News |
Ministers criticised over EU fishing quota deal |
|
BRUSSELS, Dec 17 (Reuters) - European Union fisheries ministers have watered-down plans to ease the pressure on over-exploited fish stocks next year, drawing an angry reaction from conservationists who accused them of ignoring scientific advice.
After two days of talks which ended in the early hours of Saturday, ministers rejected proposals to ban cod catches in the Irish Sea and the straits between Sweden and Denmark, and agreed a massive increase in North Atlantic haddock catches for 2012. "We managed to strike the right balance between the needs of the fisheries sector, and the protection of stocks and managing the limited resources in our seas," Poland's deputy agriculture minister, Tadeusz Nalewajk, who led the talks, told a news conference. But conservation group Oceana said the final deal had fixed catch limits more than 20 percent above the maximum level recommended by the European Commission, which would hamper EU efforts to put an end to decades of overfishing. Read the complete story from Reuters
|
|||
|
|
||
HASTINGS: Time to improve the Endangered Species Act
May 18, 2012 - When the Endangered Species Act (ESA) was signed into law in 1973 by President Nixon, he spoke about the importance of preserving “the rich array of animal life with which our country has been blessed.” I believe that goal is as important today as it was back then. However, after nearly 40 years, it’s time to take a fresh, honest look at the law and consider whether there are ways it could be improved to do a better job of protecting and recovering species.
