Brussels, 10/01/2006 (Agence Europe) - On 10 January the European Commission adopted a draft long-term management plan for plaice and sole fisheries in the North Sea which, according to scientists are fished at unsustainable levels. The measures concern Dutch fishermen above all, along with German, Belgian, British and Danish fishermen. The Commission's plan, alongside existing conservation plans for cod in several areas (Kattegat and Skagerrak, Western Channel, Irish Sea and the west coast of Scotland), sole in the Bay of Biscay and the Eastern Channel, and hake in the North Sea and in the south (see EUROPE 9096 on the outcome of the December 2005 meeting of EU fisheries ministers).
The plan therefore defines target levels of fishing mortality (measure of fish killed by fishing) of 0.3 for plaice and 0.2 for sole. These are values which, according to scientific advice, will allow high yields in the long term, reduce discarding, and allow a reduced biological risk to the fish stocks. Fishing mortality will be reduced by 10% year-on-year until the target levels have been reached, while annual variations in TACs will be kept within 15% up or down. Following the adoption of the recovery plan by the Council, EU fishing ministers will decide on a reduction of the number of days at sea for cod and plaice fishing in the North Sea (they will decide on this at the same time as they decide on quotas and TACs). The restriction on days at sea will apply to beam trawlers with mesh of 80 mm and above. The plan includes monitoring measures, like the obligation to weight unloaded catches before fish is sold for ships catching more than 500 kg of plaice and/or more than 300 kg of sole. According to the most recent scientific advice from the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES), the stocks of both plaice and sole in the North Sea are currently overfished. Plaice, in particular, is in poor biological condition, to an extent that risks affecting its reproductive ability. A very large proportion of the plaice caught are discarded. At current fishing levels, the sole stock is expected to fall outside safe biological limits in 2007. The ICES says measures are needed to increase the plaice stock in the North Sea by 24% to 230,000 tonnes, and recommends a 36% cut in sole fishing to restore the stock to long-term biological viability.
In the North Sea, some 18,000 tonnes of sole and 72,000 tonnes of plaice are fished each year, sold wholesale for around EUR 300 million (EUR 140 mil for plaice), mostly from beam trawling. According to the Commission, the Netherlands has 390 beam trawlers, Germany has 290, Belgium has 114, the UK has 110 and Denmark has 11. Plaice is also fished by other Danish ships, namely 375 trawlers less than 24 metres long and 95 senners. Some 4500 jobs directly depend on the stocks of sold, plaice and other flat fish.