Brussels, 12/07/2012 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission has postponed the adoption, initially planned for this Friday, 13 July, of the proposal to phase out bottom trawling in the North-East Atlantic. Bottom trawling is a fishing technique which causes severe damage to marine ecosystems and to the deep-water species, such as black scabbardfish, blue ling, roundnose grenadier and some species of shark. Fisheries Commissioner Maria Damanaki has not been able to persuade some of her fellow commissioners to back this proposal. This does not mean, however, that the proposal is dead: it could be adopted next week or at a later date.
Damanki is seeking to ensure that the extremely vulnerable deep-water species are fished reasonably and sustainably. The Commission is looking at a tougher fishing licence system and the phasing out of fishing gear that targets these species (bottom trawls and bottom-set gillnets). At the end of the year, the Council is due to set fishing quotas for deep-water species for 2013 and 2014. France is the main fisher of this kind of fish. (LC/transl.rt)