Survival of Dwindling Stocks Dominate Annual EU Fisheries Meeting Again

http://www.enn.com/today.html?id=11885&ref=rss

BRUSSELS, Belgium — The annual fight over the right to fish for an ever-decreasing number of Atlantic species in European Union waters opened Tuesday with member governments seeking to give both the industry and the fish a chance at a sustainable future.

Fisheries ministers from the member nations assessed proposals from the European Commission, which already had diluted scientific advice for closing fishing grounds and imposing drastic catch cuts because of economic problems facing the bloc's 200,000 fishermen.

The meeting is expected to last for at least two days, and bartering set to last well into Wednesday night.

"If there are no fish left in the sea, there is not going to be any jobs or income for fishermen in the future," said British Fisheries Minister Ben Bradshaw. "So sometimes we have to take difficult decisions in the short term for the fishermen," he said.

The commercial survival of cod stands out again, especially since scientists proposed to cut fishing by a quarter in many waters and even ban it in the southern Celtic Sea off Ireland. Despite intense efforts to restore stocks to healthy numbers over the past years, the amount of cod keeps dwindling in once-populous waters.
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We can Only hope they follow the quotas

For an entity that started out simply concerned with economics, it is amazing how it has grown and changed. They seem to be able to find a balance between profit, environmental and social concerns (albeit not always perfectly), too bad our gov't will never do the same...

Capitalism has know love for EPA
Socialism looks at the Big picture extinction

And the fishermen are complaining, despite a generous quota that must still threaten the survival of cod in the area.