Fisheries ministers agree deal to slash catches
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Your support makes all the difference.North Sea fishermen will be allowed no more than 15 days a month at sea and will have to slash their catches of cod by 45 per cent, after EU ministers agreed the most drastic measures yet to protect fish stocks.
The deal, which was reached after five days of negotiations in Brussels, provoked a furious reaction from fishermen's organisations. But EU officials said it was a vital if species were to be saved from extinction.
Under the plans North Sea fishermen will be able to spend just nine days a month fishing, with an additional two days to travel to and from fishing grounds. This could be increased to a maximum of 15 days if the fleet scraps one fifth of its boats in exchange for compensation and retraining.
In a concession to the Scottish fishing industry, which has said it faces ruin, vessels of under 10 metres will be exempted, allowing smaller boats to escape the restrictions. The 15 EU countries will also start to reform the common fisheries policy and will remove subsidies for modernising fishing fleets within two years.
Ross Finnie, Fisheries minister in the Scottish Parliament, admitted the deal would cause hardship but stressed it was a significant improvement on the original proposals for a total cod ban. Ministers had fought to improve the plight of the North Sea fishermen, but also accepted the scientific predictions of a looming crisis in stocks of white fish.
Had EU fisheries ministers failed to reach a deal, the European Commission could have imposed a temporary solution, up to and including a total ban. And the deal is better for the fishermen than the 65 per cent cut reduction and seven days at sea on offer 48 hours ago. Initially the European Commission had proposed an 80 per cent cut in cod catches.
These changes led environmentalists to argue that the concession was a "death sentence for cod". Julian Scola of the World Wildlife Fund's European fisheries campaign said: "What the EU is doing is to allow that cod could become commercially extinct. Germany and Sweden voted against the plan arguing for tougher measures.
The deal will reduce the cod catch from 49,300 tonnes to 27,300 tonnes while whiting catches in the North Sea fall to a total of 16,000 tonnes from 41,000 tonnes. The haddock catch is limited to 51,000 tonnes, down from 104,000 tonnes.
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