RAC objective
One of the priorities of the North Sea RAC this year will be to develop long term management plans for the fishery with the aim of reaching key objectives.
The European Commission has indicated that it is likely to take a much more relaxed view about the setting of annual quotas as long as it can seen that the industry is working towards long-term conservation objectives. If this happens, then it could avoid widely fluctuating quotas and create more stability for the industry.
In fact, the industry is probably already there as far as species such as saithe and haddock are concerned, which are currently being exploited at their maximum sustainable yield.
However, any long-term objectives would only be feasible if they enjoyed complete agreement amongst relevant parties and that they were not imposed on the industry from above.
The mechanisms used to meet these objectives would vary but the over-riding principle would be an evolutionary step-by-step approach, rather than taking extreme and draconian short-term measures.
More tricky is how bring cod into the equation, given that climate change forces seems to be the driving force behind the decline of this species. |
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