EU to cut Poland's cod fishing quota in Baltic

In an attempt to help replenish the diminishing cod stocks in the Baltic, the European Commission has proposed a 15-percent cut in Poland's cod fishing quota.

According to reports from Poland's PAP news agency Wednesday, the proposed cod fishing quota in 2007 for Poland is 13,000 tons, some 2,000 tons lower than that in 2006.

The European Commission, EU's executive body, said the overall cod fishing quota for the eastern Baltic should be reduced from over 45,000 tons to 38,500 tons.

The commission also wants to reduce the number of cod fishing days in the Baltic.

The commission admitted that the best way to rebuild cod stocks would be to introduce a complete ban on cod fishing, but it decided to opt for a 15-percent cut to keep economic pressure on the sector as low as possible.

At the same time, the commission proposed to raise the catch quotas of other types of fish in 2007, such as herring and sprat, and leave plaice quota unchanged.

According to the commission, about 81 percent of the fish species in European waters are over-fished, and the cod stocks are declining by 10 percent per year. The global conservation group World Wildlife Fund said the Polish fleet accounts for about one-third of the cod catch in the Baltic sea.

Polish fishermen have challenged the quota cut, claiming that the available cod stocks in the Baltic were actually growing.

Source:english.people.com.cn,