Press Release: Deep water fish: Commission proposes for the first time catch limitations

For the first time, the European Commission proposed on 10 December 2001 to introduce conservation measures for deep water fish stocks. These are species such as blue ling, Red seabream or Black scabbardfish which are caught in waters beyond the main fishing grounds of the continental shelf in the North Atlantic. Fisheries for these species are relatively recent but have been increasing and developing over the past few years. Recent scientific advice indicates that many of the deep-sea fish stocks are too heavily exploited and are considered to be in a state which is actually or potentially outside safe biological limits. As a first step, the Commission proposes to set catch limitations in the form of Total Allowable Catches (TACs) for a number of deep-water fish stocks. In accordance with scientific advice, the Commission will, in the near future, propose a scheme to restrict fishing effort on these stocks.