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Luxembourg: New fishing regulations under fire from NGOs
Environmental NGOs criticised the agreements on the management of threatened fish stocks that were reached at the Agriculture and Fisheries council meeting
Environmental NGOs criticised the agreements on the management of threatened fish stocks that were reached at the Agriculture and Fisheries council meeting on the 11th and 12th of June.
Greenpeace policy adviser Saskia Richartz said that ?ministers are defying all scientific advice on stock recovery? and warned that ?the EU continues to dish out fishing rights based on political expediency?.
During the meeting, that was held in Luxembourg, ministers discussed and agreed upon a multi-annual and long term recovery plan for Baltic cod, bluefin tuna and European eels. Fisheries and Maritime Affairs Commissioner Joe Borg described the agreement as ?a welcome sign that the EU has begun to apply the maximum sustainable yield approach? to fishing. However, scientists have warned of an imminent collapse of the populations in the Eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean unless fishing pressure is drastically reduced.
Reports from the ICCAT (International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas) caution that catch levels of bluefin tuna in the Mediterranean and East Atlantic should not exceed 15, 000 tonnes per year if the species is to be saved from collapse. WWF reports indicate that catch levels are already fast approaching this limit. Despite these warnings European Ministers have agreed on measures that allow 16,780 tonnes to be fished, almost double the current EU quota of 9,398 tonnes.
?This plan legitimises the over ? exploitation of bluefin tuna stocks? said Aaron McLoughlin, head of the WWF European Marine Programme. He also accused the EU of being irresponsible and said that ?with the EU failing to take it?s responsibility in closing fishery now, there is little hope of avoiding the collapse of bluefin tuna stock?.
Common Fisheries policy
The Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) is the European Union?s instrument for the management of fish resources. As fish are a natural and mobile resource they are considered as common property. Since the early 1970?s EU fishermen have had the right to equal access to Member States? waters and in 1976 Member States agreed that the European Union was the best place to manage fishing and fishermen?s interests in international negotiations. The CFP was born in 1983 to meet this obligation.
The CFP today is committed to the sustainable exploitation of living aquatic resources and has pledged to applying the precautionary approach in taking measures designed to protect and conserve living aquatic resources and to minimise the impact of fishing activities on marine ecosystems. Following a reform in 2002 the CFP has shifted to a long term approach based on multi annual plans targeting not just one species but a group of interdependent species.
WWF believes that the 2002 CFP reform sets out a framework that, if implemented properly, could lead to sustainable fishing and a healthy marine environment. However, according to WWF, the effectiveness of the CFP depends on the genuine commitment of EU member states to sustainable fishing.
Scientific evidence
Scientific evidence suggests that the commitment being made is not enough. Boris Worm, from Dalhousie University in Canada, highlights that "there is a finite number of fish stocks; we have gone through one-third, and we are going to get through the rest". According to WWF more than 80% of European fish stocks are currently overexploited and that North sea cod and Mediterranean bluefin tuna are both on the brink of extinction. "Unless we fundamentally change the way we manage all the ocean species together, as working ecosystems, then this century is the last century of wild seafood" said Steve Palumbi, from Stanford University in California.
A break for eels?
On a more positive note, both the EU fisheries Council and the CITES conference (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) dealt with European eels. According to scientists, the levels of young eels joining the stock have dropped to 1% of their historic levels: "the stock (of eels) is dangerously close to collapse" said Stellan Hamrin, a Swedish official.
At the June CITIES conference a 93?9 vote in favour of a system of permits to regulate international trade in European eels as well as the agreement to list eels under Appendix II of the CITIES Convention demonstrates that economic interests do not always have the upper hand (eels can sometimes fetch more than caviar after decades of overfishing). ?Combined with the implementation of a strict EU recovery plan there is hope to see eels stock slowly rebuild to a sutainable level? said WWF?s European Fisheries Communications representative Caroline Alibert.
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