LAST week the European Commission spelled out its vision of how to save Europe’s fish stocks from collapse. In a major break with the past, its proposals for changes to the Common Fisheries Policy put responsibility for setting the limits on catches in the hands of fisheries scientists and civil servants rather than politicians.
The announcement looks certain to trigger a battle over how to halt the decline in fish populations in European waters. Important stocks, including many cod and haddock populations, have fallen by 90 per cent since 1970, and scientists want to see catches halved in some areas…
