It is told that cod recovery will be on top in the meeting of December Council. The second important issue will be the discards generated by unthinking cuts in TACs. These were the conclusions reached at a recent stakeholders’ meeting with UK fisheries ministers in which the UK’s priorities were discussed. It is informed that there is a strong scientific case for a significant increase in the TAC for North Sea cod in 2009, not least because the current TAC is generating massive discards of marketable cod.
Now there is challenge for all parties to ensure that a significant rise in the TAC is associated with a rise in cod landings but not an increase in cod mortality. The NFFO is currently trialling cod avoidance plans that limit each participating vessel to its legitimate quota of cod and avoids discards of marketable cod. According to NFFO the eliminator trawl may have a role to play, along with an expansion of real time closures that direct the fleets away from concentrations of juvenile cod.
Arnold Locker whose vessel Our Lass II is one of the boats participating in the trials, told that as long as the TAC is set at a reasonable level in relation to the stock abundance, through cod avoidance plans, we can fish for our target species without discarding cod. A major UK and NFFO objective is keeping the South West’s mixed fisheries out of the cod recovery plan –and the days at sea restrictions that are at the heart of it.
Regarding the discards and TACs the Commission has indicated that it is likely to adopt an approach that proposes TAC cuts across many stocks. It is observed that a well tailored avoidance plans can offer a way forward but the Commission has shown itself very reluctant to forgo its tried tested and failed TACs and days approach.
