The 2011-2012 catch quotas for a long line of vulnerable deep-sea species will be in focus for the Fisheries ministers’ next Council meeting in Brussels on 29 November.
In their customary letter to the ministers concerned prior to the meeting, FISH and Brussels-based Seas At Risk pointed to the biological characteristics that make these species particularly susceptible to overexploitation – long lived but slow-growing, low reproductive capacity – but also to the alarming lack of scientific data on the stocks.
In their scientific advice as early as 2008, the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) indicated that the Union’s entire deep-sea catch was “outside safe biological limits”, and for 2011-2012 ICES recommends reduced Total Allowable Catch (TAC) for all those stocks.
The proposal from the Commission limits those reductions to 15 percents at the most, which the SARFISH letter finds “unfortunate”, especially in view of the Commission’s “strong statements on the importance of scientific advice in fisheries management”.
“By taking this approach, the Commission clearly goes against scientific advice for several species including blue ling, black scabbardfish, red seabream and roundnose grenadier”, the letter notes.
As a conclusion, FISH and Seas At Risk urge the ministers to:
- Progressively phase out TACs for all deep-sea species to zero in the course of three years, unless or until reliable stock assessments have been conducted to determine the long-term sustainability of the stocks.
- Prohibit all deep-sea shark catches, including the four additional species for which catch limits have not previously been established, as proposed by the Commission.
- Maintain the zero TAC for orange roughy and consider ways of mitigating bycatch of orange roughy in other mixed fisheries.
On the other agenda fisheries point, the Ministers will hear and discuss a report from the Commission on the negotiations with Norway on next year’s TACs and rules. Over lunch the ministers will hear a report on the Belgian Presidency conference “Improved Fisheries and Science Partnerships as Policy Drivers” at Ostende 9-10 November.
Given that discussion, the letter from FISH and Seas At Risk carried attached a lengthy analysis on key scientific principles for stock management in the context of CFP reform.