Brussels, 16/12/2009 (Agence Europe) - After a gruelling two days of talks, EU Member States' fisheries ministers agreed in principle at around 22.30 hrs on Tuesday 15 December 2009 on fishing quotas (total allowable catches, TACs) for next year in the Atlantic, North Sea and the Channel.
The chair of the meeting, Swedish farm minister Eskil Erlandsson, welcomed the way ministers had agreed on the long-term stock management plans for cod, herring, sole and hake. Fish stocks have to be managed responsibly, explained Erlandsson, pointing out that some quotas had been cut and others increased by a sustainable amount. He said that the EU and Norway would enter negotiations on a fishing agreement party-way through January 2010 and the compromise reached by the EU ministers was only provisional for stocks managed jointly with Norway for the North Sea (herring, cod, haddock, whiting, plaice, saithe and mackerel) et blue whiting.
Joe Borg, EU Fisheries and Maritime Affairs Commissioner, said that the fish stocks had improved slightly for the small number of fish caught according to MSY (maximum sustainable yields), while other stocks are stable and there are signs that there has been a reduction in overfishing. He said he had agreed to some changes to the initial proposals to meet the demands of some Member States, like a 7% increase in the quota for hake; a 12% cut in the quota for blue ling (compared with a 25% cut initially suggested); continuing with the 2009 TAC for cod in the Celtic Sea (compared with a 25% reduction initially suggested); -25% for West Scottish herring, -9% for scampi in the Celtic Sea, -20% for herring to the north and west of Ireland, -20% for sole in the Eastern Channel, -5% for sole in the Western Channel, +10% for sole in the Bay of Biscay and +10% for megrim west of Scotland. For the fish jointly managed by the EU and Norway, the agreement does not give any final figures but suggests 65% of the 2009 quotas apart from Southern mackerel (in the Atlantic), where 90% of the 2009 quota is suggested
The agreement includes a zero TAC for mackerel-shark and a zero TAC for dogfish (along with a 10% TAC for by-catches). The fisheries ministers decided that for anchovy in the Bay of Biscay, the fishing season can open on 1 January 2010 with a TAC of 7,000 tonnes divided among Spanish fishermen (80%) and French fishermen (20%).
For 2010, the agreement foresees a 5% cut in the TAC for scampi in the Bay of Biscay (to 3,899 tonnes), a 15% cut in the TAC for ray (northern and southern stocks) , +15% for southern burbot, -10% for whiting in West Scotland and the Irish Sea, a 7% rise for plaice in the Celtic Sea, a 15% rise in the TAC for burbot in the Bay of Biscay, a 14% rise for plaice in the Irish Sea, a 72% rise for herring in the Celtic Sea, a 15% fall for greater silver smelt, a reduction of between 14% and 25% for moonfish, a 15% cut for anchovy off the coast of Portugal, no change in the 2009 TAC for most cardine-turbot stocks (in the Irish Sea, the Channel and the Celtic Sea), no change for haddock in fishing area VII (Irish Sea, Channel and Celtic Sea), a cut of between 15% and 25% for whiting, a 4% cut for lemon sole and witch flounder, a 7% cut in the TAC for Norway lobster in the North Sea (to 23,188 tonnes), a 10% cut for most stocks of saithe and green pollock, a 73% cut for turbot and brill, a reduction of between 5% and 20% for sole (but a 10% rise in the Bay of Biscay), and a 4% cut for horse mackerel . The EU TAC for bluefin tuna in the Mediterranean and the Atlantic has been cut by 40%. (L.C. trans fl)