Over-fishing Permit

Britain’s fishermen will be allowed to increase their catch of fish next year after that flout scientific advice. The quota for cod catches for 2015 will increase by 5% on last year, though scientific advice suggested that it should be cut by 20%.

UK fishermen will also be allowed to catch 15% more prawns than last year and 15% more plaice in the North Sea, while the haddock catch has been increased by 6%.

Andrew Clayton, of the Pew Charitable Trusts, which advocates a sustainable fisheries policy, said: “After decades of failing to get to grips with overfishing, the new common fisheries policy was supposed to bind ministers to setting sustainable fishing limits this year. Instead, they have set a considerable number of quotas in excess of the level scientists advised, failing to meet the targets they set themselves for overfishing. These are weak decisions, jeopardising the livelihoods of fishermen and the sustainability of stocks.”

The reforms are supposed to mean that fishing fleets must land all their catch, rather than discarding those specimens or species that are lower value. Discarding - the wasteful practice of throwing healthy fish back to sea because they are of lower value or because a boat has already reached its quota. However, there are significant gaps in the new regulations that mean many fleets will be able to continue to discard large quantities of fish for several years.

The new European commissioner for the environment, Karmenu Vella, admitted that many of the decisions on quotas were contrary to scientific advice. “We have worked with ministers to ensure that where we do not follow science, member states take the necessary decisions to avoid a real disaster happening later.”

SOYMB can only suggest that this will be the template for climate change agreements as seen in the Lima accord…so-called self-monitoring and self-regulation.