Europe`s fisheries chief wants to reduce the pain of EU negotiating marathons where bleary-eyed ministers haggle through the night to agree how much countries should cut fishing quotas and preserve depleted stocks. Taking up at least a couple of days in mid-December, their meeting is usually punctuated by horse-trading between countries with strong fisheries sectors, like Spain and France, keen to get large enough quotas to carry on catching particular species.

Not all EU countries think that way, however. Northern states tend to push for more sustainable fishing with strict limits on catches and the number of days vessels may trawl. So setting quotas to apply throughout the following year can be a tense affair, with last-minute deals struck by exhausted ministers in the small hours of the morning: a decision-making process often criticised by environment groups as irresponsible.

At present, the European Commission publishes its proposed quotas for all commercial species in the EU`s various fishing zones in early December, based on international scientific advice that appears only in late October. This will now change. EU Fisheries Commissioner Joe Borg said he wanted to accelerate some of his quota proposals since scientists had advised in June on threatened deep sea species, such as roundnose grenadier and black scabbardfish, some species in the Baltic Sea and certain stocks of herring and sprat.

The Commission will make its quota proposals for these fish stocks by September and ministers will debate them in October. While the rest will have to wait until later in the year, the sheer volume of work for December`s marathon should drop.

The Commission will also outline broad plans for all stocks in April, with maximum percentage movements on quota volumes for one year to the next, it said in a statement on Wednesday. "While we need to work with the most up-to-date scientific advice the decisions which determine the fishing possibilities and other measures should not be taken under pressure of time," Borg said in the statement. "The timetable would allow for earlier consultation and the preparation of decisions which are better for fishermen, as well as for fish stocks," he said.
(Planet Ark, 25/05/2006) http://www.planetark.com/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/36528/story.htm