EU proposes yet more cuts to fishing quotas for 2008

Nov 28, 2007, 15:58 GMT

Brussels - The European Union's executive, the Commission, called for still deeper cuts to 2008 fishing quotas for EU member states Wednesday in an effort to avoid the extinction of key species.

But environmentalists attacked one of its main proposals as 'a complete nonsense,' saying that it was simply not sustainable from an environmental point of view.

The Commission, which oversees fishing quotas throughout EU waters, proposed cuts of up to 25 per cent in the allowed catches of herring, whiting and sole, up to 37 per cent in quotas for haddock, and up to 15 per cent in catches of Norwegian lobster.

'Most stocks remain overfished. We must make further efforts if we are to achieve progress towards sustainable fisheries,' EU Fisheries Commissioner Joe Borg said in a statement.

But the Commission also reacted to reports of rising cod stocks in the North Sea by proposing a quota boost of 11 per cent in that area. Even though it called for a 25-per-cent cut in cod catches in all other EU waters, its proposal met with dismay from conservationists.

'The end result of higher quotas will be a total failure of the management of this species,' Carol Phua, fisheries policy officer at environmental group WWF, warned.

WWF has long criticized the Commission as being too lenient in its setting of fishing quotas.

But the Commission itself is caught between the demands of environmental groups and those of pro-fishing lobbies in member states, who regularly criticize it for setting its quotas too low.

Even when the quotas have been set, the Commission frequently struggles to make member states abide by them.

EU fisheries ministers are scheduled to pronounce their verdict on the Commission's proposals at a meeting from December 17 to 19.