Britain's Royal Society Slams EU Fisheries Policy

[hatrack]

EU fisheries policy 'an outrage'
By Alex Kirby
BBC News Online environment correspondent

"The UK's premier scientific body has now thrown its weight behind efforts to save Europe's declining fish stocks. The Royal Society, Britain's national academy of science, says European Union politicians are gambling with the health of the remaining European fish.

It accuses the politicians of ignoring sound science in continuing to set catch quotas above sustainable levels.

EDIT

In a submission to the consultation by the Prime Minister's Strategy Unit on UK Fisheries, the society says Europe's fish stocks are on the brink of collapse. Cod and haddock are now less than half their strength (of) 30 years ago, with North Sea cod at their lowest recorded leve. Yet EU ministers are agreeing higher quotas for the fleets than the scientists suggest are safe, the submission says.

EDIT

(Ed. - RS vice-president) Professor Bateson told BBC News Online: 'It's tough for the crews, really tough. But if you take the wonderful Newfoundland fishery, the industry said that was fine, and then it collapsed.'"

EDIT

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/3162434.stm

[Submariner]

1. When I took my fisheries courses

in the early 1970's, believe it or not, we were trying to get the word out to New England fishermen, and the Soviet fishing fleet on Georges Bank, that if they didn't slow down the catch rate for haddock, then we might have to eat COD. Oh the humanity...

Cod was a trash fish only 30 years ago. We've gone down the food chain of desirable North Atlantic fishes (i.e., haddock to cod to pollack to white hake to sole to ratfish to whatever). All the big bluefin tuna, marlin, swordfish, and billfishes in general are GONE.

We are an amazingly 'slow to catch on' species, over-exploiting our resources to commercial extinction and then pissing and moaning about it when it is too late turnaround the problem, or when the problem is exponentially more expensive to fix.

The point is that 30 years ago the scientific community started sounding the alarms to prevent what has happened today, but we were discounted as 'Flipper-lovers' or some such bullshit. Now the cat-callers are whaling for their fishing jobs back.

[hatrack]

2. Amazingly, some New England fishermen are looking at . . . .

jellyfish.

Yup, there is a market, both for fishmeal and in some Asian countries.
I can't think of a better illustration of fishing down the chain.

Homo sapiens - "Man, the wise". Uh-huh.