International conservation organisation, Oceana, has expressed its disappointment with the European Council’s 2013 and 2014 TACs and quotas for deep sea species.
It says that the Fisheries Council decision to increase TACs for many deep sea stocks above levels proposed by the European Commission is disappointing because they were “already not ambitious enough to guarantee the responsible exploitation of these vulnerable species.”
Xavor Pastor, executive director, Oceana Europe, said: “The EU is currently in the midst of the challenging process of reforming the deep-sea access regime. The Council's decision on deep-sea TACs should have shown that EU Member States are fully committed to the implementation of a binding precautionary principle. Instead, they revealed themselves to be anchored in an unsustainable past.”
Deep sea species are more vulnerable to overexploitation due to their low reproduction, slow growth rates and late maturity.
On a more positive note though, Oceana welcomed the agreement on a rollover of a zero TAC for threatened orange roughy and deep sea sharks, along with reductions for some other stocks.
The organisation sees the upcoming 2013 reform of the deep sea access regulation proposed by the European Commission as being fundamental to moving towards more responsible management.
