EU proposes to hike eastern Baltic cod quota

(BRUSSELS) - The European Commission proposed on Monday raising cod fishing quotas in the eastern Baltic after a bitter clash with Poland last year over restrictions.

EU Fisheries Commissioner Joe Borg said that stocks were growing again after tough restrictions in recent years reeled cod numbers back from the "verge of collapse".

"By applying (a recovery) plan, we have been able to turn this situation around, and that stock is beginning to grow again. This is a very encouraging sign," said Borg in a statement.

Given the improvement, the commission recommended to increase cod quotas next year by 15 percent to 44,580 tonnes from 38,765 tonnes in 2008 in the eastern Baltic, where Polish, Baltic and Finnish fishermen are most active.

However, it proposed to cut quotas by 15 percent to 16,337 from 19,221 tonnes in the smaller western Baltic fishery over concerns about stock levels, affecting mostly Denmark and Sweden.

EU fisheries ministers are to mull the proposals at a meeting next month.

The proposed increase should help cool tensions between Brussels and Warsaw, which have been mired in a bitter battle over cod quotas, with Polish authorities contesting EU figures.

The commission drew outrage from Poland after it banned Polish fishermen from netting more cod after finding that they had filled their quota early, an order that was openly defied by many boats.

Poland was eventually found to have surpassed its allotted quotas and its excesses are to be deducted from annual quotas until 2011.

However, a spokeswoman for the EU fisheries commissioner denied that the fact that the commission was proposing raising the 2009 cod quota for the eastern Baltic was proof that Poland was right that stocks were not as depleted as feared.

"No, they were not right. Last year they fished too much and so they going to have to pay back for what they exceeded," she told journalists.

Apart from cod, the commission took a more dismal view of stock levels and recommended tougher quotas in the Baltic.

It said that herring quotas in the western Baltic should be slashed by 63 percent and by six percent in the central Baltic. It also proposed a 15 percent cut salmon quotas for the Gulf of Finland.