Deep sea free-for-all threatens fish stocks

DEEP sea fish stocks in the North Atlantic are being trawled at more than twice the rate they can stand by European fishermen to provide food for farmed salmon.

A free-for-all is in progress with some of Europe’s largest fishing vessels scooping up vast stocks of blue whiting, a relation of the cod, and selling it for fish-meal.

However, reports that one of the prime culprits is the Irish vessel Atlantic Dawn, the world’s largest trawler, was strongly refuted yesterday by a fishing industry spokesman.