In December, EU Ministers decided upon fishing quotas for the North Atlantic, North Sea and Black Sea for 2016. Once again, many quotas were set above scientific advice.
The Commission’s earlier proposal on these quotas failed to appropriately represent the objective of the reformed Common Fisheries Policy (CFP), to bring biomass levels above, rather than unambitiously to, those capable of producing maximum sustainable yield.
NGOs have suggested improvements that would add clarity to Commission communications that would better enable the setting of fishing limits in line with the CFP.
The quotas this year are further complicated by the partially-applied landing obligation, which applies only to certain fleet segments catching a given species instead of to all catches of that species regardless of fleet.
Although above scientific advice, recent research from the New Economics Foundation indicates that this division is narrowing over time. Nature also picked up on the recent EU quota allocation questioning the disconnect between scientific advice and Council decisions.
Our joint recommendations with Seas At Risk, submitted to the Fisheries Council prior to the December Council meeting, are here.
Links:
Commission recommendations for North Atlantic & North Sea TACs