BRUSSELS, Oct 9 (Hina) - The European Commission on Thursday proposed a set of legal measures to preserve fisheries in the Mediterranean and counter overfishing, which in recent decades has threatened fish stocks and jobs of tens of
thousands of fishermen.
BRUSSELS, Oct 9 (Hina) - The European Commission on Thursday
proposed a set of legal measures to preserve fisheries in the
Mediterranean and counter overfishing, which in recent decades has
threatened fish stocks and jobs of tens of thousands of fishermen.
#L#
Citing examples of threatened fisheries, the EC named the Adriatic
Sea and the Sicily Strait, where the catch of some species has
dropped by 60 percent in the last 20 years.
The proposed measures envisage protection of some fish against
overfishing, the drawing up of an EU plan and plans of EU member-
countries for the management of fisheries, increased control,
monitoring of recreational fishing, and observation of a 25-
nautical mile protected fishing zone declared by Malta.
The EC has warned that in recent decades fishing in the
Mediterranean has increased, while catch has dropped, an estimate
supported by scientific research. The most endangered species are
hake in the Gulf of Lions and the Tyrrhenian Sea, pilchard in the
Adriatic Sea, shrimp in the waters off the coast of Corsica and
Sardinia, and surmullet in the Strait of Gibraltar.
The proposed measures are based on the EU's action plan for the
sustainable development of fisheries in the Mediterranean and the
reform of the EU's general fisheries policy.
The EC has announced that the ministerial conference on sustainable
development of fisheries, to take place in Venice on November 25 and
26, would address prospects for a coordinated approach to
declaration of fishing zones, the key measure of the action plan.
(hina) rml