Britain''s fishermen will be able to earn extra days at sea under new conservation measures after the European Union (EU) backed UK proposals designed to protect cod stocks and reduce the amount of fish thrown back dead into the sea (discards), writes a sstatement from Defra.
UK Fisheries Minister Jonathan Shaw welcomed the support for an action plan to reduce discards which lets fishermen adopt tailored measures that work best for them.
A joint UK-Ireland initiative in the Irish Sea aimed at improving understanding of the state of stocks and avoiding discards was also backed, allowing participating boats to earn extra days at sea.
The deal reached in Brussels today by EU fisheries ministers on catch limits and the number of days trawlers can go to sea next year will see some increases in annual quotas as well as further conservation measures designed to protect vulnerable stocks.
Other highlights for the UK include:
* 50 per cent increase in Rockall haddock quota.
* 11 per cent increase in North Sea cod quota.
* 5 per cent increase in Irish Sea haddock quota.
* 8 per cent increase in North Sea megrim quota.
Jonathan Shaw said:
"The UK has shown that its fishermen are committed to finding new ways of protecting vulnerable stocks. We wanted to avoid cuts to days at sea for our fishermen, but the overall deal that we achieved offsets some of those agreed.
"Today's agreement acknowledges efforts by our fishermen to find new ways to safeguard stocks and to prevent large amounts of the fish they catch having to be thrown back dead into the sea.
"I want to pay tribute to my fellow Ministers from the devolved administrations and their officials as well as Defra officials - everyone worked together for a fair deal that has benefits for fishermen throughout the UK."
