Plans to cut North Sea cod fishing quotas despite a rise in stock are “a bizarre counter-proposal” and must not go ahead, the fisheries minister says.
EU ministers meet on Tuesday for annual fishing quota talks. Richard Benyon said he would argue against cuts of 20 percent in catches and 25 percent in the number of fishing days.
He said scientists had told the government they were unnecessary.
But U.K. marine expert Callum Roberts said cod levels were still too low.
Under the EU cod recovery plan, which aims to get the fish back to the optimal level by 2015, automatic cuts in quotas and catch days are put in place each year if levels are not on track.
The EU ministers, who begin their talks in Brussels on Tuesday, have the power to override restrictions — a move supported by Benyon and the British fishing industry.
“We’re not absolutely perfectly at the trajectory laid out in the cod recovery plan but cod stocks are rising,” he told BBC Radio 4's Today program.
“The problem with the cod recovery plan is that it is a bad plan - there's no flexibility in it at all.”
