Cod fishermen have been battered by some more bad news by the European Commission as it looks to fixing quotas for next year.

The amount of cod that can be caught in some areas could be cut by up to 25 percent as cod stocks are so low the species is under threat of dying out. The quotas will also be reduced for other fish, although less dramatically than in previous years due to a slight improvement in the situation. Four years ago, 32 out of 34 species were overfished in European waters. This year that has dropped to 30 out of 35 species. The quotas for those fish could be around 15 percent lower next year. The real worry is over cod stocks, which have declined by an estimated 80 percent since 1970 in the North Sea, the eastern Channel and Scandinavia’s Skagerrak Strait. On Monday fisheries ministers may even decide to take recreational fishing into account when they issue the finalised quotas in December.More about: EU Commission, European Union, Fishery

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