EU Fisheries Commission Will Allow 30% INCREASE In N. Sea Cod - Decision "Farce", Says Greenpeace

[hatrack]

Environmental campaigners were divided this evening over plans announced by the European Commission to increase the amount of cod taken from the over-fished North Sea. Greenpeace said the 30% increase in the North Sea cod quota for next year was a "farce" and could see the fishery face total collapse. But WWF welcomed new efforts to reduce the amount of fish caught and then dumped, and said the plans were a "step in the right direction".

The cod quota for the North Sea was announced today in Brussels, as part of a package of deals for fisheries across European waters. As well as a 30% increase in North Sea cod quotas, the agreement allows UK fishermen to land 32% more mackerel, 13% more North Sea plaice and 8% more monkfish off the Scottish west coast.

Huw Irranca-Davies, fisheries minister, said: "This is a fair deal overall for the UK, balancing the needs of our fishermen to make a living with the need to protect fish stocks for the future and prevent huge amounts of what they catch having to be thrown back dead into the sea."

Giles Bartlett, fisheries policy officer at WWF-UK, said the deal made the first serious attempt to focus on the number of fish taken out of the sea, rather than the amount landed - what the quotas refer to. He said 2008 quotas allowed some 22,000 tonnes of North Sea cod to be landed, while closer to 38,000 tonnes of the fish were actually caught. Fish caught but not landed were dumped, dead, back into the sea.

EDIT

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/dec/19/fishing

[n2doc]

1. Looks like they want to destroy the whole thing.

Which is what will happen. Probably will be blamed on "global warming" and not our greed. Enjoy it , fish conglomerates, because in a few years you will be closing shop.

[Double T]

2. Take more when there are already dwindling fisk stocks.

Makes sense if your a greedy idiot that doesn't give a damn about the environment or potential collapse of a species.. Soon there will be NONE, then WTF are the idiots going to do?

[kristopher]

3. First, it is difficult to fish a pelagic species to extinction

Second, if the article is representing the facts properly, how is this going to cause a higher rate of mortality among the species being taken? As I understand it, all this does is permit them to bring to shore that are already being caught. Do you think that it's a lie? I don't. By-catch is a significant issue and it is bureaucratic stupidity to waste fish that we are already killing.

[Nihil]

4. I think people need to read the article rather than the Greenpeace quote.

> As I understand it, all this does is permit them to bring to shore that are
> already being caught.

This is exactly right. The article explains this a lot more than the (necessarily short)
extract in the OP.

e.g.,

>> He said 2008 quotas allowed some 22,000 tonnes of North Sea cod to be landed,
>> while closer to 38,000 tonnes of the fish were actually caught. Fish caught
>> but not landed were dumped, dead, back into the sea.

>> Under the new deal, the total amount of North Sea cod killed is supposed to
>> fall by a quarter. "There has never been any incentive to catch less fish"


> By-catch is a significant issue and it is bureaucratic stupidity to waste fish
> that we are already killing.

Whilst it is aggravating to recall how long the bureaucracy has been *promoting*
this idiocy, at least things look like they are catching up with the real world.

Mind you, for this to work:
It will need reliable observers (hey Greenpeace, do something useful here maybe?).
It will need enforcement (what are those "Fishery Protection Vessels" for anyway?).
It will need harsh punishment for each and every infraction, regardless of what
excuse is offered - or what nation is involved - and this will include things like
"Oh dear, did the monitoring CCTV camera break again?" with a zero tolerance approach.

My doubts remain over the above three points but maybe I'll try optimism this time?

(Shit. I've just agreed with Kristopher again ... it must be Christmas! :P )

[kristopher]

5. Some say it is the season for miracles...

But personally I suspect we disagree on little other than the way to address the climate crisis.

[Double T]

6. With a global human population increasing by 50% over the next several decades........

many land and sea species will cease to exist due to overkill and overfishing. It is bureaucratic stupidity to over fish ANY and ALL fish stocks. Sharks are on deck with many other species to follow.