EU threatens end to endangered cod fishery
A moratorium on cod fishing off the Irish coast could soon be in place unless drastic action is taken to protect cod numbers, EU agriculture commissioner Franz Fischler said.
Scientific experts called for a full ban on cod, whiting and haddock fishing in the North Sea, Irish Sea, west of Scotland, the Eastern Channel and Skagerrak because cod stocks are about to collapse.
Commissioner Fischler said the Irish would be among the worst affected by the situation and by any ban. “This is a catastrophic situation. The state of these fish stocks has never been worse,” he said.
He firmly placed the blame on the member States for failing to heed the scientists’ warnings and for lying about fish catches.
However Sean O’Donoghue, chief executive of the Killybegs Fisheries Organisation, said the EU Commissioner had not given Ireland credit for its successful Irish Sea cod recovery programme over the past two years. “The comments from Brussels about enforcement here are not fair or reasonable and the real threat to Irish fishermen could be the closure of cod fisheries where whiting and prawn stocks are more lucrative to the industry here than cod. The fate of other fisheries should not solely be driven by the risks to cod.”
Almost a year ago the European Commission prepared a coordinated plan to reduce by up to half the amount of time fishermen could spend at sea, together with a range of other measures. But Fisheries Ministers of the member States did not adopt it. “I don’t want to say ‘I told you so’ but it is galling, after repeatedly warning of the dire consequences of inaction, to see our worst fears realised and to be now faced with recommendations for a moratorium on some cod fisheries,” said Mr Fischler.
The independent scientific body, ICES, wants to close immediately all cod fisheries, which would also mean banning all whiting, haddock and Nephrops fisheries because cod is invariably caught as a by product.
The ICES report was much worse than expected because fishermen and governments responsible for monitoring the industry have been giving wrong information about the fish being landed.
The Commission suspects this deception is well-organised with fishermen deliberately trying to evade quotas by landing fish illegally.
Mr Fischler said taking the advice of ICES would leave many coastal areas in deep trouble. Instead he will produce his own plan on November 11 next to help save the cod and
affected fishermen.
The latest information suggests cod stocks are now almost as bad as they were in Canada 20 years ago when 25,000 fishermen lost their livelihood after cod fisheries collapsed. They have never recovered.
