Gone (Over)Fishing?

Following tough negotiations, agriculture and fisheries ministers from the European Union agreed to reduce catches of fish below a depth of 400 meters (about 400 yards).

Depending on the type of fish, the catch should be reduced by 10 to 25 percent, according to the terms of a deal struck this week. But that differs significantly from the demands of marine biologists, who have called for an immediate end to deep-sea fishing of overexploited or fully exploited fish stocks.

"In recent years, fishing in deep waters has increased as traditional stocks, such as cod, have declined," the International Council for Exploration of the Sea said on its Web site. "The stocks of many deep-sea fish are in decline and can only sustain very limited fishing pressure. In light of these concerns, (we) suggest an immediate reduction of fishing pressure on fully exploited or overexploited deep-sea stocks."

Spain blocks action

EU ministers only agreed to stop catching certain fish -- for instance, deep-sea sharks -- and the decision only applies to fishing in EU waters.

In New York the United Nations is currently debating a world-wide reduction in ecologically damaging deep-sea factory fishing and trawling. However, EU member Spain is working to block an effective ban.

Joe Borg, EU Commissioner for Fisheries and Maritime Affairs, warned that the interests of the fishing industry also have to be taken into account.

"The difficulty lies in finding a solution that will take pressure off of fish levels, but won't send the fishing companies into financial ruin," Borg said. "It wasn't easy, but I think we found the balance."

"Like clear-cutting a forest"

After shelf waters became severely over-fished in the early 1990s, many fisheries moved operations out to deep water, environmentalists complain; they say repeated fishing by factory trawlers destroyed entire ecosystems.

"It can be compared to clear-cutting an entire forest," said environmental protection group Greenpeace.

The EU ministers agreed to better protect threatened fish stocks in the Mediterranean starting in 2008. Fishing nets should have bigger holes, and fishing should not take place in breeding grounds near the coast.

But the World Wildlife Fund has said the EU is merely trying to reintroduce dragnet trawling -- which has been forbidden since 2002 -- through the back door.

Using technology

Participants in the talks agreed that new technology should be used to damp illegal fishing. All trawlers in the EU should be outfitted with electronic logbooks that would register the exact amounts of fish they catch. With help from satellites, authorities should be able to keep track of the fish and their spawning grounds, as well as the trawlers' fishing routes.

But environmentalists complain that these measures are too little and too slow. According to a study in the US magazine Science, sea life could be eradicated by 2048 if serious protective measures for the ecosystem, including fishing quotas, aren't taken soon.