While environmentalists to various degrees greeted Wednesday’s Council decision on TACs for most EU fish stocks with thumbs determinedly down, governments and sector lobbyists scrambled to claim success.
“The UK has secured an agreement to a complete review of the controversial cod recovery plan for 2011, including current days at sea restrictions”, reported British Fisheries minister Richard Benyon, while his Scottish colleague Richard Lochhead admitted that “these tough and exhausting talks have delivered positives for Scotland in some areas and disappointments in others”.
Scotland has a dominating part of British catch landings and has a strong voice in deciding the UK standpoints in the Fisheries Council.
“It’s frustrating that our West Coast proposals were not taken fully on board at this Council”, Lochhead added. “Our sensible plans for West Coast cod and whiting would have seen a zero Total Allowable Catch, helping these stocks recover, with some provision for unintended by-catch to be landed. Instead, impossibly low quotas will effectively lead to discards, as fishermen are forced to throw dead fish back in to the sea, however, a proposed 50 percent cut in quota has at least been reduced to 25 percent”.
While the Commission had proposed a 50 percent cut for the waters west of Scotland, the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES), providing the scientific advice, had recommended lower limits, and even zero catch in one division of the area.
Meanwhile, The Scottish Fishermen’s Federation complained that early information flow had been sparse, so “the Member State team including the Scottish government were forced to revert to almost street fighting tactics to secure the best outcome on the limited number of fishing opportunities that were open to change”.
Benyon, on his part, declared that “after two days of intense negotiations, with no clear winners, I am more convinced than ever that the Common Fisheries Policy is broken and needs radical reform”, adding that “the Commission is right to place scientific evidence at the centre of the agreement and I am very pleased that they have responded to our calls to find a better way to end the dreadful waste of discards, but much more can still be done”.
“The current cod recovery plan places strong restrictions on the number of days that fishermen can spend at sea, forcing them to catch as much as possible on each day and increasing the likelihood of discards. During the review the UK will push for more days at sea and industry-wide recognition of the importance of sustainable fishing, meaning that fishermen should discard less”.
Referring to the current conflict with Iceland and the Faroe Islands over mackerel, Benyon expressed satisfaction with the Commission for “listening seriously to our concerns over Iceland and Faroe Island’s irresponsible behaviour and are considering formal action”.
“Iceland and the Faroe Islands’ plans to plunder mackerel from the sea threaten the health of our fishing industry and the long term future of these stocks.”
In Ireland, the Federation of Irish Fishermen (FIF) declared that “overall, the successful defence of many key elements of the Industry’s interests is a significant achievement for Ireland”.
From the European Parliament, MEP Diane Dodds spoke up for Northern Ireland’s fishing industry, describing the result of the Fisheries ministers’ meeting as “mixed”.
“While Northern Ireland’s priority to maintain the existing management area for prawns was retained for 2011, the decision to cut the TAC (Total Allowable Catch) for Northern Ireland’s most important fishery, even by a small amount, has come as a disappointment”, a statement said.