The European Commission and EU Fisheries Ministers will have to seriously consider the warning and address management of the stocks accordingly before the end of the year, said WWF in a statement last Friday after the release of the latest ICES report.
“The Commission’s good will and soothing words are not enough to remedy the poor state of many Europe’s fish stocks”, says Aaron McLoughlin, Head of WWF European Marine Programme. “The necessary steps towards sustainable fisheries are still missing and it is deeply worrying to hear scientists coming back each year with evidence on stocks in trouble. There is still too little progress being made.”
Scientists from the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) have rung the alarm bell for many European fish. According to the report, fishing pressure must be decreased on cod, whiting, herring, plaice, redfish and Baltic salmon stocks in European waters next year, in order to rebuild these declining populations.
