The NFFO was commenting after the North Sea and North West Waters regional advisory coouncils presented their case for radical changes to the cod recovery plan to a meeting of international fisheries scientists in Germany two weeks ago.
The Federation said it has worked hard with both councils to ensure that the all the available evidence, including vessel operators’ direct experience of working under the plan, has been brought to the table.
 
Its statement said: "As strong advocates for a revised cod recovery plan the Federation will make the case for a move away from strong-arm reductions in effort and TACs towards a more intelligent and comprehensive approach focused on results.
In our view a new plan should:

* Clarify and increase the scope for encouraging effective cod avoidance so that TAC reductions actually achieve a reduction in fishing mortality rather than only generating discards
* Underpin effective cod avoidance with complementary decisions on TACs and effort; this means abandoning pre-programmed reductions in TACs and effort allocations
* Move to a recovery timeframe that makes sense in biological and economic terms
* Move away from effort restrictions as an unreliable and often counterproductive instrument in cod recovery; the NFFO has explained the weak or at least unpredictable correlation between effort and fishing mortality elsewhere:
* Adopt a fishery-by-fishery approach, which means different arrangements in the Irish Sea and West of Scotland from the North Sea
* Have a regional seas focus that allows measures to be tailored to specific fisheries
* Rebuild failed stock assessments in the Irish Sea and West of Scotland using industry data and cooperation, hand in hand with a new approach to management measures.

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