NEWLYN fishermen could see quotas for fish such as haddock and monkfish fall by 25 per cent for 2012 despite an allegedly growing stock.
European Commission proposals for fishing stocks in the Atlantic and North Sea were announced last week, although a final decision will not be made until the end of the year.
​Paul Trebilcock, chief executive of the Cornish Fish Producers Organisation.Although the Total Allowable Catches (TAC) for cod and some species of common sole could increase in areas fished out of Newlyn, other quotas may fall.
For stocks where data was too poor to properly estimate size, the commission automatically reduced TACs by between 15 per cent and 25 per cent.
Angler fish, haddock, herring, megrims, plaice and whiting all face up to a 25 per cent reduction.
Paul Trebilcock, chief executive of the Cornish Fish Producers Organisation, explained the automatic reduction was in contrast to evidence that stock levels have been rising.
"Fish on the ground have been the most abundant in years, fish stocks seem to be improving and that should be good news," he said.
"I have had a good look at the positive trend. From our point of view, if stocks are improving how can they be cut by 25 per cent?
"It is a total contradiction to the commission's statements about banning discards. If we can't land them they will have to get thrown back.
"The first commission proposals always tend to be on the negative side. The good news is that cod is up by 140 per cent, which will be welcomed by all fishermen in Cornwall, and common sole is up by 9 per cent but that is where it ends.
"A 25 per cent reduction would be felt right across the board. We have been here before, we've started negotiations in better positions, we have started in worse."
The proposed catch limits are based on scientific advice from the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) and the Scientific, Technical and Economic Committee for Fisheries (STECF). The ICES based its advice for 2012 on the target of achieving a maximum sustainable yield in all key stocks by 2015.
This is part of an international agreement the EU has entered into and is a key part of the Common Fisheries Policy reform package which is going through Parliament.
Julie Girling, a member of the Fisheries Committee and a European MP for the South West, said: "The problem is that, while we all support maximum sustainable yields, which means reaching a state where catches never exceed the stock's ability to reproduce sustainably, the timescale of 2012 for stocks around the UK is just not achievable.
"For the South West, and for fishermen across the UK, these proposals are bad news.
"My fear, which is shared by many, is that, in 20 years' time, our seas may once again be teeming with fish but there will not be a single British fisherman left to catch them."
article copyright THE CORNISHMAN