Bridges Trade BioRes • Volume 6 • Number 1 • 20th January 2006

Modest Cuts to EU Fish Quotas Enough to Save Cod?

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EU ministers on 22 December agreed after relatively smooth talks to cut catch quotas for cod by 15 percent and to reduce the days of fishing at sea by 3 percent in 2006. While the 15 percent decrease in cod quota corresponds to the European Commission’s original proposal, reductions in fishing quotas for other species such as haddock and monkfish vary between 5 and 10 percent and are smaller than the proposed quota reduction of 15 percent. For fleets that target these species, cod is an accidental by-catch but they are nevertheless responsible for 60 percent of cod catches. To gain the support of countries with strong fishing interests such as the UK, Spain and France, the Commission also reduced seasonal closures of waters from a proposed 15 per cent cut in days at sea to only 3 percent for cod and other species. While the Commission called the state of cod stocks “truly alarming”, pelagic species (i.e. living in open oceans or seas rather than waters adjacent to land or inland waters) are in relatively good condition. Therefore, allowances of prawns were increased by more than 30 percent. The 10 percent cut in days spent at sea hunting for Europe’s exotic but threatened deepwater fish species, which are particularly vulnerable to overfishing due to their slow reproduction rates, was only half of what the Commission had wanted. In order to win support from Mediterranean countries, Fisheries Commissioner Joe Borg also granted a small annual quota of anchovy of 5,000 tonnes in the Bay of Biscay trawling ground, mainly to Spain, in spite of the closure of this depleted area until March 2006.

Scientists have for four years told policy-makers that a blanket ban on cod trawling is needed in areas like the North Sea and western Scottish waters to prevent the species from collapsing following years of over-fishing. However, according to WWF, the 2006 quotas for fish stocks, taking into account significant accidental catches of cod, are even higher on average compared to last year.

“Joe Borg: Council agreement on fishing possibilities for 2006 confirms gradual but sustained approach to stocks recovery,” EU PRESS RELEASE, 22 December 2005; “2006 Fish Quotas: Greater Stability Requires Long-term Commitment to rebuilding depleted stocks,” EU PRESS RELEASE, 30 November 2005; “EU Strikes Deal on Fish Quotas, Aims to Save Cod,” REUTERS, 23 December 2005; “EU Fish quotas are bad news for cod,” WWF, 22 December 2005; “EU deal is good compromise, say Ministers,” FISHUPDATE.COM, 22 December 2005.