EU countries strike deal on fishing quotas

By Jeremy Smith

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - EU countries struck a deal for 2008 catch quotas on Wednesday, watering down the European fisheries chief's proposals for the preservation of species whose stocks are floundering at precariously low levels

After hours of haggling through the night, the bloc's 27 fisheries ministers accepted a series of concessions offered by the European Commission, the EU's executive arm.

As ever cod occupied top place on the ministerial agenda and quotas will be set 18 percent lower than 2007 in most trawling areas, apart from the North Sea where scientists had indicated a slight improvement in fish numbers.

The Commission had wanted a cut of 25 percent in most cod quotas for 2008.

The cod quota for the North Sea was raised by 11 percent, to the dismay of conservation groups that had attacked the idea of an increase while the species' recovery still seemed precarious.

The Commission has justified the rise by saying recovery is still possible if there are fewer cod fished as a by-catch with other species, less young cod scooped up but then thrown back into the sea, called discards, and fewer fishing days at sea.

"To ensure this recovery, effort needs to be cut. Ministers agreed a 10 percent cut in days at sea (for North Sea cod)," EU Fisheries Commissioner Joe Borg told a news conference at the end of some 20 hours of negotiations.

"The decisions taken tonight will ensure that commercial pressure on stocks will continue to decrease," he said.