Fishing lobbies gear up for new battle over EU stocks

Date: 21/11/1996

By Michael Mann

SCIENTISTS are calling for further sweeping cuts in quotas for several key fish stocks in 1997 as the annual battle between conservationists and fishermen hots up.

Already fighting proposals for severe reductions in fishing capacity, fishermen now face the prospect of further cuts in Total Allowable Catches (TACs) for several cod stocks, plus a number of other species in the western English Channel, the North Sea and Celtic Sea.

Fisheries Commissioner Emma Bonino will use the recommendations from the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) as the basis for the TAC proposals she will present to ministers in the coming weeks.

These will set limits on the quantity of each species EU fishermen are allowed to catch, in addition to the proposed fleet reductions which are already the subject of heated debate.

Traditionally, what finally emerges at December's meeting of fisheries ministers is an uneasy compromise between scientific recommendations and the political imperative to keep the fishing industry happy.

ICES picks out cod stocks as being of greatest concern. Research shows that stocks in the North Sea, Skagerrak/ Kattegat and eastern English Channel are “outside safe biological limits”.

The crisis facing one of the staples of the EU fishing sector appears to be deepening. “A number of cod stocks in the North Atlantic have become depleted or have collapsed at fishing mortalities lower than those currently affecting the North Sea stock,” says ICES.

The Commission is expected to propose cutting the cod TAC in the North Sea from 130,000 tonnes to 114,800 tonnes, and reducing the sole TAC by about a third to 14,600 tonnes.

ICES is calling for a reduction in mortality rates of at least 20&percent; for some other stocks in Union waters, including plaice in the western English Channel, and migratory species in northern waters.

Matters are even worse in the Irish Sea, where scientific advice suggests cutting cod catches to 70&percent; of 1994 levels and sole catches to just 800 tonnes in 1997.

Hake and sardine fisheries in Iberian waters and redfish in the north-east Atlantic should be reduced to the lowest possible levels to allow stocks to recover, the report concludes.

Greenland halibut is in the news again. So severe have shortages of this species become in the north-east Arctic that ICES wants fishing to stop altogether next year.

Meanwhile, fishermen, non-governmental organisations, EU institutions and 16 non-EU countries will meet at a three-day conference beginning in Venice next Wednesday (27 November) to discuss the looming crisis in Mediterranean fisheries.

Although there is general acknowledgement of the problems facing the industry, fishermen, environmentalists and policy-makers are far from agreement on any solutions.

Reflecting the serious situation in other waters, fleets in the region have grown by between 4&percent; and 7&percent; every year since 1970. According to what scientific research is available, deep-water species are already overfished, as are certain other key stocks such as anchovy.

Next week's conference will build on the work begun in Heraklion, Crete, in December 1994. But for all the brave words from the Commission and signatory nations two years ago, some suspect a hidden agenda.

While the waters to the north and west of continental Europe remain heavily regulated, management in the Mediterranean is at best patchy and badly implemented.

The recent 'Lassen report', on which the Commission based its dramatic fleet reduction proposals, also called for huge cuts in fishing mortality in the Mediterranean. But talking a number of non-EU governments around to accepting any such measures will be difficult.

Efforts have already been made to harmonise the equipment used, but some countries were not happy to adopt EU standards lock, stock and barrel.