EU Legislation, Initiatives, etc.
Defra: Britain's fishermen will be able to earn extra days at sea under new conservation measures after the European Union (EU) backed UK proposals designed to protect cod stocks and reduce the amount of fish thrown back dead into the sea (discards).
A joint UK-Ireland initiative in the Irish Sea aimed at improving understanding of the state of stocks and avoiding discards was also backed, allowing participating boats to earn extra days at sea.
The deal reached in Brussels this recently by EU fisheries ministers on catch limits and the number of days trawlers can go to sea next year will see some increases in annual quotas as well as further conservation measures designed to protect vulnerable stocks.
Press release ~ Fisheries management: administration of the UK fishing industry ~ Defra: A framework for implementing environmentally responsible fishing policy
Defra: The 'Green List' regulation - which covers the export of non-hazardous recyclable materials from the EU - has been updated to formally record the wishes of countries outside the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) that have expressed an opinion about the recyclable materials they would like to receive. Where a country has not expressed an opinion, agreement must be given on a case-by-case basis.
The aim is to protect these countries from receiving materials they do not want, and the change will also help prevent the export of recyclables to countries which believe they could not process them in an environmentally sound way.
Complementary changes to the Transfrontier Shipment of Waste Regulations will come into effect on 5 February 2008 and will make it an offence for anyone to export material against the specified wishes of non-OECD countries.
