Where in the North Sea sand eel fishing takes place.

The North Sea sandeel fishery is spread across the North Sea with the highest volume of landings reported from the area between 54 and 59 degrees latitude excluding the Wee Bankie area which has been closed to sandeel fishing since 2000 as a result of UK intervention. Few of the vessels involved in the sandeel fishery are Scottish, and the Scottish Executive does not hold data on the activity of foreign vessels that have not landed into Scotland.Marine environments are complex systems of multiple interactive influences including food chains, predation and human activities including fishing. The precise effects of any single influence are therefore not known although it is recognised that there is some whitefish by-catch. Monitoring of this fishery is conducted through the normal logbook requirements; a scientific sampling plan applies for the small-scale scientific fishery in the Wee Bankie box.Measures to reduce effort in all fisheries that result in increased mortality rates of cod are under serious consideration. These include the sandeel fishery. It should be noted that the most effective means of reducing whitefish by-catch in this fishery appears to be by reduction of fishing effort and not by the introduction of additional technical conservation measures. The UK has previously expressed concerns about the effects of industrial fishing and has signalled to the Commission and to member states its determination to see a reduction in the sandeel TAC for 2003 to ensure that allowable catches of whitefish stocks will be prioritised for human consumption.