wild places | wild happenings | wild news
make a difference for our wild places

home | links | search the site
  all articles latest | past | articles by topics | search wildnews
wild news on wildsingapore
  WWF 22 Dec 05
EU Fish quotas are bad news for cod

 WWF 16 Dec 05
Deep sea fisheries being threatened by overfishing

Brussels, Belgium – As EU Fisheries Ministers prepare to meet in Brussels on 20 December for the annual decision on fish quotas, WWF is calling for the total closure of deep sea fisheries in Europe’s waters.

With coastal fisheries being overexploited, fishing fleets are scrambling to exploit species in deeper waters in the North-east Atlantic and around the Azores.

But deep-sea fish stocks are extremely sensitive to any fishing pressure, as they are slow growing and take many years to reach maturity. In addition, deepwater shark stocks, such as the leafscale gulper shark and Portuguese dogfish, are collapsing as a result of overfishing. These deepwater sharks have been falling to approximately 20 per cent of original levels in less than ten years.

“The continuous disregard of by the EU Fisheries Council and the European Commission of scientific advice is causing the collapse of stock after stock in European waters,” said Charlotte Mogensen, Fisheries Policy Officer at WWF's European Policy Office.

“Closing all deep water fisheries is the only solution to save the deep sea fish stocks, as existing EU management measures such as quotas have done nothing to prevent collapse.” In October, the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) advised zero-catch for deep water sharks in 2006, but the European Commission has not proposed any measure to start the recovery of these stocks.

While ministers are expected to halt deep water gillnet fishery in the North-East Atlantic, an immediate end to all deep sea fisheries is needed to halt further stock depletion.

“The European Commission’s proposal for total allowable catches and quotas for 2006 is largely ignoring the scientific advice,” added Charlotte Mogensen. “Yet again, the EU is jeopardizing the recovery of several other fish stocks such as North-Sea cod and spurdog, for which ICES has advised zero-catch."

WWF 22 Dec 05
EU Fish quotas are bad news for cod

Brussels, Belgium – WWF warns that fish stocks are at risk of collapse after ministers at a EU Fisheries Council meeting have yet again ignored dire warnings from marine scientists to set quotas for cod and other fish above sustainable levels of fishing.

Despite the last several years of scientific advice recommending zero catch for cod, the EU Fisheries Council has once again given a green light to fishing cod in the North Sea.

Not only has the quota for the last three years in total been above 81,000 tonnes, but the 2006 quotas for other fish stocks with significant accidental catches of cod have also increased compared to last year.

According to the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES), North Sea cod suffers reduced reproductive capacity and is being harvested unsustainably. Zero catch is therefore recommended to avoid further depletion of the stock.

“It makes no sense to allow fishing on a stock which has collapsed,” said Charlotte Mogensen, Fisheries Policy Officer at WWF's European Policy Office. “Now it is clear that cod has no chance of recovering and this is just the first of many fish stocks that we are losing because of the mismanagement of European fisheries.”

With 80 per cent of commercial fish species in EU waters now below safe biological limits or classified as being at risk of overfishing, the EU must listen and respond to ICES advice.

“If the EU continues this madness of setting quotas above what the species can support, other fish stocks will follow the same route to collapse as cod in the North Sea," added Mogensen.

Other populations at risk of collapse include spurdog, skates and rays in the North Sea, and leafscale gulper sharks and Portuguese dogfish.
links
Related articles on wild shores
about the site | email ria
  News articles are reproduced for non-profit educational purposes.
 

website©ria tan 2003 www.wildsingapore.com