24 November, 2007

TWO of the biggest wildlife charities are promoting a suite of practical measures designed to help cod stocks recover, ahead of this winter's fisheries talks in Brussels.

Among the measures being suggested by the RSPB and WWF Scotland are real time closures of cod fisheries, improved gear selectivity and the introduction of bycatch quotas.

The organisations said the Scottish Government should commit itself to work with other EU member states to extend the current pilot scheme on real time closures.

They called for more use of square mesh panels, coverless trawls, sorting grids or separator panels, and said the government should set a mandatory requirement for the use of square mesh panels in Nephrops fisheries and pilot whitefish trawl gear that will separate out cod from the rest of the whitefish catch.

They also demanded a quota system for every fishing boat's bycatch, saying "a bycatch quota would allow fishermen to use their detailed knowledge of the sea to target the best areas to fish, meaning that cod mortality could be decreased while allowing the profitable mixed fisheries to remain operational".

They said this would require a network of observers to monitor cod bycatch, but the long term benefits to the industry would be huge.

Mark Ruskell, RSPB Scotland's marine and coastal policy officer, said: "We're challenging both the Scottish and UK governments to deliver the fastest route to sustainable fish stocks, using a package of measures to keep the stocks recovering."

Helen McLachlan, senior marine policy officer with WWF Scotland, added:

"Recent signs of hope for the North Sea fishery are based on a slightly larger than normal 2005 year catch. However, this catch was only a third of the size of the best year classes in the 1990s.

"It is critical that this year's class of fish, now still immature at age two, is allowed to survive until they can spawn and contribute to the population. We cannot afford this first sign of hope to trigger high levels of pressure on cod stocks as this will only deliver further deterioration of the stock."