The EU Commission has announced plans for a 6.5 billion-euro fisheries fund from 2014-2020 as part of a long overdue reform of the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP). Fisheries Commissioner Maria Damanaki announced the plans with a strident message: "No more money will be spent to build bigger vessels ... the fund will help small-scale fisheries to become more profitable and more viable. It will reverse the decline of many coastal areas and island communities which are dependent on fishing."

A new report has revealed the Clyde and huge swathes of the West coast as potential sites for offshore wind development.

The Offshore Wind Energy in Scottish Waters scoping report is the outcome of a spatial analysis tool which modelled ‘constraints’ on development, providing a visual map of environmental, heritage and industrial factors that would likely affect planning decisions. It shows that there are two large sections of the Clyde which have been identified as “medium term search interest areas” for offshore wind development.

In late October an estimated 800-900 tonnes of farmed salmon died at The Scottish Salmon Company’s St Molios fish farm in Lamlash Bay. Each fish weighed about 1kg, so up to 100,000 fish may have died, although numbers have not been officially disclosed.

The fish have since been removed by tankers off the island to Widnes in Cheshire for incineration and the Marine Science Fish Health Inspectorate in Aberdeen has confirmed the cause of death to be a severe and relatively uncommon outbreak of amoebic gill disease (AGD).

A second episode of Eurofish TV is now being aired. It contains interviews with EU Fisheries Commissioner Maria Damanaki and Jeremy Percy, Cheif Executive of NUTFA (New Under Tens Fishermen Association). It outlines - in a quirky, engaging way - some of the key issues still on the table as the Common Fisheries Policy is being reformed. Click to watch. It's only ten minutes long...