Oceana supports Commission quota deductions to compensate for overfishing

European Commission penalizes 10 Member States; Spain, UK and Portugal are the hardest hit.

Press Release Date: August 6, 2012

Location: Madrid

Contact:

Oceana Web | email: webadmin@oceana.org | tel.: 202.000.0000

The European Commission has announced that it will reduce the quotas of more than 30 species for ten Member States in 2012, due to their repeated overshooting of fish catches above allotted quotas. Oceana denounces the lack of fishing activity control in these countries that leads to policy non-compliance policy and poses a serious threat to the conservation of stocks.

“Member States should ensure compliance with the regulations for the good of resources and the fishing sector. It is deplorable that the Commission has had to act thusly because of the inactivity of the national fishing control agencies” stated Xavier Pastor, Executive Director for Oceana in Europe. “If I were a fisherman who abided by the law, I would request an explanation from my Member State and not Brussels, because the origin of the problem is at home.”

Ten Member States were harmed by this measure: Denmark, Germany, Ireland, France, Lithuania, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, United Kingdom and Spain.

Learn more: Link to the Commission Press Release