European Union nations agreed to water down cuts in deep-sea fishing catches last Tuesday, ignoring international advice to close down the deep-sea fishery because certain species face extinction.
Tougher rules on the way fishermen report their catches to authorities by using satellite technology to track their fishing vessels were also agreed.
EU Fisheries Commissioner Joe Borg said EU ministers agreed to phase out catches of orange roughy and deep-water sharks by 2010. Both are also threatened by overfishing.
PHOTO: AP
"Scientists had recommended substantial cuts in these catches,'' Borg told reporters. "The difficulty in this case was to find a balance between the need to reduce fishing pressure on the stocks concerned in a way that would not have devastating effects on the fleets concerned.''
"Deep-sea species are very vulnerable to fishing pressure because of their slow growth rate .... If the EU continues on this path, orange roughy and many other species may suffer a commercial extinction over the next two years,'' said Carol Phua from the World Wildlife Fund.
On other measures, EU ministers agreed on tougher monitoring of vessels to ensure catch quotas are not violated.
Finnish Agriculture Minister Juha Korkeaoja said current practices of log books, filled in by fishermen after their trips would be replaced by electronic reporting through computers.
Satellite imagery will also be used to cross-check fishing boats to verify that they live up to EU rules on where they are allowed to fish and when.
Catches in the Adriatic and around Sicily have declined by as much as two-thirds over the past two decades and, overall, the future of some 100,000 European fishers in the Mediterranean looks increasingly bleak. (AP)
歐盟上週二同意放寬深海捕魚的限制,不顧國際間對物種瀕臨絕滅而禁止深海捕魚的建議。
漁民使用衛星科技追蹤漁船,向有關單位回報的更嚴格規定,也順利過關。
歐盟漁業處長喬.伯格表示,歐盟各部會長已同意在二○一○年以前逐步淘汰紐西蘭紅魚與深海鯊魚的撈捕。這兩者都面臨過度撈捕的威脅。
「科學家建議大幅縮減這類的捕漁量,」伯格告訴記者︰「其中的難處在於,要減少漁貯藏量的壓力,又不會對漁船產生重大影響。」
世界自然保育基金會的卡洛.普雅說︰「由於深海物種成長率緩慢,面臨漁業壓力時相當脆弱……假如歐盟執意這樣做,紐西蘭紅魚與其他物種兩年後可能會在市面上絕跡。」
在其他措施方面,歐盟各部長也同意更嚴格監督漁船,確保未違反漁獲量限額。
芬蘭農業部長朱亞.柯奇加表示,目前實施由歸航漁民填寫的航海日誌方式,將由電腦的電子報告取代。
衛星影像也會被用來交叉檢驗漁船,確認漁船能遵守合時合地捕漁的歐盟規定。
過去二十年來,亞得里亞海與西西里海的漁獲量已大幅銳減三分之二,地中海大約十萬歐洲漁民的未來似乎面臨嚴峻考驗。
(美聯社?翻譯:賴美君)
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