New EU fishing policy an answer to greed

In a move to reform its Common Fishing Policy, the EU has published a Green Paper on the fisheries. The Times welcomes the move in a commentary: "What is new about the Green Paper launched yesterday by Joe Borg, the EU Fisheries Commissioner, is its call for wholesale reform of the CFP and its proposal for the introduction of individual transferable quotas (ITQs), better known as catch shares. ITQs guarantee their holders, whether large companies or individuals, fixed shares of the permitted catch of a given species in the waters in which they operate. The healthier the population of that species, the more valuable the ITQ, which can be bought, sold, leased or inherited. At a stroke, this mechanism aligns the long-term interests of the fishing industry and the marine ecosystems on which it depends. Properly administered, it can also overcome short-term greed."

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