Scottish fishermen are breathing a sigh of relief after the European Commission's Fish Council did not reduce fishing days for key stocks such as North Sea cod.
"We are relieved that there will be no further cuts in fishing days as it would have brought real economic hardship to the fleet at a time when fish stocks are recovering," said Bertie Armstrong, chief executive of the Scottish Fishermen's Federation. "Freezing the effort at its current level was entirely the commonsense approach to take."
Along with the freeze on fishing days, the council also ruled on quota allocations, increasing the allowances for northern hake and megrim, but reducing quotas for west of Scotland haddock, west of Scotland and North Sea monkfish and North Sea and west coast prawns. West of Scotland whiting quotas did not change.
Stalemates between the EU and Iceland and the Faroe Islands over mackerel quotas caused the council to postpone decisions on other species, such as cod, haddock, whiting and mackerel in the North Sea.
