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Major cuts in EU fisheries catches are needed to make the industry sustainable, the European Commission (EC) says. According to the Commission’s Green Paper on the Reform of the EU Common Fisheries Policy (CFP), overfishing in European waters is rampant and several institutional shortcomings stand in the way of industry reform.
According to the Paper, 88 percent of EU commercial fish stocks are overfished - in contrast to the global average of 25 percent. It also points out that 30 percent of fish stocks are unable to reproduce at a normal rate because the parent stocks have been depleted; environmentalists say these could be unrecoverable.
“European fish stocks have been overfished for decades and the fishing fleets remain too large for the available resources,” the Paper reads. “This combination means that too many vessels chase too few fish and many parts of the European fleet are economically unviable.”
Existing policies no match for new fishing technologies
While the size of the EU fleet is estimated to be two to three times larger than what is needed, the Commission does not suggest an across-the-board percentage cut for the industry. Instead, it says that cuts would need to vary depending on the type of fish being caught.
Joe Borg, Commissioner for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, said that existing policies have been moderately successful in some areas. However, he said, because the development and adoption of new harvesting technologies have largely ‘neutralised’ conservation efforts, the industry needs to be completely rethought.
“We are asking questions even on the fundamentals of the current policy and should leave no stone unturned,” Borg said. “We are not looking for just another reform. It is time to design a modern, simple and sustainable system for managing fisheries in the EU, which is able to last well into the 21st century.”
EU institutional reform needed for environment issues
Institutional problems cited by the EC include a lack of precise policy objectives, a decision-making system that is too centralised and focused on short-term solutions, a framework that does not give sufficient responsibility to the industry, and the absence of political will towards compliance with the fishing limitations.
One suggestion for revamping the system would have licenses issued to fishermen individually, rather than the current practice of distributing fishing quotas to EU member states, which are then passed on to domestic fleets. Because licences would be distributed one time directly, the proposal suggests that industry would be encouraged to engage in more sustainable practices.
However, some critics say this liberalised system would harm small-scale fishermen, as it would force them to compete with commercial industry.
The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) is urging the Commission to look to Alaska, New Zealand and Norway for positive examples of long-term fisheries management.
Environmental groups say radical change needed
WWF lauded the Paper, calling it ‘commendably honest’. But the green group points out that the research demonstrates that radical reform is indeed needed to save Europe’s fish stocks.
“The Commission have produced an admirably honest critique of a dysfunctional fisheries policy,” said Aaron McLoughlin, Head of European Marine Programme at WWF. “EU countries and the Commission have let the opportunity of the 2002 reform slip away and failed to deliver on what they signed up to” (for more on the EU 2002 fisheries reform see Bridges Trade BioRes, 23 January 2003, http://ictsd.net/i/news/biores/8750/).
The WWF points to Mediterranean bluefin tuna as an example of mismanagement. In November 2008, environmentalists slammed the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) for setting bluefin tuna catch limits higher than the organisation’s own scientists had recommended (see Bridges Trade BioRes, 28 November 2008, http://ictsd.net/i/news/biores/34718/).
A recent WWF analysis predicts that the population of breeding tunas will disappear by 2012 if current practices continue.
Other environmental groups acknowledged the move as positive but used the opportunity to censure the unsustainable system.
“Today we are left to deal with stocks fished down to depletion,” said Xavier Pastor, Oceana’s European director before listing a series of problems inherent in the current system. “Recovery plans unable to serve their aim, unmanaged overcapacity, poor environmental compliance, low profitability of the EU fisheries industry, governance structure failing in their accountability to common interests, perverse subsidies and incentives, insufficient monitoring and control, unsustainable loss of biodiversity.”
Greenpeace said the Commission initiative offered a possible last chance to reform a ‘rotten policy’.
EC seeks stakeholder input
The Green Paper is designed to analyse current policy and launch a broad public consultation on how shortcomings should be tackled. Stakeholders from the fisheries industry, academia, civil society, and other interested parties are invited to respond to the Paper until 31 December 2009.
The EC says the consultation is the first step towards bringing about radical reform of the Common Fisheries Policy, but strong opposition is expected. A recent protest by French fishermen over quotas they say are too strict saw them blockade three English Channel ports. The blockades were only lifted after additional subsidies of €4 million were promised.
Additional Information
The Green Paper can be accessed here: http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=COM:2009:0163:FIN:EN:PDF.
Reaction to the Green Paper can be submitted here: http://ec.europa.eu/fisheries/reform/consultation_en.htm.
ICTSD Reporting; “EU fishing policy not working, says commission,” EU OBSERVER, 23 April 2009; “Honest EU analysis points to fisheries failure,” WWF MEDIA RELEASE, 22 April 2009; “EU commission urges fishing cuts,” BBC NEWS, 21 April 2009.
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