The eu has raised its total quota of deepwater fish catch by assigning four new member states their separate quotas. Poland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania now have the right to fish for three deepwater fish species in north Atlantic waters: black scabbardfish, roundnose grenadier and blue ling. France, Britain, Ireland and Spain also fish in these waters as per their quotas.

With the depletion of commercial stocks of fish like cod and hake, the demand for deepwater fish has increased. But Europe's deepwater fish species, which are exotic and threatened, face the risk of extinction if their fishing is not regulated. They grow and reproduce at a much slower rate than the fish living in shallower waters. Therefore, the eu has fixed special permits to land or trans-ship more than a certain amount of these fish. They can be delivered only to specified ports. "Everybody got a little bit (of quota) and we have reached a fair allocation of fishing possibilities,' said eu Fisheries Commissioner Joe Borg. Borg stressed that it was politically important to assign quotas to the new members.