06/06/2005 - June 15th
2005 update: European Commission to close
anchovy fishery in Bay of Biscay for three
months. The Commission launched an internal
procedure on June 10th with a view to put
in place emergency measures to close the
fishery. It has now decided to let the procedure
run its course and the emergency measures
should be adopted and become effective at
the beginning of July.
Brussels, Belgium – Cod stocks will remain
perilously low unless the European Commission
and the EU Fisheries Council follow the
advice of the International Council for
the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) to considerably
reduce fishing in European waters, warns
WWF.
To prevent its commercial collapse, ICES
published a press release on its scientific
advice demanding a complete halt to cod
fishing in Kattegat, the strait between
Sweden and Denmark, in 2006.
"Recovery plans for cod stocks in
Kattegat adopted in 2003 are clearly failing
to reduce fishing mortality as needed to
recover the stock", said Charlotte
Mogensen, WWF’s European Fisheries officer.
"ICES has yet again advised zero catch,
which the EU Fisheries Council should finally
take on. We desperately need a change for
the better in decision making at the EU
Fisheries Council level if we are ever to
manage fish stocks sustainably."
In the Baltic Sea, cod stocks are at record
lows, with illegal and unregulated fishing
and high levels of discard of fish below
the minimum landing size representing significant
threats. In 2004, plans to close areas of
the Baltic Sea to cod fishing were adopted,
but according to the global conservation
organization such measures can not be effective
without strict monitoring.
For several years now ICES has advised
that the European eel stock is in need of
recovery measures. For 2006, ICES recommends
that fishing is reduced to zero as the stock
is now at its lowest level ever.
WWF urges the EU Member States to adopt
an ambitious recovery plan and support the
proposal of a listing of eels on CITES (Convention
on International Trade in Endangered Species
of Wild Flora and Fauna).
ICES has also made an urgent request to
the European Commission to immediately close
the anchovy fishery in the Bay of Biscay,
as the stock is severely depleted.
"The decline in anchovy stocks in
the Bay of Biscay is yet another example
of Europe’s mismanagement of fisheries,"
said Charlotte Mogensen. "It is time
to halt all this and that decision makers
immediately adopt emergency measures to
close this fishery."
NOTES:
• ICES is the International Council in
the Exploration of the Seas, the organization
that coordinates and promotes marine research
in the North Atlantic. ICES acts as a meeting
point for a community of more than 1,600
marine scientists from 19 countries around
the North Atlantic. More information at
www.ices.dk
• The decision on fishing quota for 2006
in EU waters will be made by the EU Fisheries
Council in December 2005.
