By Jeremy Smith
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European Union ministers struck a deal on Friday to cut many of next year's fish catches for overexploited mainstays such as cod, aiming to ward off stock collapse but still ensure a livelihood for fishermen.
Cod quotas will mostly be cut by 25 percent in 2009 from this year's volumes, although a recent agreement with non-EU member Norway and signs of a small stock improvement in the North Sea will mean a 30 percent rise in those shared waters.
Scotland won a victory, avoiding a closure of its whitefish fishery on the west coast by agreeing to strict rules on fishing tackle and accepting quota cuts for some species.
"Scientific advice shows that the (cod) recovery plan is beginning to work," EU Fisheries Commissioner Joe Borg said after the deal was reached on the second day of talks.
In western Scotland waters, catches of cod, haddock and whiting have fallen sharply over the last 10 years due to overfishing. Borg had wanted to give those whitefish "breathing space" to rebuild numbers, by stopping targeted fishing and bringing in new fishing tackle to let them escape from the nets.
In the meantime, fishermen could carry on catching commercially valuable species like prawns and monkfish. Revenue from west Scotland fishing is worth some 85 million pounds ($127 million) a year, prawns accounting for slightly more than half.
To offset this, there will be quota cuts for cod, herring, haddock and whiting in west Scotland waters that vary between 25 and 42 percent, Borg said.
"The bulk of the west coast fleet will now be able to make a living in 2009 although a number of fishermen face a huge challenge in delivering the agreed conservation measures," Scottish Fisheries Minister Richard Lochhead said in a statement.
EU ministers also agreed stricter rules on fishing tackle used by cod trawlers, to try to stop overfished species from being thrown back in the sea and left to die when caught by accident along with other species -- known as discards.
"Appropriate observer schemes will be set up to ensure this is carried out," Borg told a news conference.
Elsewhere, a ban on anchovy fishing in the Bay of Biscay will remain until at least spring 2009 because there have so far been few signs of a recovery in stock numbers. This fishery is of prime importance to France and Spain.
"There are no signs yet that this stock is recovering but we will review the situation in the spring," Borg said.
Borg won approval for his proposal to phase out fishing for two species of deep-sea shark, spurdog and porbeagle, over the next couple of years, with ministers agreeing to set minimum landing sizes for any landings of these species in the meantime.
(Editing by Elizabeth Piper)
