Fisheries are globally being depleted at exponential and unsustainable rates. The European Union (EU)’s fisheries policies have since the 1970s aimed to increase production, although neglecting environmental sustainability.
There were some attempts of changing focus towards balancing the fleet size with fishing stocks, by drafting documents such as the Financial Instrument for Fisheries Guidance (FIFG), currently replaced by the European Fisheries Fund (EFF) and part of the EU’s Common Fisheries Policy (CFP). Since 2008, the European Commission is reviewing the CFP for amending and improving it where beneficial, by 2012. Small vessels appear to make up 80 % of the European fleet, although small-vessel distinctive parameters were not yet decided. In the meanwhile the EU spent 840 million euros to subsidise the losses from overfishing, until finding more sustainable industrial fisheries. Approximately 94 % of the British fishing stocks have declined in the last 118 years and seabed ecosystems were seriously degraded, mainly due to the impact of industrial fishing.
According to the European Commission, 75 % of EU stocks are currently overfished, and 33% of the fleet is threatened to become unviable if measures are not taken quickly enough. Recent studies show that the fishing industry provided work for 229,702 people within the EU in 2004. Around 4.44 million tons of fish were produced in 2006, for ca. 6.7 billion euros profit.
The EU Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Commissioner Maria Damanaki argues that the CFP is currently compromising the health of the European sea waters and should limit fleet and vessel size, introduce the International Transferable Rights (ITRs) between countries to contrast overcapacity and fund specifically small-scale fishing. Damanaki proposed the ban of discards (the disposal over boat of a commercially useless catch) and also advices referring to the ‘maximum sustainable yield’ (the largest yield, or catch that can be taken from a species’ stock over an indefinite period) for the most threatened species. These standards should be set according to scientific advice and their application (mandate) should be extended.
Now the major challenge, according to Damanaki, is persuading EU governments and legislators to support the proposal in order for it to be approved by 2013.
Greenpeace and other environmental groups support the Commission’s proposal, but criticise its weakness at dealing with the main cause of overfishing, which is the overcapacity of the EU’s fishing fleet (3rd in the world after China and Peru) and requested that 40 % of EU waters be declared protected.
RESOURCES:
- REGULATION OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL on the Common Fisheries Policy. http://ec.europa.eu/fisheries/reform/com_2011_425_en.pdf
- REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT, THE
COUNCIL, THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMITTEE AND THE
COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS On Reporting Obligations under Council Regulation (EC) No 2371/2002 of 20 December 2002 on the conservation and sustainable exploitation of fisheries resources under the Common Fisheries Policy. http://ec.europa.eu/fisheries/reform/com_2011_418_en.pdf
- EU vows to tackle overfishing with policy overhaul. http://www.euractiv.com/cap/eu-vows-to-tackle-overfishing-with-policy-overhaul-news-493796
- EU proposes overhaul of failing fisheries policy. http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/07/13/us-eu-fisheries-reform-idUSTRE76C3XT20110713?feedType=RSS
- http://www.press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/A/bo11461535.html
WHAT CAN WE DO INDIVIDUALLY TO CONTRIBUTE STOPPING OVERFISHING?
- Communicate to your local MP what you would wish from the new EU policies against the issue of overfishing, either by writing a letter, or drawing, a poem (e.g.: see photo above).
- Reduce to minimum healthy amount your consumption of fish and/or sea products.
- Purchase sustainably and locally caught fish (not from industrial fishing methods).
- Respect the oceans/seas, by not polluting them with plastics, metals, waste materials, etc. (flushing polluting items down the toilets, lead to the oceans/seas).
- Purchase fish/sea food species that are not threatened by extinction locally/globally. Help environmental/conservation groups keep the oceans/seas rich and clean (monitoring) from unsustainable human activities (contact the local environmental groups to report such suspects), even if you think they are already aware of it.
GOOD FISH GUIDES:
http://www.greenpeace.org.uk/sites/files/gpuk/pdfs/fish-matters-guide.pdf
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