EU cuts cod fishing in Atlantic

0 Comments | AFP, December, 2007

BRUSSELS (AFP) — EU fisheries ministers netted a deal in the early hours of Wednesday to reduce fishing quotas next year although environmentalists warned that the cuts did not go far enough to save stocks.

In marathon talks in Brussels, the ministers agreed to cut cod quotas by between nine and 18 percent in the North Atlantic, the European Union's Portuguese presidency said.

However, the cod cut is lower than the 25 percent the European Commission had been seeking initially and falls short of demands from environmentalists alarmed by dwindling stocks.

Greenpeace marine policy expert Saskia Richartz slammed the deal, which she said "continues a three-decade long trend of ministerial incompetence that is dragging Europe's seas towards a point of no return....