The fate of the thousands of recreational sea fishermen is under the hand of the European Union. These part time fishermen operate around Britain’s coastline by limiting the number of fish they catch. Brussels is pondering to put the same type of quota curbs in force against commercial fishermen to protect endangered species such as pollack, ling and even cod.
According to officials presently there are few restrictions on weekend anglers, but many of them now have powerful boats and are bringing back increasing sized catches which are sometimes sold onto the retail trade. Now the EU Commission has decided to consider the proposals to impose catching quotas on pleasure angling.
Officials informed that these considered in allocating quotas to each nation, so that they would be deducted from what commercial fishermen are allowed catch. They also said while details of the proposals are still being examined by interests in the sea angling sector, they would have a negative effect on the Irish angling industry, which is a major tourism economic asset.
EU Fisheries Commissioner Joe Borg expressed that the future of sustainable fisheries required Europe to bring in efficient system that could really produce results. He told that the plan give each state a limited quota for threatened species which would then be divided between commercial and recreational fishermen. The recreational fishermen are not happy with this decision and called it a monstrous and inevitably chaotic intrusion of policing into the sport of a million men, women and children.
