FOR the sixth year running, the fisheries ministers of the European Union have ignored warnings from scientists to stop fishing North Sea cod, raising serious questions about how scientific advice is regarded in Brussels.
To prevent North Sea cod from disappearing altogether as it did in the 1990s off Newfoundland in Canada, the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea, based in Copenhagen, advised eliminating cod fishing in the North Sea. 鈥淭he warning from the scientists is as stark as it gets,鈥� says David Read, vice-president of the Royal Society in London.
But when the ministers haggled over the issue in Brussels in late December, they lowered the cod quota by only 15 per cent from last year鈥檚 allowed catch of 27,300 tonnes 鈥� and offset that with large increases in the quota for fisheries such as Norway lobster, which catch many cod by accident.
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Read says that unless the ministers stop ignoring scientists, 鈥渢here will soon be no cod for them to haggle over鈥�.
