Biodiversity boost to African crop

quota in the Kattegat region between Sweden and Denmark, the Irish Sea and the west of Scotland. Environmental groups have long called for the industry to adopt new technologies and practices that can substantially reduce 'bycatch'. Larger mesh size is one straightforward measure that can save more juvenile fish. Charles Clover, author of The End Of The Line, said: " It is ridiculous that we cannot prioritise more selective forms of fishing and stop throwing away hundreds of thousands of tonnes of perfectly good fish, let alone other creatures, every year. In America selective trawl gear and even hook fishing is much more widespread. " A government-backed initiative in southwest UK was recently praised by Maria Damanaki for halving the level of discards when fishing for flat fish by using new types of gear on beam trawlers. And in Scotland, a voluntary scheme has seen the bycatch rate plummet in its North Sea haddock fishery after the introduction of new equipment, temporary localised fishing bans and installation of CCTV cameras on boats to monitor catches. In Denmark, some fishermen have been given 30 per cent bigger quotas for demonstrating that their bycatch and discard rates have been slashed. The new campaign to limit bycatch comes at a time when the EU has undertaken widespread consultation on the future of the CFP. The policy is notorious throughout Europe as pleasing no-one. Conservationists believe it does not go nearly far enough to ensure the sustainable maintenance of fish stocks, and fishermen see little but the continued decline in national fleets as quotas continue to erode the commercial opportunities in fishing. But the continuing dwindling of stocks is leading to the EU talking tougher about conservation. In the quota announcements last month, the Commission noted that the contribution of the European fisheries to the economy and food supply is far smaller today than it was just a few decades ago. " Progress towards bringing all European fish stocks to sustainable levels has been slow, because the fleets have not been able to adapt quickly enough to the scientific advice. " And campaigners are also now highlighting the problem of bycatch. For 72 per cent of assessed stocks, " overfishing is so serious that more fish would be caught if there was less fishing. " Only some 40 per cent of our assessed stocks are known to be fished sustainably, the Commission says. But …