Morning:
18°c
Johnny Depp has become, in his young middle age, like a star of the movies’ golden period
The full story of the rescue operation was told as it emerged that plastic windows fitted at the block two years ago melted in the intense heat, effectively acting as fuel for the blaze
More...
Push to raise cod quota as one million tonnes of dead fish dumped each year
Last updated at 23:22pm on 20.11.07Britain is to take on Brussels over fish quotas after it emerged that fishermen are being forced to dump nearly one million tonnes of dead fish into the North Sea each year.
The practice was described as "immoral" by Fisheries Minister Jonathan Shaw, who said he would push for an increase in Britain's cod quota next year.
However, environmental campaigners described any move to raise quotas as foolhardy and said North Sea cod stocks were still dangerously low.
Scroll down for more...
Bleak outlook: UK fishing industry 'faces catastrophe because of EU quotas'
They urged the Government to think again - and asked consumers to stop eating endangered cod.
The fishing industry warns that it faces catastrophe because of the "draconian" quotas imposed by Brussels under the Common Fisheries Policy.
A fisherman is banned from bringing fish ashore, even if it was caught accidentally, once he has reached his year's quota for a particular species.
According to the industry, around 880,000 tonnes of fish, some of it cod, are thrown away each year in the North Sea alone because fishermen would be fined if they brought the haul to port, or because there is no market for the fish they catch.
The EU estimates that up to 60 per cent of catches are wasted this way.
Mr Shaw said there was scope for boosting catches by cracking down hard on dumping unwanted fish.
"The crisis of throwing fish back is immoral," he said. "We don't want that to continue so we have to find a balanced range of measures to ensure that the fishing industry is sustainable and that we have the conservation measures in place."
He was echoing EU Fisheries Commissioner Joe Borg, who described the practice as "morally wrong" earlier this year and called for changes to ban discarding any fish species, backed up with strict national enforcement measures.
"Discarding is wrong because it represents a waste of precious marine resources," he said. "It makes no ecological, economic or ethical sense.
"The sooner we bring this wasteful practice to an end the better for fish stocks, the marine environment and the fishing industry."
In parts of the North Sea, almost 90 per cent of fish catches are thrown back. Fish rarely survive the ordeal of being caught and thrown back.
The issue will be key when Mr Shaw and other EU fisheries ministers meet in Brussels next month to set next year's catch quotas.
Scroll down for more...
Tory fisheries spokesman Bill Wiggin said the shortage of fish would not be such an issue if the Government had not cut the number of days that Navy ships patrol British waters to keep out unauthorised fishermen from other EU countries.
He said: "The Government has cut back on patrols - a 30 per cent cut in the number of Navy patrols. That is failing our fishermen."
He said ministers should work with European neighbours to put an end to discarding.
Trawlerman Phil Walsh met his quota for cod in June. Since then he has been forced to discard cod, haddock and whiting caught while he fishes for prawns.
"It's your livelihood and you spend your life trying to catch it and then you have to throw it back over the side," he told the BBC.
"It's an impossible situation and, unless it is sorted out soon, we will all be finished."
But conservation groups called on the Government to reduce quotas for cod.
Sally Bailey, of the WWF, said: "By fishing more selectively, avoiding areas where juvenile cod are spawning, employing independent on-board observers, and using selective fishing gear, we can give cod stocks a chance to recover."
The WWF said the European Commission ignored the advice of scientists while setting most of the quotas for 2006 and 2007.
Questions & Answers
What is angering fishermen?
The fishing industry says it is being forced to throw away hundreds of thousands of tonnes of dead fish in the North Sea each year because fishermen are catching more than their European quota.
They say the huge waste makes a mockery of the quota system which is supposed to help endangered species.
Why do we have quotas?
Under the 1983 Common Fisheries Policy, each EU country is given an annual quota of fish it can catch in European waters.
The quotas are broken down into individual species and based on "historical" fishing habits. That means Spanish fishermen, for instance, have large quotas for fishing in the North Sea.
Supporters of the quota system say it is the fairest way to ensure stocks of cod and other fish are not wiped out by greedy fishermen. Critics say the quotas have been too high, and that cod in the North Sea are now endangered.
Why are North Sea cod under threat?
Partly because the fishing industry has got better at its job. New technology - such as more powerful trawlers, radar, satellite tracking, bigger nets - has seen yields for each boat rise dramatically, even as the number of fishermen have fallen.
Stocks of cod are now one tenth of the size they were 30 years ago.
Environmental campaigners say stocks of spawning cod are well below the minimum safe levels.
However, North Sea cod stocks have shown a slight recovery over the last few years. This year the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea, which advises the European Union, recommended that a catch of about 11,500 tonnes was sustainable for 2008.
