Press Release: Commission: early delivery of ICES scientific advice on fish stocks will allow for in-depth consultation on 2008 fishing quotas

The European Commission welcomes the publication on 8 June 2007 by the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) of a report on the state and perspectives of certain fish stocks. It looks forward to studying this report in detail with a view to making the necessary proposals for action over the coming months. The news is rather bad regarding the state of a number of important commercial European fish stocks, in particular for herring in the Celtic Sea and Northwest of Ireland, for both Baltic cod stocks, for herring and whiting in the North Sea and Norway pout. ICES has again advised the closure of fishing for cod in the North Sea and in the Kattegat. It has also called for the establishment of fishing possibilities at levels closer to scientific advice and for improved effectiveness of the days-at-sea scheme for fishing vessels to help bring more stocks to sustainable levels.