June 8, 2012 — Cod, haddock and herring could be fished in more numbers, but conservationists say policy will damage stocks. Fishermen in Europe could be allowed to take more cod, haddock, herring and other key species from the sea next year, despite fears of widespread overfishing, according to a new communication from the European commission.
The possibility of an increased catch of some of these key species – confined to certain fisheries where the EU judges the stocks can bear it – may prove a sweetener to fishermen concerned about the impact of reforms to the EU's common fisheries policy.
But it was strongly criticised by conservationists. Xavier Pastor, executive director of the group Oceana Europe, said: "This year, the EU fleet is going to be allowed to catch 11% more than what is recommended by scientists. The recovery of fish stocks and the sustainability of fishing activity will never be achieved if it continues this way. It is hardly surprising that after decades of poor management by the EU, 14 stocks are below safe biological limits – a disgrace for Europe."
According to the commission's communication, published on World Oceans Day on Friday, stocks of about 11 key species are recovering well in some European waters. These include cod in the eastern Baltic, haddock in the west of Scotland and the North Sea, lobster in the Irish Sea and plaice in the North Sea. As a result, a slightly larger catch may be permitted to boats in the designated areas only, for 2013.
However, only 20 fish stocks in Europe are now judged not to be overfished. The rest are still in danger. Oceana said it was "incomprehensible" that overfishing affected 80% and 47% of EU stocks in the Mediterranean and Atlantic respectively, and said overfishing was so bad that it was "seriously jeopardising the welfare of fishing communities".
But the commission said its findings offered proof that its efforts to phase out overfishing were "starting to bear fruit", and that the reductions in quota in recent years were the reasons why some places gained an increased quota in 2012, and may get increases next year. In 2009, there were only five fish stocks that were not overfished.
The commission said that the changes to quota as a result of the improvement could result in at least €135m (£109m) extra income for the fishing industry. But it said that its proposals for sweeping reforms of the common fisheries policy were still needed, and called for member states to support the aims.