Brussels, 20/12/2006 (Agence Europe) - EU fisheries ministers were probably heading, on Wednesday evening, towards a political agreement on total allowable catches (TACs) and quotas for 2007. The second compromise text, examined in the afternoon of Wednesday 20 December seemed, with one or two changes, to satisfy most Member States. Negotiations continued long into the evening, however, because of the fishing restrictions on cod, which are still too severe for Denmark, Ireland, France and the United Kingdom and also the trial of strength between France and Spain on anchovy in the Bay of Biscay (with France calling for the fishery to be re-opened in 2007 and Spain not).
European Fisheries Commissioner Joe Borg agreed to give some slack on safety measures for cod, even though stocks are on the point of collapse. According to the second version of a compromise text, TACs and quotas would be reduced by 15% for vessels fishing for cod in the cod recovery plan zones (North Sea, West Scotland, Irish Sea, East Channel, and Skagerrak and Kattegat). The original proposal was for a 25% reduction. Days at sea would be reduced by 8-12% depending on the zone and the fishing gear used. For example, a vessel equipped with trawl or Danish seine nets with mesh of over 120 mm would be allowed 91 days fishing per year, a reduction of 12% on the present situation (103 days). France, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom have obtained exemptions for some vessels, whose main catches are species other than cod. This is still not enough for France, which called for an 8% reduction in days at sea (not the 12% proposed). The compromise also provided for a 15% reduction in cod TACs in the Celtic Sea, which seemed to be satisfactory to the countries concerned (France, the United Kingdom, Ireland and Belgium), which were, however, against a draft declaration stressing the need to extend the cod recovery plan currently in force elsewhere (North Sea, Channel etc.) to the Celtic Sea in 2008.
On the recovery plan for Iberian Peninsula hake and prawn stocks, the text followed the Commission's original proposal: 10% reduction in catches and days at sea (from 240 to 216 per year). Spain and Portugal wanted current quotas to be retained, to take account of the agreed 10% reduction in days at sea. Spain also called for an increase of 22% in northern hake quotas (from the North Sea to the Bay of Biscay and in Spanish and Portuguese waters), compared with the 15% proposed.
Among the concessions on TACs were: +17% for prawns caught in the Channel, Celtic Sea and Irish Sea (a British request); - retention of the current TAC for sole in the Small Sole and Large West Sole zone; - a reduction of 6% for sole in the south east of Ireland (compared with -12% originally); - the status quo for haddock in the Channel zone, the Celtic sea and Bay of Biscay (11,520 tonnes); - a 15% reduction for cod in the Celtic Sea (-35% originally); - a 15% reduction for cod in Kattegat; - a European TAC of 70,000t for herring in international waters (to begin the year, in the expectation of an agreement with Norway, with 23,984t for Denmark and 15,333t for the United Kingdom); - a 10% reduction (to 13,860t) for herring in the southern part of West Scotland (-27% in the original proposal); - a reduction of 25% (-45% initially) for mantas and rays in the North Sea and a maximum of 20% in bycatches (5% in the original proposal). Some parts of the first compromise have been retained in the second, for example for cod in Skagerrak (-13.9%) and the North Sea (-14%), herring in the north of the West Scotland zone (status quo), megrim (status quo in all zones), horse mackerel and prawn (+10% in Skagerrak and Kattegat, Sund, Belts and the Baltic Sea). For plaice, there is no change from the initial proposal (-20%). (lc)