Emptying the Oceans - European Commission To Reel In Overfishing As Ecosystems Dissolve

Cartoon courtesy of CartoonStock.com.Today in the world, fishermen are having to travel farther from their home shores to catch the same amount of fish their predecessors did locally a century ago, according to recent study from the University of York.

While a concern for all nations, the European Union is currently in the process of making new attempts to combat unsustainable fishing practices. Yesterday, the European Commission released a report about how it plans to use scientific advice regarding fish stocks when proposing catch limits and quotas for next year.

Maria Damanaki, European Commissioner for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, expressed views that she would like to see tougher international standards and methods applied to setting quotas and days at sea. Her goal is to bring EU fishing limits back to sustainable levels in 2011.

“I want to be clear that the quota levels set must respect all the EU’s commitments to sustainability, our commitments to nearby states, and the commitment we have made under (our) long-term plans,” she told the commission.

It’s the commission’s job to draw up a report on fishing opportunities every year to explain to fisherman and their industry what rules will be used to set the quotas.

The commission’s latest report showed that the stock of a number of fish species have reached dangerously low levels. Among them, it found that in the Bay of Biscay and the Iberian-Atlantic Seas, the southern hake and anchovy are “outside safe biological limits. Total allowable catches exceeded scientific advice by 55 percent on average.”

As far as deep sea species, the report says, the “advice for most stock is that fisheries should either be reduced or not be allowed to expand unless they are known to be sustainable. Some stock, like orange roughy, should not be fished at all.

“For others such as tusk, ling, and red seabream, a development of fisheries towards long-term sustainable levels might be possible in the future depending on the area fished. New biennial (every two year) scientific advice is expected in summer 2010, covering the years 2011 and 2012.”

Largely, decisions concerning fishing efforts related to deep-sea species in the Northeast Atlantic will be based on 2009 North East Atlantic Fisheries Commission recommendations.

The commission will also allow groups affected by the regulations to offer advice as long as it’s “developed using an evidence-based approach to sustainable fishing.”

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