From The Times

December 20, 2007

 

The EU has agreed a fishing quota that conservationists fear could lead to porbeagle sharks being wiped out.

The Council of Ministers had been urged to impose tough restrictions to allow porbeagles, which are slow-growing, a chance to recover from decades of unrestricted overfishing.

Britain led the way by agreeing to accept a total allowable catch of only four tonnes, equivalent to 20 large sharks weighing an average of 200kg (440lb) each. The EU proposed initially a total quota for Europe of 422 tonnes, but by the time a deal was agreed yesterday lobbying by France and Portugal had increased that to 586 tonnes, about 3,000 adult sharks.

Continue reading original article at The Times .