The officials of NFFO and Defra have gathered in Defra’s basement meeting rooms for the detailed discussions on the pressure points in the coming negotiations on TACs and quotas and day-at sea restrictions. It is told that the meeting systematically covered all of the main areas: Celtic Sea, Channel, Irish Sea, North Sea, West of Scotland and External Waters.
According to the Commission its proposal to revise the EU cod recovery plan and the implications of this for future TACs, days at sea rules and the areas included in the cod recovery zone were studied and views expressed. It is told that detailed discussion was held on the transition to a new effort regime based on EU allocations of effort to member states and tactics to keep the Celtic Sea out of the cod recovery zone.
David Hill, NFFO Chairman, expressed that this was a very thorough meeting in which spades were called spades. He added that there is a lot at stake here. Apart from dealing with the Commission’s broad brush approach to TACs, there are many, many, unanswered questions about how the new effort regime would operate and what the impact on the different fleets would be.
