US provides lesson in building fish stocks

[T_i_B]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/12/19/wfish19.xml&sSheet=/portal/2005/12/19/ixportal.html

As European fisheries ministers convene to set quotas this week, fishermen in New England are celebrating an increase of a third in their fish stocks over the past decade, achieved using conservation methods the EU has rejected.

The size of cod and haddock on the auction market in Gloucester, the capital of New England's fishing industry, is more than twice what you will see in Peterhead, north-east Scotland, or other North Sea ports.

This is because the New England Fishery Management Council has set the minimum mesh size of the nets fishermen may use at 6.5in, which ensures that the cod and haddock have bred at least twice before they are caught. In the North Sea the largest mesh size is 4.8in and the smallest 3.2in (80mm) and the fish are lucky to have bred once.

In the west Gulf of Maine, 100lb cod are not rare and 50lb cod common - though the population still refuses to rebuild to former levels nearly 10 years after conservation measures were imposed. Fishermen have been convinced it is better for them to catch 800lb of large fish at $1.50 a pound, than 800lb of small fish at 50 cents.

[formercia]

1. That's fine

The EU is glad to pay a premium for Maine Cod, that's why the fishermen get a premium price. And I thought the EU was run by intelligent people.

[Dead_Parrot]

2. Intelligent people?

You know what they say about the average (EU) official: he has the organizing ability of the Italians, the flexibility of the Germans, and the modesty of the French. And that's topped up by the imagination of the Belgians, the generosity of the Dutch and the intelligence of the Irish.

Lifted from BBC's Yes Minister - 1981, but still relevant.