News reaches us today that the European Commission is trying to put a stop to the last minute food fight that happens in the Council of Ministers each year when setting fishing quotas. This process seems deeply flawed, with each country looking for the best deal for them, which often leads to quotas that fly in the face of the scientific advice that the commission has received.

Apparently a green paper has been drafted that will be published on 22 April. This paper says that the biggest problem is that there are too many boats chasing too few fish.

The consequence is the dwindling, or at least not-recovering, fish stocks in the seas around Europe. Just a couple of weeks ago the Heads of Delegation of the North East Atlantic Fisheries Commission met to discuss vulnerable marine ecosystems – with the conclusion that only “limited progress” had been made to protect these areas. That was a meeting more about habitat than fish stocks, but it’s all related. And it’s fishing that damages the sea bed.

The quota-setting procedure in future will replace the meeting of national minsters with a meeting of expert committees, or regional bodies, according to European Voice. And the focus will be long term, rather than deciding how much fish can be caught over the next coming months.

Let’s hope this works, but I’m not holding my breath. It is bound to be unpopular with some countries. Back in October 2006 Nature News wrote a story that sounded eerily familiar: the European Commission wanted to stop the last minute wrangling over fish quotas.

Image: NOAA