Brussels, 02/07/2015 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday 2 July, the 28 EU member states accepted the Commission proposal increasing the minimum landing size for northern sea bass from 36 to 42 centimetres.
The new minimum size, which further protects stocks of this valuable but endangered species (by leaving more juveniles to reproduce), will apply to both commercial and recreational fishermen.
The Commission now has to adopt the agreed measures formally.
The Commission had also proposed to increase the minimum size for the two southern stocks of sea bass in Iberian waters and the Bay of Biscay. Member states, however, pointed to the less robust data available on these stocks.
The Commission will therefore ask for renewed scientific advice on the southern stocks, which will feed into new proposals on sea bass from 2016 onwards.
The increased minimum landing size is the latest in a package of measures to halt the decline of the sea bass stock (see EUROPE 11340): - an emergency short-term ban (at the start of 2015) on pelagic trawling, a monthly catch limit and an area closure around Ireland for commercial fishing, and a limit of three fish per day for recreational fishermen. (Lionel Changeur)