Further quota cuts to meet conservation targets could badly affect the fishing industry though these were not as drastic as first feared. UK fisheries minister Huw Irranca-Davies opined that many of the cuts proposed by the European Commission for main species were reduced, and Brussels had agreed to a plan by the UK, Denmark and Germany to give fishermen a five percent catch “bonus” across the board if they agreed to install cameras on their vessels to monitor a “catch-less, land-more” trial scheme.
Experts said that failure of last week’s EU/Norway talks make it impossible to finalise quotas for the crucial North Sea stocks of haddock, cod, mackerel and herring. Interim arrangements, standing at 65 percent of the 2009 quotas have been put in place to enable fishing to continue beyond the new year.
Until a final agreement is settled, Norwegian and Faroese waters will not be open to Scottish boats and vice versa. Agreement was reached for prawns, with the current quota for the North Sea being rolled over into 2010, although the west coast will have a 15 per cent reduction.
Bill Mackenzie, managing director of Don Fishing, the Kinlochbervie Fish Selling Company’s parent group, told as the EU has not reached agreement yet with Norway and Faroe on access and quotas for 2010 it is very difficult to judge if what has been agreed so far is of great consequence. From a north sea whitefish perspective we still do not know what our 2010 quotas will be for cod, haddock, whiting or saithe.
