Brussels, 12/02/2001 (Agence Europe) - On Monday evening, the European Parliament examined the report by British Conservative James Nicholson on the renewal in 2001 of measures aimed to replenish cod stocks in the Irish Sea. If the Parliament follows its fisheries committee when it votes on Tuesday, it will approve the draft regulation that reintroduces the ban on cod catches and the use of fishing equipment that could entail by-catches of this same species. The closure of cod fishing covers the cod spawning period, from 14 February to 30 April. It does not, however, ban catches of haddock, using semi-pelagic trawling methods, but this exemption comes to an end on 22 March. The only amendment adopted by the parliamentary committee aims to extend the exemption until 30 April so that haddock fishing may continue in the zone under surveillance rather than have ships redirect their activity to other fish catches that do not come under surveillance.