For the Northern hake population, the Commission proposes a TAC of 11,000 tonnes for 2001 compared to 42,090 tonnes this year, a reduction of 74 percent. For cod in the West of Scotland, the Commission proposes 3,300 tonnes, a reduction of 56 percent on this year's TAC of 7,480 tonnes. A 35 percent reduction is proposed for West of Scotland whiting, from 4,300 tonnes in 2000 to 2,800 tonnes for next year. For pelagic species occurring on the open seas, such as herring, mackerel and horse mackerel, the Commission generally proposes to retain the same TACs as last year. The same applies to pelagic species, which support industrial fisheries - sandeel, blue whiting and some sprat populations.
White fish are ever popular on the plate but harder to find in the North Sea.
But for the many species that evolve with cod, whiting and hake, the Commission wants fishing reduced. This applies to species such as saithe, plaice, sole and haddock. There is no definite information about the precise linkages between the various species concerned. On the basis of the information available to it, however, the Commission is proposing to decrease fishing effort by 20 percent on those stocks for which analytical assessments are available. These include saithe, plaice and sole.