Fishing limits for wild salmon in the Baltic Sea will be unchanged or cut slightly next year, under European proposals published yesterday, which environmentalists say ignore concerns that some sub-species could face extinction.
The European Commission says there should be a year-on-year cut of 11 per cent in the allowable catch for “main basin” salmon, referring to most of the salmon in the Baltic, for 2013. That followed an agreement by EU ministers on a 51 per cent cut for 2012.
“The commission has followed scientific advice for some species, but for salmon the level is double that recommended by scientists,” Saskia Richartz, Greenpeace’s EU oceans policy director, said.
“It’s doubly bad. It’s too high and it risks undermining efforts by some countries to address concerns raised by scientists that we might lose some of the populations altogether.” – (Reuters)