EU Long-term Plan to Prevent Collapse of Cod Stocks
Date: 01-Dec-05
Country: BELGIUM
Author: Jeremy Smith
In its 2006 plan for fish quotas, the Commission has recommended a number of modest reductions -- far less drastic than in previous years -- coupled with a few seasonal closures of waters to protect species where stocks are dangerously low.
Cod, a tasty dinner dish across Europe but depleted after years of overfishing, is in a slightly less perilous state than last year. The problem is to stop vessels catching species like haddock and monkfish from picking up too much cod by accident.
"Scientific advice indicates that the state of cod (stocks) is not good," said Mireille Thom, the Commission's spokeswoman for fisheries. "The problem is finding ways for fishing to continue without wiping out the stock," she told reporters.
Cuts of up to 15 percent have been proposed for the 2006 cod catch depending on the area, but have been raised for the Baltic where seasonal fishery closures are already in force.
Certain trawlers catching Norway lobster -- a shellfish looking like a cross between a large prawn and small lobster -- and flatfish like plaice will be allowed fewer days at sea.
A two-month closure is planned for Celtic Sea cod fishing.
In the past, bleary-eyed EU fisheries ministers have sat through the night in December to thrash out quotas for the following year. The focus now is on longer-term management.
"The EU is beginning to move away from annual measures and towards setting longer-term quantifiable objectives for ... maintaining safe levels of fish stocks in European waters," the Commission said in a statement.
"This change of approach means that ... major decisions on admissible catch levels are no longer being taken in quite the same way, under very tight deadlines at the end of each year."
EXOTIC FISH UNDER THREAT
The other main fisheries closure the EU plans is for anchovy in the Bay of Biscay, the key trawling ground for the fish living off the North Atlantic coasts of France and Spain.
The fishing ban will run until at least June to give numbers a chance to recover, but if a stock survey in the spring shows the situation has improved, limited fishing may resume.
"The Commission has no choice but to propose a zero quota for 2006. There's no guarantee that the current stocks will survive the winter," Thom said.
Stocks of northern hake are looking better than two years ago so the Commission proposed a small quota increase of three percent. More generous quotas were also planned for species such as herring and mackerel in some areas.
But further quota cuts were proposed for Europe's deepwater fish, exotic but threatened species that are fast becoming an alternative to cod and hake. The Commission wants a 20 percent quota cut on top of the 10 percent cut agreed for 2005.
Bearing names like orange roughy, black scabbardfish and forkbeard, these fish reproduce far more slowly than fish living in shallower waters and are more vulnerable to overfishing.
