THE headline 鈥淔isheries policy 鈥榓n outrage'鈥� is liable, unfortunately, to appear any week in the UK. The game is to guess whether it refers, for example, to last month鈥檚 Royal Society report accusing the European Union of gambling with stocks while allowing any fishing at all 鈥� or to a political candidate proclaiming that a vote for them will be a vote 鈥渇or the fishing industry鈥�.
So I am pleased to hear that there are now, at long last, serious discussions within the European Union not only about emergency quotas, but also on long-term recovery plans for commercial fish species such as tuna and cod. I asked Elliot Morley, Minister for Fisheries, Water and Nature Protection, about the controversial idea of adding commercial fish species to the CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species) lists.
Morley told me that the UN鈥檚 Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) is holding consultations on applying the CITES-listing criteria to such species. The UK government recently got basking sharks added to the CITES Appendix II list of species 鈥渋n which trade must be controlled in order to avoid utilisation incompatible with their survival鈥�.
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The CITES listing criteria are being reviewed, and the revised criteria must be robust and deal with what Morley calls 鈥渢he special difficulties posed by some commercially exploited aquatic organisms鈥�.
鈥淎quatic organisms鈥� is not just bureaucratese for 鈥渇ish鈥�. Morley adds that 鈥渢here is great hostility to this idea from some countries, Japan in particular鈥�. Thus the fate of North Sea cod is tied, politically, to Antarctic whaling.
The fact that sturgeon are already on a CITES list does not inspire excessive confidence in the process when one looks at their bleak future (New 杏吧原创, 20 September, p 6). Still, CITES listing is, as they say, the only game in town 鈥� however much it depends on local sheriffs to enforce the rules.
THE north coast of Scotland is extremely beautiful 鈥� though I have never had as cold a swim as I did from one of its beaches when I was a child. Now there is concern that the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) may land up in court for allegedly contaminating beaches with radioactive particles from the reactors or reprocessing plant at Dounreay, near Thurso.
John McKeown, Chief Executive of the UKAEA, confirms that the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) is considering investigating a number of issues at Dounreay, with a view to regulatory action. He describes these as 鈥渒nown historical problems鈥� that 鈥渋nclude issues relating to the particles鈥�.
He repeats that the 鈥淯KAEA accepts that Dounreay was responsible for these particles escaping. We greatly regret that this happened. We are doing all we can now to meet the standards required of us, and develop the right strategy for the future.鈥�
SEPA must now decide whether to refer this issue to the Procurator Fiscal, the Scottish prosecutor.
