Minister hails deal on fish quotas

A FISHERIES deal on catches for next year has been hailed by the UK as good for the fishing industry and good for “the health of our seas”.

Fisheries Minister Richard Benyon emerged from marathon talks just before dawn after fending off a range of quota cuts on the ground that the need for more reductions was not backed by scientific evidence.

Under the deal, catch levels for some white fish stocks off the west of Scotland, English Channel and Irish Sea increase, while the scale of cutbacks proposed by the European Commission for others has been whittled down.

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Plans to reduce further the limited number of fishing days at sea – part of continuing stock conservation measures – were also resisted by EU ministers.

But the key issue of cod catch levels next year remained unresolved, pending EU fish talks with Norway in January, leaving the threat of a 20 per cent reduction in cod quotas for 2013 still on the table.

Mr Benyon said it was “the best possible deal for the UK fishing industry”and added: “It was one of my priorities to ensure that days at sea for fishermen would remain the same next year and that is exactly what has been achieved.”

The annual quota-fixing talks became the usual battle between belt-tightening cutbacks demanded by the commission on the basis of scientific evidence of dwindling stocks and Ministers’ determination to keep beleaguered fishing communities afloat.

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Mr Benyon and other Ministers seized on signs of stock recovery in some areas and argued successfully that the scientific evidence for reductions was inadequate or outdated.

He warned that unjustified cutbacks would only have contributed to an increase in the practice by fleets of “discarding” – throwing edible fish back into the sea, dead, to avoid illegally landing catches exceeding quotas.

The issue has been widely publicised by celebrity chef Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall.

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