EU Fisheries Council 17-18 December. North Sea and Atlantic quotas – Joint NGO position

In our joint letter, policy annex and TAC recommendation annex The Fisheries Secretariat along with The Pew Charitable Trusts, Seas At Risk, Oceana, ClientEarth, and Our Fish have agreed joint recommendations ahead of the December Council at which TACs will be set for over 100 stocks in the North Sea and Northeast Atlantic.

The MSY obligation, all stocks managed with a sustainable fishing mortality in order to achieve biomass of Bmsy by 2020, is under serious threat of not being met. This is the penultimate Council meeting at which quotas will be set before the deadline.

We also make recommendations regarding TAC rollovers for 'statement stocks', as well as recommendations for stocks without a TAC.

In addition, we cover setting TACs in the context of the landing obligation and improving the transparency and accountability of setting fishing limits.

The Fisheries Council will conclude on 18 December
Published on December 7, 2018