North Sea cod are still under pressure, despite expert advice to close fishery

Although independent marine scientists recently produced a report which recommended the complete closure of the North Sea's cod fishery in order to prevent its collapse, the UK's fisheries minister, Ben Bradshaw, today claimed satisfaction that, after late-night negotiations cod quota levels will be allowed to stay at the same as they were last year.

At present the cod fishery contains about 53,000 tonnes of cod, rather than the 150,000 tonnes considered necessary in order to support a sustainable fishing industry, and these low levels are unlikely to recover without stocks being allowed to recover, undisturbed for several years...

The latest round of political horse trading indicate that these initial measures to reduce fishing pressure may be inadequate, taken too late or undermined by the problem of mixed fishery issues (where cod are accidentally caught + killed, as a by-catch, along side less endangered fish, such as haddock)...

If you want to help, it might be a good idea to avoid eating cod.