Europe to hold fish quota crisis talks

Talks on national fishing quotas will be held today at the European Commission after a threat to close off fishing grounds in the Irish Sea.

The EC has proposed another round of cuts in the interests of conservation, including the closure of dangerously depleted cod grounds in the Irish Sea, the North Sea and off the west of Scotland.

On the eve of the annual marathon haggling in Brussels over the size of catches and quotas, British fisheries minister Ben Bradshaw and Ross Finnie, environment minister in the Scottish Executive, said that closure of fishing rounds next year was unacceptable.

After private meetings with fellow ministers yesterday, they announced that the proposal was excessive and discriminatory against the Scottish and Northern England UK fleet.

It also failed to take account of UK successful cod recovery efforts of the last two years, they insisted.

But when the talks begin, Europe’s new fisheries Commissioner Joe Borg will insist that the cuts and closures on the table are “a balance between what is biologically necessary and what is economically reasonable“.

He says that some countries have made great conservation efforts, but better enforcement of fishing restrictions was needed.

Earlier this month he said that the latest proposals followed closer consultation than ever before with fishermen themselves, following the setting up of a series of regional advisory councils.

Elsewhere, reductions of up to 60% in herring catches, up to 34% for cod - although no change in the cod quota for UK waters – and up to 27% for mackerel are also part of the latest belt-tightening measures that beleaguered fleets are being asked to absorb.

The Commission says that, after studying scientific reports of the state of fish stocks, its proposals for 2005 balance the urgent need for reinforced conservation measures with the equally urgent need to keep the industry in business.

But Mr Bradshaw claimed the plans were not based on the available science, and the recommended closure of cod grounds failed to recognise the migratory nature of the fish, nor the disproportionate effect such a move would have on UK fishermen.

“We do not rule out closing cod grounds in the North Sea in the medium to long-term – but not this year. Such a move would have a drastic impact on the Scottish white fish fleet.”

Mr Finnie said: “We are sometimes misinterpreted as turning our backs on conservation measures.

“That is an unfair allegation because we have done more than anyone to achieve the targets of the current cod recovery programme, having reduced fishing effort by 56% compared with a target of 65%.

"We are not suggesting we can ease up on the cod recovery programme, but that does not mean accepting disproportionate conservation measures.”

Mr Bradshaw said the Commission should we waiting to evaluate the full impact of the recovery programme, which is only two years old.

Ahead of the talks – which could last three days – the National Federation of Fishermen’s Organisations backed the British government’s demand that existing UK steps taken to conserve cod stocks should be recognised by the Commission and other EU fisheries ministers.

NFFO President Arnold Locker said: “Over the last three years we have seen our cod quotas slashed by 80%, our mesh sizes increased by 20%, half our boats scrapped and our time at sea cut to 15 days a month.

“Partly as a result of these measures, the biomass of cod, according to the scientists, has increased in two successive years.

"No one is suggesting that we are out of the woods on cod yet, but this is not the time for a further suit of new measures. This should be a period of consolidation to allow those measures already in place to work. Cod stocks are slowly rebuilding.”