Peers said repeated warnings by Parliamentary committees and scientists over the past 10 years had been largely ignored.
And a Lord’s European Union Committee inquiry published today says the17-year-old Common Fisheries Policy has “totally failed” to achieveself-sustaining fish populations.
The European Commission is due to unveil proposals for fisheries reform overthe next two months.
Lords EU Committee chairman the Earl of Selborne warned that stocks of many species of fish in European waters were already at “critically low” levels.
“It is disgraceful that so little attention has been paid by successivegovernments to past reports of this Committee, its sister Committee onScience and Technology and the House of Commons Agriculture Committee,” he said.
“All of them have been based on a careful review of fisheries science andmanagement and have come to essentially the same conclusions.
“Ministers who represent EU Member States at the Fisheries Council inBrussels, must now face up to their collective responsibility to bringfishing activity down to sustainable levels.
“This requires a degree of political courage which so far has beenlacking.”
Meanwhile, the numbers of bass landed commercially reached a five year high in 1999, according to figures out yesterday.
Commercial nettings accounted for 678 tonnes, while charter catches took thetotal over 1,100 tonnes.
The figures were given in a reply to a written Parliamentary Question, byAgriculture Minister Elliott Morley.
