Officials uphold 'historic' ban on controversial fishing practice: 'Catastrophic and damaging'

Officials uphold 'historic' ban on controversial fishing practice: 'Catastrophic and damaging'

A danger potentially lurking in the waters of the Azores' islands could be reduced after efforts to overturn a landmark fishing ban stalled. According to Mongabay, a law to safeguard Azorean waters went into effect on Jan. 1, 2026, after its initial approval in October 2024. As a result, one-third of the Azorean seascape in the North Atlantic will serve as a 110,800-square-mile marine protected area. Fishing will be banned in fully protected are…

Ban on retaining reef fish bycatch remains

A proposal to allow certain reef fish species taken as bycatch in the fishery in the north of the North Island to be retained and sold by commercial fishers will not go ahead, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says.  “My officials tested a proposal to remove a historic ban that prohibits commercial fishers from retaining 19 non-Quota Management species of reef fish caught as bycatch in these fisheries (FMA 1 and 9). The proposal would ha…