Plans to cut back further on cod fishing ‘will decimate Irish fisheries’

PLANS to drastically reduce the Irish Box and cut back even further on cod fishing will decimate the fishing industry, Irish MEPs warned yesterday.

EU Fisheries Commissioner Franz Fischler said the latest scientific evidence is that cod stocks are at an all-time low, especially in the North Sea off Scotland, the Eastern Channel and the north west of Ireland.

"We are facing a catastrophe," he said.