WWF STATEMENT ON ICES ADVICE

17 Oct 2006 - Brussels, Belgium - WWF welcomes the advice released yesterday by the scientists of the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) on fishing opportunities for 2007 in the North Atlantic. The outlook was positive for spring spawning stocks of herring as well as stocks of northern hake. However, news was bleak for shark, cod, anchovy and sandeel fisheries, for which closures were strongly recommended. WWF expects that the emergency will be well understood: it is now the fifth time over four years that scientists have been advising a closure on cod fisheries and that the EU has remained deaf to ICES recommendations.

The scientific body is now also calling for a dramatic reduction of plaice and sole catches to maintain the stocks at a sustainable level. With half the plaice catch thrown overboard, strict management and control are needed for what is currently Europe’s most wasteful fisheries.

“ICES advice is coming at the right time and WWF hope that the European Commission will endorse this recommendations in its proposal to the EU Member States for the December Council. Member States and the Commission need to take a long-sighted view for the sustainable management of Europe’s valuable fish stocks. The near collapse of some of these is not only a concern for human exploitation but it is also posing a major threat to the wide European marine eco-systems”, says Carol Phua, Fisheries Policy Officer at WWF European Policy Office.
Caroline Alibert, WWF European Policy Office