Brussels, 19/12/2007 (Agence Europe) - After a day and a night of negotiating, EU fisheries ministers reached unanimous political agreement, at 6.40 in the morning of Wednesday 19 December, on total allowable catches (TACs) and quotas 2008 in the Atlantic, the North Sea and the Channel. Cod catches will increase by 11% in the North Sea (in line with a bilateral agreement with Norway), but will be reduced everywhere else (-8% in Kattegat, -9% in the Celtic Sea and -18% elsewhere).
At a press conference, Agriculture-Fisheries Council President and Portuguese minister Jaime Silva welcomed the compromise which, he said, respected the principles of the common fisheries policy (CFP). European Fisheries Commissioner Joe Borg spoke of a “step forward” towards more sustainable fisheries. There is to be an 11% increase in the cod TAC in the North Sea, but fishing effort in this zone will have to be reduced by 10%. In the other zones of the cod recovery plan (Eastern Channel, Irish Sea, West Scotland), cod TACs and days at sea are to be reduced by 18% (the initial proposal was for a 25% cut). The Commission also says there is to be: an 8% cut in sole catches in the Bay of Biscay; a 5% reduction in fishing possibilities for southern hake and langoustine in the waters of the Iberian peninsula (the number of days at sea for vessels conducting these fisheries will be reduced by 10%); a 15% cut in the TAC for North Sea sole; a 41% reduction in the North Sea herring TAC; and no TAC for anchovy in the Bay of Biscay.
Recovery plans. For cod, the compromise provides for a 10% cut in days at sea in the North Sea zone in 2008. Elsewhere the number of days will be reduced by 18%. A number of exemptions have been granted to some French, British and Dutch vessels. For northern hake (from the North Sea and the Bay of Biscay), catches will rise by 15% (with no limits on days at sea). The number of days at sea for (French, British and Belgian) vessels fishing for sole in the Western Channel will stay as at present (192 days per year) and will fall by 10% (to 194 days per year) for (Spanish and Portuguese) vessels fishing for hake and langoustine in the waters of the Iberian peninsula.
Anchovy. France and Spain backed the Commission proposal that the Bay of Biscay fishery remain closed until at least June 2008. A decision will then be taken in the light of new data on the resource to be published in spring 2008.
Natura 2000. Zones containing endangered habitats (coral reefs) off Ireland will be closed to fishing. Similar rules have already banned the use of gear which is dragged along the sea floor around the Azores, Madeira and the Canary Islands, and off the north-west coast of Scotland (Darwin Mounds).
The other main TACs and quotas 2008 are: megrim (between -10% and +8% depending on the zone); monkfish (current TAC retained in most zones); haddock (cuts of up to 20% in the North Sea); whiting (up to 37% cut in the North Sea); hake (+15% in Spanish waters and +3% elsewhere); blue whiting (-37% to 175,466 tonnes); langoustine (retention of 2007 volumes in virtually all zones, except for 5% cut in the Iberian peninsula); plaice (+10% in Kattegat, +8% in Skagerrak, -5% in the North Sea, and reductions of up to 15% in some zones); Pollock (no change in the Celtic Sea and Bay of Biscay); saithe (+10% in North Sea and more in South); sole (cuts of up to 18%); sprat (-10% in the North Sea); spurdog (-25%); horse mackerel (+9% in the North Sea, and +24% in the Channel, Celtic Sea and Bay of Biscay). (L.C.)