In a letter to DG MARE, the EU Commissions “Fisheries Ministry”, eight environmental organisations call for taking the precautionary approach to setting catch quotas for deep-sea species in 2011 and 2012.
The letter, signed by Birdlife International, the Bloom Association, the Deep Sea Conservation Coalition, Pew Environment Group, Seas At Risk, the European Anglers Alliance, WWF and the Shark Alliance, stressed that all deep-sea species are outside safe biological limits, according to the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES), and catch data are of poor quality.
The organisations said that they welcome the advice of STECF – the Commission’s main scientific advisory body – as well as the proposal to reduce TACs for 2011 and 2012 for nine assessment areas and the proposal to set TACs for deep-sea sharks without by-catch allowance, “as ICES has recommended over the past several years”.
Still, they pointed out, many other recommendations from ICES have been left unheeded, and need to be followed.