastline.Eleven Indonesian nationals pleaded guilty to illegally fishing in Australian waters at Darwin Local Court on January 7…

Vietnam has protested against China's alleged detention of Vietnamese fishermen and fishing vessels in the contested Paracel Islands in the South China Sea, a foreign ministry spokesperson said on Thursday.Vietnam urged China to "immediately release the fishermen and fishing vessels that were illegally detained", the spokesperson told reporters in a regular press conference, without specifying how many people had been detained or when they had been detained.There was no immediate response from the Chinese foreign ministry to Reuters' questions about the incident.(Reuters)

Nine Indonesian nationals who pleaded guilty to illegally fishing in Australian waters at Darwin Local Court have had their vessel destroyed.On September 19, 2024, Australian authorities apprehended the them as they fished illegally for sea cucumber in the vicinity of Augustus Island, Western Australia.Authorities seized 350 kilograms of sea cucumber worth up to approximately A$30,000 ($20,000 or more than 300 million Indonesian Rupiah) along with 175 kilograms of salt (used for preserving catch) and a large quantity of fishing equipment.

The first US-built trawler-processor for Alaskan pollock in over three decades is now undergoing sea trials in the Northern Pacific, testing an integrated technology package from Kongsberg Discovery tailored to locate, inspect, and engage fish with unparalleled efficiency.The 100-meter-long Arctic Fjord, designed by Kongsberg Maritime and built by Louisiana’s Thoma-Sea Marine Constructor, will start full-time operations for 2024’s pollock A season in the Bering Sea.Speaking ahead of this week’s Pacific Marine Expo in Seattle…

Norway/Uruguay-based Pesquera Azul’s has successfully trialed an innovative catch protection cage in whale-rich waters in the southern Indian Ocean. The company says it is a potential game-changer for the longline fishing industry as it grapples with the challenge of whale depredation.The steady increase in the whale population in sub-Antarctic fishing grounds is hampering the longline fishing industry, especially for fatty fish species. Whales have learned to snatch, for example…

Although the number of fishermen who make a living on the waters of the Great Lakes is much diminished from a half century ago, the region's commercial whitefish fishery continues to be viable and profitable.Henriksen Fisheries is one of about a dozen commercial entities in the Wisconsin waters of Lake Michigan, focused on trap netting whitefish in Green Bay and the waters surrounding the Door Peninsula.Charlie Henriksen started his family-owned fishing business in Door County in 1987.Originally from Illinois…

An emerging technology to fish for lobsters virtually ropeless to prevent whale entanglements is exciting conservationists, but getting a frigid reception from harvesters worried it will drive them out of business and upend their way of life.Injuries to endangered North Atlantic Right Whales ensnared in fishing gear have fueled a prominent campaign by environmental groups to pressure the industry to adopt on-demand equipment that only suspends ropes in the water briefly before traps are pulled from the water.The Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch…

As China sends warships and fighter jets to the Taiwan Strait after a U.S. visit by Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen, deemed a separatist by Beijing, fishing crews plying the narrow waterway say they fret more about their livelihood than politics.For years, Chinese fishermen trawling for fish, shrimp and crab have played cat and mouse with Taiwanese authorities as they closely track boats that near the median line of the Taiwan Strait.Villagers on Pingtan island in China's southeastern Fujian province…

Organized crime in the fisheries industry that endangers stocks, exploits labor and robs states of billions of dollars must be fought with cross-border surveillance and stronger law enforcement, officials meeting in Copenhagen heard on Thursday.Some 600 million people worldwide depend on the sector for their livelihoods, working in a value chain affected by illegal fishing, slave labour, corruption and tax evasion, according to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).Government ministers and delegates attended a conference by the Blue Justice Initiative…

OSLO, March 20 (Reuters) - Norway's Supreme Court ruled on Monday that EU ships cannot fish for snow crab off the Svalbard archipelago in the Arctic in a case also deciding who has the right to explore for oil and minerals in the region.At stake was whether EU vessels had the right to catch snow crab, whose meat is considered a delicacy by gourmets in Japan and South Korea, in the same way as Norwegian vessels did.But what is valid for the snow crab, a sedentary species living on the seabed…

Lobsters versus right whales: The latest chapter in a long quest to make fishing more sustainableMaine lobster fishermen received a Christmas gift from Congress at the end of 2022: A six-year delay on new federal regulations designed to protect critically endangered North Atlantic right whales.The rules would have required lobstermen to create new seasonal nonfishing zones and further reduce their use of vertical ropes to retrieve lobster traps from the seafloor. Entanglement…

International Maritime Organization's (IMO) Secretary-General Kitack Lim has urged states to take action to achieve entry into force of the Cape Town fishing vessel safety agreement, a key international treaty that will establish an international regime for fishing vessel safety.IMO said the agreement would help make fishing safe, sustainable, and legal - and make a significant contribution to the protection of fishers, an unacceptably high number of whom lose their lives every year."We cannot afford to be complacent when it comes to addressing the safety of fishers and fishing vessels…

French fishermen blocked a British cargo vessel from docking in a Brittany port on Friday, in protest at what they say are moves by authorities in London and Jersey to withhold licenses to fish in British waters under a post-Brexit deal.The fishermen held aloft red flares as they circled their boats outside Saint-Malo to block the Normandy Trader's path - a prelude to a planned blockade later on Friday of Calais and the Channel Tunnel, both major transport hubs for trade between Britain and continental Europe.The one-hour Saint-Malo protest and the larger action further east along France's coast risk reigniting a dispute between the…