Speaking from Brussels, on the occasion when the European Fisheries Council is meeting, Jim Allister MEP said, "Year on year this December Council has brought further restriction on the fishing rights of Northern Ireland's industry.

The Irish Sea Cod Recovery Scheme is a failure. Fishing has been radically curtailed yet there is no recovery, clearly indicating climatic and other environmental factors, not over-fishing, are the real cause of the decline in cod stocks.  Yet, again the Commission wants to further restrict fishing.  There is an urgent need for a root and branch evaluation of the Cod Recovery Scheme, in which the science hitherto relied upon will be critically examined.  I call for that commitment from today's Council.

I also call for a realistic increase in the permitted prawn catch in circumstances where the prawn population in the Irish Sea is flourishing.  In the last 10 years we've seen our cod quota slashed by 65%, our whiting quota by 94% and our plaice quota by 57%.  My message today is that we can bear no more cuts."