The UK Geoenergy Observatories project was formerly known as the Energy Security & Innovation Observing System for the Subsurface (ESIOS).
Jul52017
Jul52017
News story: Fine of £2,367.40 imposed for fisheries offences
On 23 June 2017 Robert Nye, master of the Scottish registered fishing vessel Rebecca KY982 pleaded guilty to an offence under the Fisheries Act 1981 at North Tyneside Magistrates’ Court.
The court heard that on 25 October 2017 the vessel was offloading its catch at North Shields when it was inspected by MMO Officers. During the inspection 47% of the contents of the 7 boxes of nephrops inspected were found to contain catch below the minimum conservation reference size. A Fixed Administrative Penalty was issued to the master and owner at the time but this was not paid within the required 28 days.
The vessel master, Robert Nye, was fined £375 with an additional £479.40 representing the value of the illegal catch, £910.50 costs and a victim surcharge of £37.50.
The court also heard how the vessel’s owner Russel Ritchie, who was not on board the vessel at the time of the offence, was on 9 June 2017 fined £125, with £410 costs and a victim surcharge of £30.
A spokesman for the MMO said:
“Regulations governing the minimum sizes for landings of fish are in place to protect juvenile fish in order that there is a sustainable fishery for this and future generations of fishermen. The MMO will take appropriate and proportionate enforcement action including pursuing and bringing prosecutions to court to protect the long term viability of the marine environment for future generations.”
In this case the owner and master were initially given the opportunity by the MMO to pay a £500 Fixed Administrative Penalty (FAP) in lieu of prosecution. The failure to make the payment within the required 28 days has resulted in them being prosecuted. The court considered the offences to be serious and collectively imposed financial penalties of over four times the amount of the FAP at a total cost of £2,367.40. This demonstrates both the consequences of not adhering to fisheries regulations and the importance of paying penalties within the required timescales.”
Jul52017
News story: Fine of £2,367.40 imposed for fisheries offences
On 23 June 2017 Robert Nye, master of the Scottish registered fishing vessel Rebecca KY982 pleaded guilty to an offence under the Fisheries Act 1981 at North Tyneside Magistrates’ Court.
The court heard that on 25 October 2017 the vessel was offloading its catch at North Shields when it was inspected by MMO Officers. During the inspection 47% of the contents of the 7 boxes of nephrops inspected were found to contain catch below the minimum conservation reference size. A Fixed Administrative Penalty was issued to the master and owner at the time but this was not paid within the required 28 days.
The vessel master, Robert Nye, was fined £375 with an additional £479.40 representing the value of the illegal catch, £910.50 costs and a victim surcharge of £37.50.
The court also heard how the vessel’s owner Russel Ritchie, who was not on board the vessel at the time of the offence, was on 9 June 2017 fined £125, with £410 costs and a victim surcharge of £30.
A spokesman for the MMO said:
“Regulations governing the minimum sizes for landings of fish are in place to protect juvenile fish in order that there is a sustainable fishery for this and future generations of fishermen. The MMO will take appropriate and proportionate enforcement action including pursuing and bringing prosecutions to court to protect the long term viability of the marine environment for future generations.”
In this case the owner and master were initially given the opportunity by the MMO to pay a £500 Fixed Administrative Penalty (FAP) in lieu of prosecution. The failure to make the payment within the required 28 days has resulted in them being prosecuted. The court considered the offences to be serious and collectively imposed financial penalties of over four times the amount of the FAP at a total cost of £2,367.40. This demonstrates both the consequences of not adhering to fisheries regulations and the importance of paying penalties within the required timescales.”
Jul52017
Children in West and Central Africa moving in greater numbers than ever before, finds UN report
5 July 2017 – With more than seven million children in West and Central Africa uprooted from their homes each year due to violence, poverty and climate change, and projections that this number will continue to rise, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has called for greater efforts to ensure that migrant and displaced children are protected from exploitation and abuse.
In its latest report, In Search of Opportunities: Voices of children on the move in West and Central Africa, the UN agency noted that almost a third of that number remained in Sub-Saharan Africa and less than one in five headed to Europe.
“Children in West and Central Africa are moving in greater numbers than ever before […], majority of them within Africa, not to Europe or elsewhere,” Marie-Pierre Poirier, UNICEF’s Regional Director for the region, said in a news release announcing the findings.
“We must broaden the discussion on migration to encompass the vulnerabilities of all children on the move and expand systems to protect them, in all their intended destinations.”
The report, based on a series of interviews with migrants and their families from several countries, has revealed a complex set of drivers for migration beyond poverty.
In addition to conflict, insecurity, poverty and lack of services, climate change is also forcing many in West and Central Africa to leave their homes.
Furthermore, with estimates that the region could see a three to four degree Celsius rise in temperature this century – more than one and a half times higher than anywhere else in the world – increased tensions and hostilities over access to resources could push even greater numbers of people to move elsewhere.
In the midst of such projections, the region’s lack of sufficient protection systems – both within and across borders – to ensure the safety and wellbeing of refugee and migrant children is particularly concerning, said UNICEF in the news release, calling on policy makers to place children at the centre of any response to migration.
“This can be done by strengthening the chain of protection for children between countries of origin, transit and destination,” noted the UN agency.
“The close cooperation of governments, UN, and non-governmental partners is critical in to ensure children’s access to healthcare, education and other essential services, regardless of their migration status,” it added.
UNICEF has also called on all governments, in the region, in Europe and elsewhere to adopt the six-point Agenda for Action for the protection of refugee and migrant children.
The Agenda for Action calls for greater protection of child refugees and migrants, particularly unaccompanied children, from exploitation and violence; ending detention of children seeking refugee status or migrating, by introducing a range of practical alternatives; keeping families together as the best way to protect children and give children legal status; keeping all refugee and migrant children learning and give them access to health and other quality services; acting on the underlying causes of large scale movements of refugees and migrants; and promoting measures to combat xenophobia, discrimination and marginalisation in countries of transit and destination.
Jul52017
News story: Minister of State for Asia & the Pacific summons DPRK ambassador
Following the meeting, Minister of State for Asia and the Pacific Mark Field MP said:
I summoned North Korea’s Ambassador today to stress in the strongest terms the UK’s condemnation of their latest missile launch.
The actions of the DPRK are a direct violation of multiple Security Council resolutions and are a threat to regional and international security. The UK will discuss the international community’s response at today’s emergency meeting of the UN Security Council.
I call on the North Korean regime to change course and focus on the welfare of its people, instead of the illegal pursuit of its nuclear and ballistic missile programmes.