Despite a raft of emergency measures placed on EU fishing fleets to support wild-caught seabass (Dicentrarchus labrax) stocks last year, the latest advice from the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) is that no seabass should be caught in U.K. waters next year, specifically the central and southern North Sea, Irish Sea, English Channel, Bristol Channel and Celtic Sea.
ICES’ advice confirms fears that the population – which is mainly shared with France and the Netherlands – has now slipped to critically low levels and is at risk of not recovering properly.
A number of NGOs believe the regulations passed down from Brussels are no where near robust enough to prevent further stock declines let alone to reverse the problem. For example, Marine Conservation Society (MCS) Fisheries and Aquaculture Program Coordinator Samuel Stone reckons the writing has been on the wall for the bass fishery for a number of years.
Stone highlighted that in 2014, scientists recommended an 80 percent reduction in bass catches, and while large reductions have been made, the resulting reductions have been more like 50 percent, and even then there is huge uncertainty in the actual catch figures for bass “as it’s known to be illegally caught and sold in the U.K. and there is a large recreational catch.”
He said that at the end of last year, the European Commission (EC) had proposed a complete moratorium for seabass for the first six months of 2016, which MCS was supportive of, but what was finally agreed by the Council of Ministers was “significantly watered down” and included too many exemptions.
MCS said that to get close to a zero catch, additional selectivity and avoidance measures and much better monitoring would be needed. It also believes that even if a zero bass catch were implemented next year, the population would likely still be near or below critical levels in 2018.
The NGO has already put a red rating for this seabass fishery in its Good Fish Guide, advising all consumers and businesses to avoid buying bass until the fishery has recovered to a healthier state.
Meanwhile, the contraction of the wild bass supply has driven prices upward. In France – one of Europe’s most important markets for the highly prized fish – retail prices have doubled to more than EUR 30 (USD 33) per kg in the last three years.
