Cod can recover – if we control bycatch
15 July 2010
Depleted North Sea cod stocks have been recovering recently, thanks to a particularly successful breeding season in 2005 and subsequent limits on catching those fish as they’ve grown. But the recovery is threatened by trawlers catching too many cod while fishing for other species. Steps must be taken to reduce cod catches further, to let stocks properly recover.
New scientific evidence from the International Council for the Exploration of the Seas (ICES) has shown that North Sea cod numbers have been increasing of late.
That’s largely thanks to the conservation measures put in place, including ‘closed’ protected areas and the use of selective fishing gear that allows cod to escape from nets while retaining other fish.
But there’s still a long way to go for the iconic cod. The big threat is bycatch – the amount of cod caught unnecessarily by trawlers targeting a mixture of species.
Because cod quotas are lower than for other fish, any excess cod is simply thrown back overboard – often already dead. These ‘discards’ are not officially recorded or counted against the fishing quota.
We want to see better management and monitoring to make sure all cod catch is recorded. All fishing vessels should fully document their catches, using onboard cameras and ‘catch quotas’.
Catch quotas limit the amount of fish actually removed from the sea, rather than just recording what is taken back to shore.
Trials in Scotland, England and Denmark – using the camera technology, closed areas and selective fishing gear – have led to notable reduction in discards, because fishermen have a greater incentive to fish more selectively.
The ICES has advised the European Commission that fishing quotas for cod will need to be reduced by at least 20% next year. And conservation measures must be adopted more widely to restore cod to maximum sustainability levels by 2015.
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