THE environmental group WWF has taken the European Union鈥檚 fisheries ministers to the European Court for breaking their own laws. Their 2004 recovery plan for Europe鈥檚 beleaguered cod stocks demands that catch quotas be cut 15 per cent or more if stocks fall too low 鈥� in the North Sea, below 70,000 tonnes. The latest figures say there is less than 50,000 tonnes of cod in the North Sea, yet last December ministers cut North Sea quotas for 2007 by only 14 per cent.
鈥淚t鈥檚 not just about that 1 per cent,鈥� says Tom Pickerell of WWF. 鈥淭he whole recovery plan isn鈥檛 working.鈥� The plan calls for cod stocks to be allowed to increase by 30 per cent a year, yet they have not increased at all.
鈥淚t鈥� not just about that 1 per cent of quota cut. whole recovery plan isn鈥檛 working鈥�
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The International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES), a scientific body based in Copenhagen, Denmark, that advises the EU on fish, says the same number of cod are dying despite smaller quotas because they are still being caught as 鈥渂ycatch鈥� alongside fish such as haddock 鈥� then thrown back, dead. ICES has recommended for six years that the cod quota be cut to zero. WWF wants new limits on bycatch. 鈥淏oth together might work,鈥� says Pickerell.
On the face of it, WWF has caught the ministers red-handed, but this may make no difference: the European Court normally doesn鈥檛 let advocacy groups plead cases. Even if it doesn鈥檛, WWF hopes it might influence a review of the cod plan that starts in April.
