Decision on fish dumping postponed

BRUSSELS, Nov. 27 (UPI) -- A decision on amending the controversial fishery policy of the European Union has been postponed until early 2010, EU officials say.

At issue is the dumping of between 40 and 60 percent of all the fish caught in the North Sea because of quotas that strictly limit what ships can bring back to port, the EUobserver reports.

Discarding fish is illegal in Iceland and Norway but boats in the EU are obliged to discard any wrong fish they catch or fish that fail to measure up in size.

Fish ministers meeting in Brussels earlier this month failed to reach an agreement on discards, the EUobserver says.

Seven member states argued that further analysis was needed and asked the Swedish EU presidency to postpone a decision.

Under the Lisbon Treaty, the European Parliament gains co-decision powers on fishery policy December 1.