The 10-week ban on cod fishing in the North Sea has ended with barely disguised relief from the beleaguered fishing industry and a sense of foreboding from conservationists concerned about dwindling stocks.
The European Union imposed the emergency ban in January to cover 40,000 square miles of cod-spawning grounds off north and east Scotland, East Anglia and the coasts of Norway and Denmark.
It was a desperate attempt to prevent the total collapse of cod stocks.
The chief executive of the Scottish Fishermen's Federation, Hamish Morrison, said his members were delighted with the lifting of the curbs and warned that any attempt to reintroduce them would be fiercely resisted.
Because of the ban, hard-pressed cod fishermen in Scotland have had to resort to landing immature haddock, many of which were discarded as they were too small to be sold.
Dr John Casey, a scientist at the Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquatic Science in Lowestoft, said it was too early to judge whether the ban would have any effect on improving the number of cod, which have declined precipitously since the 1960s.
"From a purely stock-conservation point of view, we would have liked to have seen a bigger area covered for a longer period," Dr Casey said.
The ban covered just 25 per cent of the North Sea for about a fifth of the year, which represented a reduction in fishing of just 5 per cent over a year, he said.
Cod and other white fish have declined drastically in recent years.
Annual cod catches in the late 1960s reached more than 350,000 tons, whereas last year the industry had difficulty finding enough fish to meet its quota of 132,000 tons.
The European Union estimates there are 65,000 tons of breeding cod left in the North Sea fishing grounds, which is less than half the numbers estimated to be needed to sustain a viable population.
In addition to overfishing and pollution, cod and other fish have been affected by rising sea temperatures. Overfishing and the discarding of immature fish have had other effects.
Scientists have shown that the numbers of skuas - seabird scavengers - have been maintained at unnaturally high levels through fish being discarded at sea.
Although skuas are a protected species, their large numbers in northern Scotland are causing problems for other seabirds and local sheep farmers, who have complained of their newborn lambs being attacked.
Professor Bob Furness of Glasgow University said that more than a quarter of cod and other white fish caught by trawlers were thrown back dead, thus providing an easy source of food for skuas.
As skua numbers in Scotland had increased over the past 20 or 30 years, the recent collapse in fish stocks and corresponding fall in discarded fish had caused the scavengers to attack other bird colonies, notably those of the kittiwake, tern and puffin.
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Cod survival still in doubt as ban ends
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