Cod from the North Sea could be back on British dinner tables by next year.
It is believed North Sea cod could be deemed “sustainable” by then and could be certified for the first time by the Marine Stewardship Council blue label.
Decades of overfishing saw a peak of 270,000 tonnes of mature cod in the 1970s reduced to just 44,000 tonnes in 2006.
Last year, nearly 149,000 tonnes were recorded with conservationists saying the level should reach 165,000 tonnes for sustainable fishing.
Consumers have been reluctant to buy cod, but if it gets a blue label it is likely to push up demand as well as prices.
Fishing quotas are managed by the EU. If demand for North Sea cod rises, the price will go up because the need to maintain a sustainable level in fishing means only so many fish can be caught.
To qualify for MSC status, the environmental impact, management and stock levels must all be shown to be sustainable.
But the environmental impact and management are expected to pass the test because they are the same as those for haddock, which has already been certified. The certification is therefore expected to hinge on stock levels.
North Sea cod has already been removed from a list of fish to be avoided by the Marine Conservation Society which warned it should still be consumed “very occasionally”.
The society will reassess its position when fresh stock figures are available.
Comments
Unnecessarily? Are you sure?
OK - apologies for creating work for you.
(I have taken out most of the unnecessarily sarcastic bits. Ed)
Oh Chip.
You really need to do some research before coming round here flaunting your brazen ignorance for all of us to see.
What the article's about - recovery of cod stocks in the North Sea really IS a fantastic EU success.
The UK on its own managed to decimate North Sea stocks many years before it joined the EU, then went much much much further than mere decimation, nearly making cod extinct.
This link https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cod_Wars
will give the ignorant a brief introduction to the pre-EU UK's rapacious and arrogant fishing policies.
And what's your beef with Norway, Chip? Look at a map - the vast majority of Norway's coastline fronts the (guess what?) Norweigan Sea, not the North Sea. And the Norwegian Sea isn't in EU waters.
Plus poor old Norway has to meet every EU regulation going in order trade with the EU (yes, even for fish) - but has no say in approving the regulations, because Norway stayed in EFTA, but didn't join the EU. The worst of both worlds, some might say.
Fortunately stocks are plentiful around Norway which, of course, is outside the EU and manages its own fisheries. But that doesn't help UK fishermen.