The European Union is attempting to protect fish stocks such as cod from being overexploited, with a new law that limits the number of days trawlers can spend fishing. According to a Reuters story, the EU decided against a total ban on cod fishing in areas where the fish are at risk, but instead limited the time boats can spend at sea by an average of 15 percent.

Many fish stocks in waters around the world are overfished – with either no laws governing where, when, and how many fish can be caught or no enforcement of existing laws. In the U.S., Alaska’s Bering Sea fishery is the most intensely managed – and most reliant on science – in the world. The EU is trying to stave off declining populations of cod, herring, and other fish by adopting more stringent management practices like the time limits.

Time limits can be problematic, as fishing boats will try to catch as many fish as possible during their alloted days at sea, with little regard for what else they catch besides their targeted species. The Bering Sea fishery uses quotas, which limit the number of fish each boat can catch. Still, the EU hopes its guidelines will help protect cod from winding up as “bycatch” in nets set out to catch monkfish and haddock.

For more on the state of fisheries in the U.S., click here.

Image credit: NOAA