The United Kingdom's eastern English Channel cod fishery will stay closed to under-10 meter fishing vessels for the remainder of 2009, announced the UK's fisheries watchdog.
The Marine and Fisheries Agency (MFA) said that another 50 metric tons of cod quota "would have needed to have been swapped from other nation states" for ICES (International Council for the Exploration of the Sea) area V11d to reopen to British fishing vessels under 10 meters this year.
The eastern Channel cod fishery closed on 1 March after the under-10 meter fleet exceeded its cod quota for 2009 of 16.6 metric tons. According to MFA, the fleet landed in excess of 50 metric tons of cod from V11d. This has since been covered by "swapping in" V11d cod quota in other EU states.
The fisheries within the English Channel are broadly divided into two management areas: eastern and western. According to the UK's Joint Nature Conservation Committee, in the eastern Channel the main fisheries are small-scale fisheries working within the coastal zone (0 to 12 miles offshore). Cod catches originate from offshore trawlers and inshore gillnetters. The main countries exploiting these stocks are the UK, France and Belgium.
Facing depleted stocks and low levels, the European Union in 2004 adopted a recovery plan that sought to replenish cod stocks in the North Sea, Kattegat and Skaggerak, the Eastern Channel, the Irish Sea, and west of Scotland within five to 10 years. The new measures included controls for the setting of total allowable catch (TAC), fishing effort limitation (number of days at sea and gear restrictions) and restrictions on landing ports, stowage and transport of cod.
But at the end of last year, the EU tweaked the plan — from 1 January this year, annual cod quotas are based on fish mortality, or the age and the strength of the fish, rather than simply the stock size. The plan is inked out for a 25 percent cut in cod mortality in 2009, followed by annual reductions of 10 percent. The scheme dictates how much time many European fishermen are allowed to fish.
Regarding the cod fishery in the eastern Channel, the MFA — which has overall responsibility for the enforcement of the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) within the 60,000 square miles of English and Welsh waters — added that neither Belgium, France nor the Netherlands has surplus quota available.
Further, France, with a large slice of the TAC from which the quotas are derived, has already closed this fishery to some of its groups.
Looking ahead, the MFA anticipates that the eastern Channel cod fishery will reopen on 1 January, 2010, with a new monthly quota.
September 15, 2009
