Romania will not give Bulgaria some of its share of fishing plaice

Romania will not yield to Bulgaria some of its fishing share for plaice in the Black Sea as European regulations do not specify it, the secretary of state in the Ministry of Agriculture, Danut Apetrei said. "Bulgaria requested that we yield a quantity of 1.1 tons of our share of fishing plaice not used in 2009, for its use in 2010. European regulations do not allow it and in these conditions we cannot offer Bulgaria that quantity," Apetrei said.

According to him, Bulgaria made that request because in 2010 the European Commission reduced by 4% the fishing share for plaice in the Black Sea attributed to Romania and Bulgaria, from 100 tons to 96 tons.In 2009, Romania used only 48.9 tons of plaice while Bulgaria caught 5 tons more out of the fishing share of 100 tons of plaice attributed to the two countries.

According to national fishing management and control plans, accidental plaice captures resulting from prohibition periods must be registered and cut from national shares.Iavor Nedev, the manager of the Fishing Agency in Sofia, announced on Saturday, at a meeting with Bulgarian fishermen that Sofia is negotiating with Bucharest to yield three tons of the Romanian shares of fishing plaice in Bulgaria's favour. Nedev pointed out that the topic would be discussed on the occasion of the meeting between the ministers of agriculture of the two countries Miroslav Naidenov and Mihail Dumitru, to be held at the end of March in Brussels. The secretary of state in MADR said the meeting of the two officials will probably take place at the Council of Ministers of Agriculture in EU over 29-30 March.