23-12-2004, 03:17 AM
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#1 (permalink)
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Administrator
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: Long Ashton, Bristol
Posts: 10,140
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EU ministers reject harsh plan to cut fishing
Telegraph
Quote:
In a major reprieve for hard-pressed British fisherman, EU ministers blocked drastic plans yesterday to close key cod fishing grounds and cut days at sea.
The pre-dawn deal after a night of bargaining appalled scientists and environmental groups, afraid that cod stocks face irreversible collapse unless cod fishing is banned in the North Sea, Irish Sea and off the West of Scotland.
The monkfish quota in Scotland is to increase by 50 per cent
Brussels wanted to close five North Sea cod grounds comprising 32,000 square miles but was defeated by a British-led bloc of states defending the industry.
Joining a free-for-all that left the commission badly humiliated, France and Spain blocked efforts to close anchovy grounds in the Bay of Biscay and to restrict catches of endangered shellfish and deepwater species.
There were celebrations in Vigo, home to the Spanish trawler fleet - Europe's biggest.
Plans for further cuts in North Sea fishing time were averted by exempting most British trawlers, which use 120-millimetre mesh nets, letting young cod escape.
The monkfish quota is to rise 50 per cent in the North Sea and Scottish waters.
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