EU proposes drastic overhaul of Europe's fish policy

BRUSSELS, Belgium -- The European Union's head office announced plans Tuesday for a radical overhaul of Europe's fishing industry, calling for cuts in national fishing fleets of up to 60 percent despite tough opposition from member nations.

The plan was proposed as EU members wrangled behind the scenes to soften its measures, which could erase thousands of jobs across Europe. Continued overfishing has already dramatically reduced fish stocks in European waters.

The measures would affect the entire EU fleet of 100,000 vessels that fish EU waters and off the coasts of Africa and North America.

"It is make or break time," EU Fisheries Commissioner Franz Fischler said in presenting his proposals. "Either we make bold reforms now, or we watch the demise of our fisheries sector. The desperate race for fish has to stop."

Proposed plans call for the end of subsidies to boost fishing capacity, a tighter enforcement of fishing limits and closer consultation with industry leaders.

The plan also calls for $252 million to fund the scrapping of hundreds of fishing boats, to reduce the EU's total fleet by up to 60 percent in some EU nations and encourage fishermen and women to seek other employment.

Fischler said the plan would result in the withdrawal of some 8,600 boats from Europe's main fishing areas, the Mediterranean and the North and Baltic Seas.

European trawlers, most notably Spanish fishing boats, were singled out by Canada during the infamous 1995 turbot war, when Canadian navy ships intercepted and confiscated a Spanish trawler off Newfoundland, on the Grand Banks for overfishing.

Fischler said he wanted to bring to an end "the annual horse-trading" of quotas, which have continued to ignore warnings from scientists that the levels of Europe's most popular fish, including cod, haddock and hake are at dangerously low levels.

The World Wildlife Fund criticized the proposal saying it did not go far enough to limit damage to fish stocks and to other sea life, such as dolphins and birds, who routinely end up in illegal fishnets. "Environmental protection is not an optional extra," said Julie Cator from the conservation group.