In this formation, the council is composed of ministers from each state government who are responsible for this area: the agriculture and fisheries ministers.

Protection of fish habitat is relegated to a vastly lower priority - something that caused those four former fisheries ministers, in their words, "especial alarm (Cowan 2012)."

The European Union's 15 fisheries ministers, under pressure from commercial interests, have haggled for a week over a compromise.

As this column went to press, fisheries ministers were still haggling in the annual quota-setting round in Brussels.

He served as the fisheries minister.

Officials claimed that they had a mandate to do this from European fisheries ministers.

The Commission's recommendations to fisheries ministers however, continued to propose quotas.

This is on the agenda for the next FAO meeting of fisheries ministers in Rome on 12 March.

The fisheries ministers will probably pass excessive fishing quotas again, and biodiversity will once again be pushed to the sidelines.

Today, there is a provincial fisheries minister but the department has no authority over maritime affairs, only the processing and marketing of fish after it has been landed.