The European fish stocks are in a very bad condition, with the cod fish as one of the worst cases. The World Wildlife Foundation (WWF) and Greenpeace want a total stop for fishing cod, which has also been recommended by biologists. The recommendations from biologists are reasonable, according to the premises they are bound to work from. With WWF and Greenpeace however, it is another case. Either, these two organizations have not got the time and resources to get familiar with concrete conditions in the fishery, or they don’t care. For their continued demands of a total stop of fishing belongs to the environmental department – it has nothing do to with fisheries. A total stop will not solve the problem, since it will only have as a consequence that it will be illegal to land cod fish from the North Sea . The catches of cod will continue, because the cod is caught together with other species, such as haddock. With a total stop of cod fishing, a lot of cod fish will be thrown back dead into the sea, or will be landed illegally.

When it is reasonable to carry out a total stop for the fisheries of one species in one specific area, it doesn’t entail that it is also reasonable in any other case at the same time. In the 1970s, landings of herring from the North Sea were halted. This regulation might very well be the reason why the herring stock in the North Sea is doing reasonably today. The project was successful, because herring is living in big shoals, and hence when you are catching herring – you are catching only herring. The cod fishery east of Bornholm might also have been successfully stopped, since the Eastern stock of cod in the Baltic Sea, was gathering in big shoals in connection with spawning, and in that situation they were caught by trawls, without by-catches of other species. Some of the same intense fishery took place in the Southern part of the North Sea , where the cod has disappeared today. The total collapse of the cod fishery at New Found land and Labrador (from an annual catch of half a million ton, to something like zero today) could have been avoided with a total stop far earlier.

But the cod fish in the central and Northern part of the North Sea , and in the inner Danish waters, as well as the waters West of England, is living together with other species, and therefore a total stop will not hinder that the cod is caught. What is needed is that the fishery conducted by vessels living directly from the cod and haddock fishery must go down 80 %. For this, financial means are required. And since we are talking about relatively big and modern trawl-, seine- and net vessels, we are also talking about quite substantial amounts of money. But there is nothing else to do – for these types of vessels have specialized in catching cod fish and haddock, where these fish are standing in smaller or bigger lumps among or near the stones.

If you take out these vessels from the cod fish and haddock fishery, or you transfer them to another type of fishery (which is probably difficult, since the total fleet is already much too big), you might without any problems allow a smaller quota of by catches in other fisheries, and allow most net fishery, ordinary seine fishery and fishery with hooks for cod fish and haddock.

The restoration of the cod fish and haddock stocks in the areas here mentioned, is not a question about stopping fishery; nor about quotas, days at sea, or all the other possible and impossible technical means of preservation. It is only a question about money, i.e. money enough to take out the vessels and the methods, which are causing the stocks nearly to collapse.

Many of these specialized modern vessels have entered the fishery with subsidies – now they are no longer needed, so they must also leave again with subsidies. This also because a total stop would be unfair to the fisheries which have not been modernized with public financial means, but are only carrying out a modest and reasonable fishery, where cod fish, haddock and other species make out an integrated whole.

The Danish Society for a Living Sea

Ferring Strand the 8 of December 2002