Along with key measures to tackle overfishing and limit the wasteful practice of discarding healthy fish at sea, the deal struck by representatives of the European parliament, the EU Council, and the European commission after two years of negotiations gives Fisheries Minister Richard Benyon a clear mandate to transform the way fishing rights are allocated.
For the first time the draft of the new Common Fisheries Policy states that fishing opportunities should be given to fishermen on the basis of transparent environmental, social, and economic criteria, such as the impact of the fishery on the environment, the history of compliance with the regulation, and the contribution to the local economy.
When applied in the UK, the new policy has the potential to change the face of a fishing sector where small-scale low-impact fishermen have access to just 4 per cent of the UK’s fishing quota, despite making up three quarters of the UK’s fishing fleet as well as being its more sustainable part and the lifeblood of their local communities. Over 95 per cent of the UK’s fishing quota is held by powerful fishing organisations, which represent larger, more destructive vessels and are often dominated by foreign interests that contribute little or nothing to the UK economy.
Commenting on the outcome of the meeting, Greenpeace oceans campaigner Simon Clydesdale said:
“For decades in Europe, fishing has been a story of decline, with severe overexploitation of fish stocks and small-scale fishermen squeezed out of business by a minority of fishing barons. For all its loopholes and sluggish timelines the policy agreed last night has the potential to turn Europe’s destructive and oversized fishing industry into a sustainable, low-impact sector.
“The grossly unfair distribution of fishing rights within the UK fleet remains a major stumbling block to any meaningful reform of the UK’s fishing industry. But the deal hammered out here gives our Fisheries Minister Richard Benyon a very clear mandate to push ahead with measures to turn around UK fishing by rewarding those fishermen who operate sustainably and feed back into the local economy. This agreement means Benyon must at last give the low-impact sector a fair catch.”
The compromise between the European Parliament and the Council sets an obligation to end overfishing by 2015 for most stocks, but allows an additional five years in exceptional cases where reductions in fishing pressure may “seriously jeopardise the social and economic sustainability of the fishing fleets”. The deal also includes a commitment to rebuild fish stocks, but fails to include a deadline to achieve sustainable stock levels. In addition, it will in future be prohibited for EU vessels to overfish the waters of other nations. The amount of fish that can be discarded at sea will also be significantly reduced, although with exceptions.
The compromise still needs approval by a committee of permanent representatives from EU member states known as Coreper and some technical details still require fine-tuning. This is also not quite the end of the line on EU fisheries reform: the new framework for EU fisheries subsidies still has to be agreed.
ENDS
Pictures from the Greenpeace ship tour in support of small-scale fishermen are available.
Notes to Editor
[1] A Greenpeace investigation published in February revealed that some of the largest fishing trading associations in the country are controlled by companies based overseas, mostly in Holland, Spain, and Iceland: http://www.greenpeace.org.uk/media/reports/wolf-shrimps-clothing
A 2009 government report found that the contribution made by foreign-controlled vessels to the UK economy could ‘close to zero’: http://archive.defra.gov.uk/foodfarm/fisheries/documents/policy/saif-econlinkreview.pdf
Contacts:
Stefano Gelmini – Greenpeace UK, m 07506 512 442 stefano.gelmini@greenpeace.org
