EU fisheries ministers are to set catch quotas for exotic deep-sea fish that face over-exploitation.
The brick-red orange roughy, the two-metre long blue ling and the inky black scabbardfish, normally found in the ocean depths, will come to ministers’ attention on Monday (29 November) at a meeting that is likely to replay the familiar tug-of-war between science and politics over fishing quotas.
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The European Commission is calling for a ban on the fishing of deep-sea sharks, including the velvet belly and the mouse catshark, as well as quota cuts for a number of other species. It says sharks that are caught accidentally should not be landed at European ports.
Although deep-sea fish make up only a tiny proportion of the catch landed in the EU, they are extremely vulnerable to overfishing, because they are slow-growing. Scientists are warning that sharks, orange roughy and other stocks are overfished.
Some member states are unhappy with the Commission proposal. France and Spain say it is impossible to avoid catching some deep-sea sharks and are concerned their fishing crews will face fines for actions they cannot avoid.
Objections to some quota reductions have also been raised. France, Portugal and Spain would prefer to maintain the 2010 quotas for black scabbardfish and roundnose grenadier.
Javier Lopez at Oceana, a conservation group, welcomed the zero-catch plan for sharks and orange roughy, but raised concerns that the Commission was not sticking to the science on other species. “We are worried about other species: alfonsinos, black scabbardfish, roundnose grenadier, red seabream and forkbeards.” On these stocks the total allowable catches proposed were “not enough to guarantee sustainability”, he said. He said that since the EU started regulating these stocks in 2003, “management has been insufficient” to ensure their sustainability. “Deep-water fish cannot sustain the high rate of exploration,” he added.
Ministers will also be briefed about ongoing talks with Norway on managing stocks in shared waters in 2011. Jonas Gahr Støre, Norway’s foreign minister, told European Voice this week that the talks will be “unproblematic”. The problem of migrating mackerel that bedevilled last year’s talks – and continues to cause tensions with Iceland – had been “resolved”, he said.