Important increases were agreed for many parts of the UK’s fishing fleet. This includes increases to cod and haddock in the North Sea, Nephrops (prawns) in the Celtic Sea, sole in the Western Channel and angler (monkfish) and haddock in the West of Scotland.
Where the latest scientific evidence supported it, the government says it was also able to lobby against “unjustifiable cuts” proposed by the Commission. Instead the government ensured quotas were looked at on a case-by-case basis, achieving a rollover of current 2014 catch levels to provide stability for the fishermen who rely on these species, including skates and rays around the UK.
The government also successfully resisted further reductions to days at sea under the cod recovery plan. This will give fishermen the time they need to fish more selectively and avoid discarding perfectly good fish.
Finally, despite pressing hard for measures to address declining sea bass levels, the government says it was disappointed not to leave negotiations with an agreement on specific measures to tackle this issue. The UK government has led on action to improve these stocks and has now secured a commitment from the Commission to work with Member States to reduce fishing pressure at the start of the season in 2015.
UK Fisheries Minister George Eustice said, “Although these were difficult negotiations, I am pleased that we were able to secure the best possible deal to ensure sustainable fisheries and a strong UK fishing industry.
“While fishermen had feared there would be major cuts from the Commission, by bringing new science to the table we were able to keep the same quota as last year for many species, including monkfish, megrim and pollock in the South West and skates and rays around the UK. This was in addition to important increases to North Sea cod and haddock quota which will benefit Scottish fishermen.”
