Ministers soon to sit round the table for the annual fish stock carve-up in Belgium

It's that time of year when a select group of fishing 'representatives' - the Council of Fisheries Ministers - will spend three days in Belgium next week, often working through the night, to hammer out the quota allocations in European waters for the coming year. The annual agony sees all hands wait and pray that cuts will not be applied to their particular fishery - especially when, in the past, these cuts may have been introduced without the backing of scientific evidence. In particular, the South West (ICES Area VII) beamer fleet, along with a few specialist trawlers will be waiting for news of the sole quota. Likewise the gill-netting fleet will be checking for news from Brussels of any cuts in quotas for hake, pollack and cod - seems every year there's even more reason to treat sprouts with distaste - " Look, I don't like them, your mother isn't too keen either but go on, Brussels is good for you!".