The council estimates the adult cod stock size is around 35,000 tonnes. In the 1970s, it was above 250,000 tonnes.
How are the quotas fixed?
The European Commission's Fisheries Council meets every year in late December to decide how many fish can be caught in the following year.
The meeting looks at advice from the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea and historic fishing habits.
At the end of the talks, each EU country is given a quota for each species. In 2006 it cut the amount of cod that British fishermen could catch by 20 per cent.
The number of days cod fishing boats could spend at sea was reduced by around 10 per cent.
The UK quota is shared out between vessels and producer organisations.
Who makes sure the quotas are not ignored?
The fishing industry is self-regulating and reports on its catches, while Government inspectors check landings in ports.
Larger groups can trade their quotas with other groups in the UK - or even fishermen in the rest of Europe.
Why do fish get discarded?
If a boat has already met its quota for cod, it cannot legally bring any back to shore, but often finds it has caught extra cod while trawling for other species. These have to be thrown overboard, but because of the process in catching them and the time involved for separation, most of them die.
What has happened to the UK fishing industry?
It is vanishing. Ten years ago there were around 18,000 fishermen and just under 8,000 fishing boats.
This year there are just 13,000 fishermen and fewer than 6,500 boats.
Over the same period the catch has been falling steadily. Ten years ago UK fisherman caught 80,000 tonnes of cod and 90,000 tonnes of haddock.
This year their quota was 9,000 tonnes of cod and 40,000 tonnes of haddock.
Even so-called British boats are often owned and run by foreigners.
It is possible for a British boat - given a share of the UK's quota - to be owned by a Frenchman, crewed by Danes and to land its fish in Belgium.
Could fishermen be less wasteful?
Critics say yes. Changing the shape and size of nets used to catch prawns, so that the mesh size is larger at the top, could allow more cod to escape.
Cod catches fall if fishermen avoid areas notorious for discards.
The fishing industry also says that some more traditional trawlermen ignore the potential market for less popular fish which normally get thrown back.
Do other European fishermen have to abide by quota?
Yes, and they also have the same problem as British fishermen of discarding over-quota cod and other fish.
Some critics claim, however, that inspections at some European ports to check that they are complying with the quotas are not as rigorous as those conducted in Britain.
Reader views (8)
Here's a sample of the latest views published.
I couldn't agree more about the "euromonster" but regulation is needed otherwise the brits would turn their already depleted waters into a deadzone. No one ever stops to think about the implications of dragging huge nets on the ocean floor, look at what happened to Newfoundland in Canada: a whole provinces economy destroyed because they destroyed the cod stocks, now they have no work, they have nothing. For hundreds of years you've fished like the fish will never end, what did you think would happen? I don't like the EU (for my own reasons) but at least they have a little sense when it comes to fishing, otherwise every money hungry country or worse, private interests, would catch everything in the sea as long as it will turn a profit. It seems humans will never learn from the mistakes of those before them.
- Rolando Willimann, Ft Lauderdale, FL (Swiss Expat)
And the benefit of being part of the EU is what?
- Adam, Harrow, Uk
This is just the visible tip of the iceberg that represents the overwhelming burden of EU regulation that is suffocating our nation state. Our fore fathers must be turning in their graves at the thought of us having to ask the faceless beurocrats of the Euromonster for permission to take more fish from our own territorial waters. It is truly sickening.
- Keith Lonsdale, Doncaster
Watch for the real fun to start once the U.K. is officially made a province of the E.U. by ratification of the E.U. Constitution (Reform Treaty). Then, all the protests in the world from those living in the U.K. won't make a bit of difference.
- Phil Jones, London UK
Ruby - welcome to the world of stupid EU Common fisheries policy (CFP). The fishermen you refer to are sifting for prawns because that is all they will be paid for. If they land anything else they will be fined. Fishermen are not like farmers who can select what they grow, they take pot-luck when they lift their nets, something the EU does not seem to understand. So long as this crazy CFP is in place thousands of tons of fish will be thrown back into the sea. Maybe we should rename it the 'EU Fat seagull policy', because they are the only ones who benefit.
- Jonathan, London, UK
Perhaps the fishermen should be allowed to bring their entire catch a shore each time. When they have caught their annual quota they should have the rest of the year off. No wastage.
- Robin, London, UK
Loads of fish. Join the EU, no fish... says it all really.
- Grim Reaper, London
I was watching an exercpt and was shocked to see that even though these idiotic fishermen could have thrown the unwanted fish back into the sea alive they hung around picking out the prawns until all the fish were dead and then put them back in the sea. I have not seen such cruel stupidity for a long time. What a horrific waste of good fish which oculd have procreated to save our fisheries but are now dead. It makes me so angry, they should be made to PAY for all the fish they kill because they cannot be bothered to quickly tip them back into the sea.
- Ruby, France
