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Key fishing grounds to stay open
Vital North Sea, West of Scotland, and Irish Sea cod fishing grounds are to stay open under a European fisheries deal hammered out in Brussels.
Despite grim warnings from scientists about the state of dwindling stocks, European Commission plans which the Government said would devastate the UK fleet have been withdrawn.
Fishermen even escape a cut in the current 15 days a month they are allowed to put to sea for cod - as long as they use nets with an agreed minimum mesh size to let the tiddlers through to boost stock revival hopes.
Fisheries Minister Ben Bradshaw hailed the deal as a good balance between the needs of the industry and of conservation.
But conservation groups expressed "shock" that the Commission had backed down from the much tougher measures urged by marine scientists worried about collapsing fish stocks.
On the other hand, Government critics said the deal was not generous enough to UK fishermen leading the drive to restore the drastically-depleted cod fishery.
Mr Bradshaw tried to appease conservationists by insisting the UK was in favour of closing cod grounds in future "in principle" if stocks do not recover and if the scientific evidence justifies it.
But he said the UK fleet, and particularly the Scottish fleet, had endured more hardship in the last two years as part of a targeted cod recovery plan which had delivered a 56% in cod mortality already.
"The UK fishing industry has made the biggest contribution to recovery and I am pleased that this has been reflected in the agreement," he said, adding: "We welcome the fact that plans for closed areas have been withdrawn and that we have managed to maintain the number of days fishermen can fish as long they use 120- millimetre mesh nets."
Mr Bradshaw and his Scottish counterpart, Ross Finnie, had argued for no turning of the screw on hard-pressed fishing fleets compared with the regime agreed under the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) last year.
Vital North Sea, West of Scotland, and Irish Sea cod fishing grounds are to stay open under a European fisheries deal hammered out in Brussels.
Despite grim warnings from scientists about the state of dwindling stocks, European Commission plans which the Government said would devastate the UK fleet have been withdrawn.
Fishermen even escape a cut in the current 15 days a month they are allowed to put to sea for cod - as long as they use nets with an agreed minimum mesh size to let the tiddlers through to boost stock revival hopes.
Fisheries Minister Ben Bradshaw hailed the deal as a good balance between the needs of the industry and of conservation.
But conservation groups expressed "shock" that the Commission had backed down from the much tougher measures urged by marine scientists worried about collapsing fish stocks.
On the other hand, Government critics said the deal was not generous enough to UK fishermen leading the drive to restore the drastically-depleted cod fishery.
Mr Bradshaw tried to appease conservationists by insisting the UK was in favour of closing cod grounds in future "in principle" if stocks do not recover and if the scientific evidence justifies it.
But he said the UK fleet, and particularly the Scottish fleet, had endured more hardship in the last two years as part of a targeted cod recovery plan which had delivered a 56% in cod mortality already.
"The UK fishing industry has made the biggest contribution to recovery and I am pleased that this has been reflected in the agreement," he said, adding: "We welcome the fact that plans for closed areas have been withdrawn and that we have managed to maintain the number of days fishermen can fish as long they use 120- millimetre mesh nets."
Mr Bradshaw and his Scottish counterpart, Ross Finnie, had argued for no turning of the screw on hard-pressed fishing fleets compared with the regime agreed under the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) last year.