The European Commission’s proposal for 2016 quotas for EU fisheries is good news for those fishing for horse mackerel or megrim, and bad news for cod fishers off the Irish and Scottish coasts.
Megrims in the North Sea and horse mackerel in the Iberian and western waters, the commission said, are at maximum sustainable yield (MSY), which the commission said allows for increases to the Total Allowable Catch (TAC). For the largest TAC unit, the commission is recommending an increase in quota by 26.7 percent for megrim and 27 percent increase for the largest horse mackerel TAC unit.
By contrast, the commission wrote, cod stocks in the Irish and Celtic Seas “continue to be in a bad state,” as are stocks for sole and haddock. In the west of Scotland, the commission wrote, cod stocks are “still at a risk of collapse.” The commission is recommending a cut of nearly 30 percent TAC for the largest cod TAC unit, and a cut of 8.5 percent for lemon sole and witch. Haddock stocks are getting slashed too, with the commission recommending a cut of more than 27 percent.
In all, the commission has recommended maintaining or increasing TACs for 35 stocks, and reducing TACs for 28 stocks. Some quotas, the commission wrote, are getting a “top up” with the new demersal landing obligation, or discard ban, taking effect on 1 January 2016. “This extra quota aims to compensate fishermen for the extra fish they will have to land,” the commission wrote.
The proposal does not include some stock TACs that the EU shares with other countries; those quotas are still being negotiated. The proposed TACs now go to the ministers of the EU Member States for review.
