Ben Yami

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• Small-scale fisheries revisited

  A short report on India’s fisheries published by the International Collective in Support of Fishworkers (ICSF) awakened me to the disproportionately small share of information and discussion in most fisheries press, and the relatively little research effort focusing on small-scale/artisanal fisheries (SSF). 02 Feb 2010

• French fisheries and CFP discussed at Lorient workshop

  The fishing community of Lorient met on World Fisheries Day (21 November) at a two-day workshop, which for the last 12 years has been organised by the French NGO Collectif Peche & Developpement (P&D) and is held at a different port each year, reports Menakhem Ben-Yami. 21 Jan 2010

• Obama, Lubchenko and catch shares: who benefits?

  According to an official announcement by the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), in June 2009 President Obama committed his administration to “integrated and comprehensive national ocean policy, incorporating programs to help rebuild fisheries and sustain fishermen, communities and vibrant working waterfronts, including the cultural and resource access traditions”. 21 Jan 2010

• Computers in fisheries research: friend or foe?

  To err is human; to really foul things up needs a computer… 01 Dec 2009

• Koenigsberg-Kaliningrad

  “And you are crestfallen, no hope you can raise, Seawater will creep in your veins, But waves of the ocean forever will praise Your glory, your death and your pains.” (After an old Russian naval song – G. Zaytsev, transl) 01 Nov 2009

• Saving habitats from inertia

  The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) recently published a report entitled: "Our Living Oceans: Habitat" (online version available at http://spo.nwr.noaa.gov/TM83.pdf). 01 Oct 2009

• A new El Niño looming – but how strong?

  Worrying news - US National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) scientists have now confirmed that their satellite data indicates development in the central Pacific Ocean of a new El Niño of not yet known strength and duration, reports Menakhem Ben-Yami. New technology enables forecasting El Niño months in advance, although forecasts are imperfect. 01 Sep 2009

• EU Green Paper part 2

  Last month, this column dealt with only a few of the subjects brought up by the EU’s 2009 Green Paper (GP). Here are some more: 01 Sep 2009

• EU Green Paper

  According to its authors, the recent EU Green Paper (GP), together with contributions from stakeholder organisations, the research community, Member State governments, civil society and third countries, should form the basis of a public debate on the future Common Fisheries Policy (CFP). 01 Aug 2009

• A deadly combination

  "Just abuse or semi-slavery" - news such as this coming from South Africa on the abuse of Vietnamese and Indonesian crews onboard oceanic fishing vessels and previous ones of the labour conditions onboard Scottish and Irish fishing vessels on one hand, and those on the persisting reality of illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing, on the other, indicate an emergence of a deadly combination. 01 Jul 2009

• Mathematics and selective fishing

  This column is going to be a continuation of my previous one, for the voices questioning some of the management means and the very science underlying them are heard loud and clear and more and more often. 01 Jun 2009

• Reinforcements from Russia and America

  Here, at World Fishing, we have often brought up opinions questioning the ongoing fishery management methodology and management by quotas, as well as the underlying science, including the issue of relationship between the size of spawning stocks (SSB) and recruitment, the consequences of sustained size-selective fishing, and the validity of stock-assessment models that ignore non-fishing (man-made and climatic) factors and the dynamics of natural mortality. Such scepticism has been recently reinforced on two fronts. 01 May 2009

• What certification?

  The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) that was one of the parents of the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) appears to be all set to spawn another fish watcher - the Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC). 01 Apr 2009

• The sinking of the Patriot

  Skipper Matteo Russo and his father-in-law, John Orlando, died early the morning of 3 January when their 16.5-m trawler, Patriot, sank somewhere off Gloucester, Massachusetts in fair weather and moderate sea. 01 Mar 2009

• Farming in troubled waters

  Chile’s salmon farming industry is deep in trouble. Chile's marine aquaculture has been a big business following a 15-year development, despite being a relatively late-comer to the salmon industry. 01 Feb 2009