Brussels, Belgium. European Union fisheries ministers agreed after difficulty on fishing levels for 2007, still ignoring scientific advice by setting levels so high that recovery of depleted stocks are at risk.
Landings of cod in the North Sea will decrease with 14 % compared with the level of 2006. ICES, the scientific body assessing and evaluating the stocks, had recommended a zero catch. For the last decades, the levels have been set on average 30 % higher than ICES recommended. This year, the European Commission proposed a 25 % reduction of North Sea cod catches, which the Council decreased to a mere 14 %. In the same time the Council decided to reduce the days at sea by 7 -10 % to be compared with the Commissions proposal of 25 %. This obvious discrepancy of the scientific advice and the decided quotas will keep depleted stocks in degraded states as well as the fishing sector in a continued crisis.
Commissioner Borg commented on the cod recovery plan, in place since 2004, that the plan had not produced improvements. A review of the plan is proposed in 2007.
The northern hake, just recovered to the minimum recommended stock size following a recovery plan, the Council increased the TAC by 20 % following the Commissions proposal of a 15 % increase.
“The ministers in the Council continue to deny depleted stocks recovery. The reform of the Common Fisheries Policy in 2002 aimed for more long-term management. The ministers chose to ignore that in favour of short-term political agreements. If the seas and fish stocks of Europe are to recover, decisions need to be tougher to get in line with other commitments , such as the WSSD targets to restore depleted fish stocks by 2015”, commented Staffan Danielsson, Policy Officer at the Fisheries Secretariat.