Ocean Sentry
(From afp.google.com) Brussels- The European Commission called on Monday for cod fishing in the North East Atlantic to be cut by a quarter next year and urged a targeted ban on fishing cod, haddock and whiting off the western coast of Scotland. The European Union”s executive arm said that the proposed cut, which EU fisheries ministers are to discuss in an annual quota setting meeting December 17-19, was necessary in order to protect dwindling fish stocks.
Last year, the commission also proposed a 25-percent cut in cod quotas for this year, but the ministers settled on reductions ranging from nine to 18 percent.
Only in the Celtic Sea south of Ireland were cod stocks considered to be strong enough to support higher quotas with the commission proposing a 25 percent increase there.
In addition to the proposed cut in cod quotas, the commission said that the outright ban on cod, haddock and whiting fishing west of Scotland was needed to reverse a steep decline in stocks over the last 10 years.
The commission also recommended a “substantial reduction” in herring quotas, proposing a 25 percent cut in fishing of west Scotland stocks. The commission called for an outright ban on fishing of spurdog and porbeagle deep-water sharks on account of their “extremely poor biological condition” in the region. It also recommended that anchovy fishing fishing in the Bay of Biscay remain closed next year subject to more scientific data on stocks expected in the spring.
Bluefin tuna fishing quotas in the Mediterranean are currently under discussion at the international level.
