Cod discarded in the North Sea: Greenpeace response

Responding to news that massive quantities of cod and other fish species in European waters are being discarded because of the fishing quota system, Greenpeace oceans campaigner Oliver Knowles said:

"The quota system has been a disaster for fish stocks, a disaster for fishermen and a disaster for conservation. It's time to abandon this madness and introduce a new approach to fisheries management - one based on controlling the number of days fisherman can spend at sea and introducing large marine reserves which provide fish stocks with the space to recover."

NOTES

Greenpeace proposes a new approach which:

1. Abandons the rigid quota system and replaces it with effort controls to reduce overall days at sea.
2. Makes further reductions in overall fleet capacity.
3. Establishes large scale marine reserves closed to fishing, to provide areas where fish stocks can recover.