The agreement reached guarantees fishing possibilities of more than 350,000 tonnes for the EU fleet, according to the European Commission.
The EU and the United Kingdom have agreed on fishing quotas for 2023 in their shared waters, the European Commission announced on Tuesday, with environmental NGOs denouncing limits often set beyond scientific advice at the risk of to fuel overfishing. After weeks of talks, the British and Europeans agreed on the “total allowable catches“allowed for”more than 74 stocksin the waters whose resources they jointly manage in the Atlantic and the North Sea.
The agreement foundguarantees fishing opportunities of over 350,000 tonnes for the EU fleet, estimated at around €1 billion based on inflation-adjusted historic landing prices“, noted the European executive. Additional quotas will be set later for sprat (North Sea and English Channel) and sandeel (North Sea).
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“The agreement will support the livelihoods of coastal communities on both sides of the English Channel, in the Irish Sea and the North Sea, give them visibility, and strengthen the sustainable management of resources“, affirmed the European commissioner Virginijus Sinkevicius, recalling that the quotas were fixed on the basis of “best scientific advice available“.
Conversely, environmental NGOs believe that it will lead to further weakening of already vulnerable stocks. “There are more quotas set in accordance with scientific recommendations“, but many greatly exceed them, according to the coordination of NGO Oceana, observing that London and Brussels “continue to grant quotas for a large number of stocks, the recovery of which will be jeopardized by continued overfishing“.
While scientists recommended stopping all catches for the most depleted stocks, such as cod in the west of Scotland, whiting in the Irish Sea or herring in the Celtic Sea, the EU and the United Kingdom “continue to allow excessive bycatch of these stocksby vessels fishing for other species, deplores Vera Coelho, of Oceana. “This will make their recovery to sustainable levels next to impossible (…) Their populations are at risk of collapsing even further“, she warns, considering that London and Brussels “break their own environmental laws” and “jeopardize the long-term viability of the fishing industry“.
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“Cod and whiting stocks are already depleted, collateral victims of non-selective trawls that sweep everything in their path trying to catch langoustines and haddock. Unless you restrict that fishery, those stocks may never recover.“, abounded Jenni Grossmann, of the NGO ClientEarth. ClientEarth has taken EU legal action against Member States for setting fishing quotas deemed “not durabledespite the regulatory obligation to end overfishing.