EU Tightens Fishing Rules

BRUSSELS (AP) -- European Union nations have reached a deal to tighten fishing rules in its eastern waters and edge closer toward a fully sustainable industry by 2020 but environmentalists said quotas still allowed for too much overfishing.

After marathon talks that started Monday and finished only early Wednesday, EU fisheries ministers said that more stocks will be fished at maximum sustainable yield in the hope of pushing more species to within safe biological limits after decades of overfishing in the vast EU eastern waters.

The PEW trust said, however, that too many stocks would still be hunted with quotas that go beyond scientific advice.

Gabriela Matecna, the Slovak minister who chaired the meeting, said a compromise was needed for "the sustainability of our fish stocks, but also that of our fisheries."

(KA)