. Earth Science News .
WATER WORLD
EU reduces fishing quotas to save cod

disclaimer: image is for illustration purposes only
by Staff Writers
Brussels (UPI) Dec 15, 2010
The European Union Wednesday decided on deep cuts to fishing quotas to protect overfished species such as cod.

After a 17-hour negotiation marathon, EU ministers meeting in Brussels agreed to slash the allowable catch of cod by nearly a fifth from 40,219 tons in 2010 to 32,912 tons next year.

Cod cuts differed regionally, ranging from 50 percent in the waters between Denmark, Sweden and Norway, a fifth in the English and Scottish North Sea to an unchanged quota in the Atlantic waters off Portugal.

Activists from environmental group Greenpeace on Monday symbolically decommissioned a mock fishing trawler placed outside the EU Council building.

"The EU continues to fish relentlessly in some of the poorest countries on Earth while clearly showing the world that they are not qualified to manage their own fish stocks by systematically setting too high catch levels," Farah Obaidullah, Greenpeace's oceans campaigner, said in a statement. "With our oceans facing an imminent crisis rich nations like those of the EU are no longer justified to continue business as usual. Politicians must respect science and must ensure responsible fishing both within and beyond EU waters."

Maria Damanaki, a commission member in charge of fisheries and maritime affairs, said that despite the economic crisis, fishing quotas had to be cut next year "to ensure a profitable fishing sector that can rely on healthy stocks."

"All vulnerable stocks, especially sharks, all kind of sharks and the stocks that need a lot of years to reproduce were very good protected," she said Wednesday in Brussels. "Fishing sustainably is a precise, quantifiable target, with a specific timeline. We can discuss about how we get there but we cannot discuss about where we are going."

On Monday, the ministers had already agreed on new catch limits for the Black Sea. Bulgaria and Romania, two EU members fishing in the Black Sea, agreed to a 10 percent reduction in overall fishing levels of turbot and sprat.

The EU is battling to regenerate its fish stocks despite an increasing demand for fish from consumers across the continent. Every second fish consumed in Europe is imported. The New Economics Foundation in July issued a report saying that Europe consumes nearly twice as much fish as its waters produce, putting pressure on global resources.

An increasing amount of fish is imported from Africa or Southeast Asia, where fishing methods are often unsustainable and neglecting of the domestic populations' own need for fish, the report said.



Share This Article With Planet Earth
del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg RedditReddit
YahooMyWebYahooMyWeb GoogleGoogle FacebookFacebook



Related Links
Water News - Science, Technology and Politics



Memory Foam Mattress Review
Newsletters :: SpaceDaily :: SpaceWar :: TerraDaily :: Energy Daily
XML Feeds :: Space News :: Earth News :: War News :: Solar Energy News


WATER WORLD
EU's 'mackerel war' with Iceland heats up
Brussels (AFP) Dec 14, 2010
The European Union could block Iceland's fishing boats from unloading mackerel in European ports unless a fishing row is resolved, a source close to the European Commission said Tuesday. EU Maritime Affairs Commissioner Maria Damanaki told the 27-nation bloc's fisheries ministers she wanted to invoke the European Economic Area agreement to bar Iceland from unloading the fish in EU ports, the ... read more







WATER WORLD
Caricom-Australia chide empty promises to Haiti

Tearful homecoming for Pakistan flood survivors

Clinton attacks slow Haiti quake progress

Clinton Haiti meeting moved due to unrest

WATER WORLD
Berkeley Researchers Discover Mobius Symmetry In Metamaterials

New Google TV sets facing delays: reports

'iCrime' wave fuelled by insatiable appetite for smartphones

Japan telecom firm KDDI to start e-book distribution

WATER WORLD
Storms leave 47 sailors missing, six dead: Vietnam officials

Tasmanian Scientists Expand Their View of The ocean

New Zealand feared China was destabilising Pacific: report

US gets tough on shark fins

WATER WORLD
Bering Sea Was Ice-Free And Full Of Life During Last Warm Period

Arctic Sea Ice Greenhouse Gases And Polar Bear Habitat

Arctic icecap safe from runaway melting: study

Russia plans annual arctic conferences

WATER WORLD
Bioethics Commission Calls For Enhanced Federal oversight In Field of Synthetic Biology

Chavez, farmers square off over land seizure

Australians buy cows and sheep with a mouse

Goji Berries Have A Significant Placebo Effect

WATER WORLD
Western US sloshes through epic rain, snows

Iran quake kills seven, wrecks villages

Volcano in Guatemala rumbling

Colombia faces rising death toll in floods

WATER WORLD
China not opposed to Sudan leader's arrest: WikiLeaks

Frontline Ivory Coast town fears new civil war

Interim leader urges army must back new Guinea president

Gambia denies it was intended recipient of Iran arms

WATER WORLD
Beetroot Juice Could Help People Live More Active Lives

Researchers Discover Compound With Potent Effects on Biological Clock

Our Flawed Understanding of Risk Helps Drive Financial Market Instability

Researchers Discover Compound With Potent Effects On Biological Clock


The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2010 - SpaceDaily. AFP and UPI Wire Stories are copyright Agence France-Presse and United Press International. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by SpaceDaily on any Web page published or hosted by SpaceDaily. Privacy Statement