EVEN as fish catches
across the world continue to decrease, in
the European Union
(EU), no great effort
seems to be put into
conserving the
species. A concerned
Emma Bonino, the EU
fisheries commissioner, had proposed
that a 40 per cent
decrease in fish
catches be observed,
but
this has not gone
well with the EU countries. A compromise
solution proposed
by Ireland at a
recent meet in
Brussels
calls for cuts of
only 20 per cent.
This effectively
dilutes the European
Commission's plans to
reduce catches
and will also have no
bearing whatsoever on reducing the
number of fleets.
The Irish proposal is
selective on reduction of fish catches.
For instance, the 20
per cent cut will
include fish such as
mackerel and herring
in the North Sea
and hake near the
Iberian peninsula. A
15 per cent reduction
will apply to
species such as
haddock inhabiting
the-
seas near Denmark.
For fish such as
plaice in the Irish
sea, there will be no
increase in the
fishing catches. EU
countries also need not
reduce their fleets;
instead, they can opt
for other measures
to reduce the amount
of fish catches by
using smaller nets or
cutting down on
time at sea.
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