Responding to new research from the International Council for the Exploration of the Seas (ICES) which suggests that North Sea cod stocks are beginning to recover, Oliver Knowles, oceans campaigner at Greenpeace said:
"It would a disaster for North Sea cod if the fishing industry took this news as an excuse to return to the devastating fishing levels we've seen in the past. In order to protect cod stocks for the long term, politicians need to act with the greatest possible caution on this new advice."
Knowles continued:
"For years the fishing industry has tried to blame the decline of cod stocks on everything from seals to warming seas, or anything else that avoids the real issue. After several years of a reduced fishing effort what this small recovery clearly demonstrates is that the real cause of the problem is, and always has been, overfishing."
NOTES TO EDITORS
- For the past 7 years ICES has recommended a zero catch for cod in the North Sea, as stocks were too depleted to be able to be fished sustainably.
- After ICES advice has been provided on Friday it will then be up to Europe's Fisheries ministers to set quotas for commercial fish stocks for 2008 - for the past seven years they have ignored the scientific advice and repeatedly set quotas for cod in the North Sea.
- Greenpeace is calling for 40% of the world's oceans to be set aside as Marine Reserves - off-limits to all extractive industry including fishing. Marine Reserves are not only essential to protect marine biodiversity, but also to allow depleted commercial fish stocks like cod to recover so that they can be sustainably fished in other areas.
