19
Dec
Quota discussion highlights
Unsurprisingly final discussions at the EC Fisheries Council in Brussels have resulted in a reprieve from the ‘effective total closure’ proposed for the langoustine and whitefish fishermen on the West coast.
Fishermen will be allowed to continue fishing for prawns and whitefish providing they adopt several conservation measures, including more selective nets, real-time closures of fishing grounds and escape panels in the whitefish trawls.
Key quota moves :
- North Sea and West coast prawn -5%
- North Sea cod +30%
- Haddock -11%
- Whiting and herring -15%
- Mackerel +33%
- West coast monkfish +8%
- West coast megrim +5%
- West coast herring -20%
- Common skate, White and Undulate Ray, Angel Shark ZERO TAC
- Thornback, cuckoo, small eyed and blonde rays -25%
- Spurdog -50%
- Porbeagle -25%
Many of the West coast whitefish quotas have still to be finalised but it is thought that the reductions of cod, haddock and whiting will be less than those initially proposed.
Meanwhile one must remember that irresponsible fishing practices and lack of controls continue to produce record discard rates. In 2007, North Sea fishermen landed 24 thousand tonnes of cod and discarded another 23 thousand tonnes.
Despite the EU commitment last year to reduce discards to 10%, scientists report that by the end of 2008 discard rates will be even higher than last year.
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December 21st, 2008 at 4:30 pm