Source: The Fish Site
The scale of economic dependence on deep-sea fisheries in Europe is low, according to new information presented by the European Commission during a Fisheries Committee debate in the European Parliament in Brussels.
“The latest report from the European Commission shows that deep-sea fisheries represent only 1.4 per cent of European catches in the North-East Atlantic, which points to a clear imbalance between the harm these fisheries cause to vulnerable species and ecosystems and their limited economic returns,” stated Xavier Pastor, executive director of Oceana in Europe.
Members of the Deep Sea Conservation Coalition (DSCC) attending the parliamentary hearing have criticized the proceeding as a deliberate waste of time designed to derail the push for protection.
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