Brussels, 02/04/2008 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday 2 April, the European Commission adopted a draft regulation to amend the cod recovery plan which has been in place since 2005 in the North Sea, Kattegat, Skagerrak, Eastern Channel, Irish Sea and West of Scotland. New additions to the recovery plan include the Celtic Sea, new targets (a percentage reduction in fish mortality rate, in place of biomass levels to be obtained), simplification of the fishing effort management system (new system based on ceilings on fishing managed at a national level by member states) and encouragement to reduce cod discards into the sea. According to the Commission, the new recovery plan is expected to enter into force on 1 January 2009. Before that it will have to be adopted by the Council, following a European Parliament recommendation. Joe Borg, the European commissioner for fisheries and maritime affairs, will present this proposal at the next meeting of EU member state fisheries ministers on 14-15 April in Luxembourg.
According to scientists, the measures in force since 2004 on cod recovery have not had the desired effect. In 2007, the only zone to display signs of recovery was in the North Sea. According to estimates, cod stock volumes in the North Sea went from 250,000 tonnes in 1972 to only 50,000 t in 2000. Between 2000 and 2006, the stock fluctuated between 30,000 and 50,000 t. Cod catches in the Irish Sea and West Scotland have not ceased to decline since the 1990s. In the Celtic Sea, cod catches were 20,000 tonnes in 1989 and 5,000 t in 2004.
Joe Borg commented: "There are no magic formulas to help the recovery of the cod stocks. We need to fish less and better. However, what the Commission proposes is an approach that is more effective, flexible and pragmatic and which provides the necessary tools to member states and the sector to help cod recover."
According to the revised plan, the current target - a 30% annual rise in biomass levels (quantity of fish in the sea) - is replaced with a new target: sustainable use of stocks by maintaining cod mortality rates at 0.4. Currently, fish mortality is estimated to be between 0.7 and 1. This new approach takes into account marine environment developments provoked by global warming.
The proposed revision will also introduce a new system of effort management - currently expressed as days at sea - by setting effort ceilings. These ceilings would be managed at national level by the member states. Effort ceilings (expressed in kilowatt-days) will be set for groups of vessels or fleet segments. Reductions in fishing effort will be more drastic for boats primarily catching cod. Measures will be less drastic for boats catching a low amount of cod or none. It will also be possible to vary catch and fishing effort limits based on improvements in the biological state of the cod stocks concerned. Fishing mortality would thus be reduced year-on-year by 25%, 15% or 10% depending on the gravity of the condition of the stock, until the target mortality rate of 0.4 has been met.
The new measures are being proposed to encourage fishermen to participate in the cod-avoidance programmes.
The most controversial element in the plan involves adding cod stocks to the Celtic Sea as part of the recovery plan. According to the Commission, recent evaluations confirm that this stock is “as overexploited as are the other cod stocks in EU waters.” French fishermen (who have 90% of the cod quota in the Celtic Sea) dispute this analysis.
New provisions, adapted to the new structures and to the new measures included in the revised plan, also propose controls (checks on vessel diary entries, cod weight during the first unloading, specific references on inspections).
The Commission's proposal is based on input from stakeholders, and on scientific advice from both ICES and the Commission's own scientific, technical and economic committee for fisheries (STECF). In particular, STECF recommended the need for much faster reductions in fishing pressure on cod, so as to achieve fishing rates in the region of 50% or less of those seen in recent years.
The cod recovery plan was the first long-term management plan to be adopted by the EU in the wake of the 2002 reform of the common fisheries policy (CFP). (L.C.)