BRUSSELS, Sept. 14 (UPI) -- Long-term sustainability and coordinated efforts should be the focus of fishery polices in littoral states to the Black Sea, the European Parliament said.
The European Parliament noted that marine ecosystems in Black Sea coastal states are affected by changes tied to fishing, climate change and pollution.
The Parliament said it was targeting a Black Sea-specific policy as part of a broader common fisheries policy that it said would preserve fish stocks in the European community.
"The development in the Black Sea is very worrying," Bulgarian lawmaker Iliana Malinova Iotova, who wrote the resolution, said in a statement. "If urgent measures are not taken we risk having a dead sea."
The measure notes that setting annual fish quotas for each state shouldn't be the only option available for sustainability.
Europe and the United States signed an agreement last week in Washington aimed at combating illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing.
The Scottish government said it was expecting the European Commission to introduce sanctions against the Faroe Islands and Iceland for overfishing mackerel in the region.
