EU eyes cutting cod fishing by a quarter in 2010
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http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE59F39020091016
Europe's overexploited cod fisheries are still at risk and catches must be cut by a quarter next year in all zones except the North Sea where measures have yet to be decided, the European Union executive said on Friday.Northern cod populations have fallen from 250,000 tonnes in the 1970s to around 50,000 tonnes today following decades of overfishing and quota-busting.
If the plan is approved by European fisheries ministers in December, fishermen in west Scotland would also face a 54 percent cut to their haddock quota and a 25 percent cut to the amount of whiting they can land.
Europe's fisheries chief this year called for sweeping policy reform after chronic overfishing for decades pushed 90 percent of stocks beyond sustainable levels.
Fishing fleets have grown too large, fines are too low to deter quota-busters, and fishermen are forced to put ever-increasing effort into locating and catching the dwindling European stocks.
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- tags:
- EU, European Union, Overfishing, cod
