Britain under fire over fishing rules

Britain and Spain were threatened with European legal action today for failing to enforce EU fishing rules.

The European Commission listed “unacceptable weaknesses” in both governments’ fisheries enforcement measures and said London and Madrid had had plenty of opportunities to improve.

The controversial annual carve-up of EU fish catches between national fleets is supposed to be backed up by strict surveillance measures to ensure the fishing limits are kept.

The Commission has long complained that failure to enforce catch quotas is largely to blame for the plundering of the seas and the current catastrophic decline in stocks.

Now it has given London and Madrid two months to prove they can pull their weight in cracking down on over-fishing. The alternative is the European Court of Justice and the prospect of massive fines.

Both countries are guilty of “grave failings” said Commission warning letters dispatched to the British and Spanish ambassadors to the EU.

The list includes “serious shortcomings in inspections and monitoring of fishing and landing activities, validating and cross-checking of data, follow-up of infringements and applying deterrent inspections against wrong-doers”.

A Commission spokesman said the move to legal action was based on evidence gathered by Commission inspectors “over a number of years”, as well as correspondence between Brussels and the two capitals.

Because of the lax checking, fishermen have overshot their allotted catch quotas, including of the most vulnerable stocks of cod and hake.

EU fisheries Commissioner Franz Fischler commented: “At a time when fish stocks are threatened, respect for the rules to ensure fair and sustainable fisheries has become all the more important for the future of the industry.

“The Commission has given the UK and Spain many opportunities to tackle the unacceptable weaknesses in their enforcement. I trust that both will respond promptly and positively to end these counterproductive practices which undermine conservation, particularly of vulnerable stocks.”

A British government spokesman responded this afternoon: ``We take this very seriously and we now have two months to demonstrate that our monitoring and controls are sufficient."