Europe’s dwindling fish stocks have won a reprieve – but only just. A late-night bargaining session on 22 May in Luxembourg ended with European Union fisheries ministers deadlocked over a demand to reverse a 2002 ban on subsidies for more powerful engines in fishing boats. Lifting the ban would have increased catching capacity, which scientists consider central to Europe’s disastrous overfishing.
The demand came from Mediterranean countries, Poland and Estonia. They want money for new engines in boats under 12 metres long, which account for 80 per cent of Europe’s fleet. After opposition from the UK and Germany, the ministers put off until October a decision on how to spend their €4 billion fishing subsidies budget. Conservation groups such as WWF claim lax enforcement already means new engines are typically 2.5 times more powerful than the legal limit.
Meanwhile Europe’s eels remain in jeopardy. Fisheries scientists say eel fishing must stop completely, as stocks are so badly depleted by overfishing and PCB pollution that the entire species faces extinction (New ÐÓ°ÉÔ´´, 11 March, p 6). The EU fisheries commissioner, Malta’s Joe Borg, had proposed to ban eel fishing for 15 days in every month, but Europêche, the fishing industry lobby in Brussels, says he has promised that even this will be delayed for a year when the ministers meet next month.
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