Bullied into inaction

Danger persists: cod fishing i
In what conservationists label a huge "scandal", eu members have bagged major concessions in fishing quotas proposed recently by the eu executive (see Down To Earth, ''Don't fish': a global call', January 15, 2005,). Following a meeting of eu fisheries ministers, the eu executive commission retracted its plans to ban cod fishing in most of the North Sea. Britain led the resistance against the ban, arguing that it will devastate fishing communities. Areas where cod fishing will be prohibited will now be limited to parts of the Baltic and Celtic seas, rather than the North Sea. Besides, while quotas for fishing mackerel, haddock and sand-eels will be cut, those for monkfish, sole and prawns will rise. Spain, which has the maximum number of trawlers in the eu, managed to thwart the attempt to stop crayfish fishing in the Iberian peninsula. In addition, instead of 85 per cent cut in the catch of anchovies in the Bay of Biscay, France and Spain will need to implement only a 10 per cent cut. eu fisheries commissioner Joe Borg claimed: "The decisions will ensure the gradual application of measures necessary to rebuild depleted stocks without economically crippling the fleets concerned." But Charlotte Mogensen of the World Wide Fund for Nature, a global conservation group, called the eu approach "thoroughly misguided" and said it will "jeopardise stock recovery".