Fighting over-fishing

The European Commission last week banned bluefish tuna fishing in the eastern Atlantic and the Mediterranean for the rest of the year because of over-fishing and dwindling stocks.

The decision was taken after information emerged that member states had exhausted the 2007 fishing quota of 16,779.5 tons set by the EU. The ban concerns Cyprus, Malta, Greece, Portugal and Spain. The other two member states involved, Italy and France, closed their own fisheries in July and August, respectively.

"Clearly there are problems both of over-fishing a stock already threatened with collapse and of equity between the member states concerned," European Commissioner for Fisheries and Maritime Affairs Joe Borg said. "As its duty, the commission will do all it can to address these issues urgently."

Popularity of tuna cause of decline

The decision comes less than a year after a report by WWF, a global conservation organization, found that bluefin tuna stocks in Mediterranean fishing waters decreased by 85 percent in the last decade.

Environmental groups warn that tuna could face eventual extinction if fishing continues at current rates, boosted by a worldwide trend for Japanese food such as sushi. Depending on its size, the fish commands a price of several thousand dollars on the world market.

"That naturally makes it enormously attractive to countries not to stick to their fishing quotas," Karoline Schacht of the WWF told DW-WORLD.DE.

With stocks steadily declining, the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) last year recommended cutting fishing quotas in half.

"Instead the quota has remained nearly as high as last year -- the fishing lobby has once again triumphed," said Stefanie Werner of Greenpeace, adding that Mediterranean countries, in particular, have exceeded their fishing quotas. Greenpeace is now demanding suspending fishing until the ICCAT formulates a "responsible" management plan.

Eel and cod threatened too

It's not just tuna that's threatened. Stocks of eel and cod are also in precarious shape, according to the EU Commission. The EU said a rise in illegal fishing is the main reason for the dwindling stocks.

According to the WWF, around 50 percent of all cod fishing in the Baltic Sea is illegal. That amounts to around 22,000 tons each year, according to Germany's Federal Ministry for Agriculture. The ministry estimated that in the past years over 100,000 tons of cod have been illegally fished each year in the Barents Sea.

The EU Commission has already taken action against Poland and banned it from fishing cod after it emerged that Polish fishermen caught 18,000 tons of cod in the first half of the year, but only registered 6,000 tons.

Better checks needed

To enable depleted fish stocks to recover, the EU plans to cut fishing quotas for cod in the Baltic Sea by a third.

The plan hasn't found favor among German fishermen who say the EU needs to introduce more effective controls and inspections to counter illegal fishing rather than cut quotas for legal catches.

"If illegal fishing was reduced by half, there would be no problems with cod stocks," said Lothar Fischer, board member of the German Coastal Fishing Association. The proposed cuts make it apparent that the "EU doesn't trust its own control mechanisms," Fischer said.

Environmental experts say that part of the problem is the division of checks and balances between the EU and the member states on fishing.

EU member states carry out their own inspections of fishing stocks by checking fish hauls at harbors or reviewing fishing fleets while at sea. The EU, on the other hand, checks if member states fulfill their responsibilities.

While some say that many member states don't do a thorough job of inspections, others lay the blame at the EU's door.

"The penalties for illegal fishing differ from state to state," said WWF's Schacht, adding that fines in Germany are about 400 percent higher than in Latvia. "What we need are EU-wide uniform controls."