Future of fishing: last chance to save fish stocks

To coincide with the publication of the reform proposals, the coalition will be delivering their joint objectives for the Common Fisheries Policy to key decision-makers at the Zoological Society of London today at 6pm. The UK fisheries minister, Richard Benyon MP will deliver the government’s response. Fisheries campaigner Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall who has led the FishFight campaign, will also respond in relation to discards.

The current proposal fails to:

• Put the environment first for people’s sake
• Provide tools to reduce capacity in line with the available resources
• Make access to resources conditional on social and environmental criteria

The NGOs have asked the UK Government to ensure a Common Fisheries Policy that delivers rather than undermines.  On behalf of the NGO coalition, Ian Campbell added:   “A reformed Common Fisheries Policy must establish a new way to distribute access to fish. Sustainability criteria should be used to rank access to resources, favouring those who employ methods which have the least impact on marine habitats and non-target species, are most selective, most fuel-efficient, and those who can demonstrate strong legal compliance and operate within and contribute to coastal communities.”

The groups said despite some positive measures, such as the commitment to stock recovery by 2015 [1], there were too many shortcomings that if not addressed by Ministers and MEPs, could undermine any chance of meaningful reform.

A reformed CFP must:

• Put the environment first to make sure that fish stocks, the marine environment and fisheries can thrive
• Set legally binding sustainable fishing levels that cannot be exceeded by law-makers or fishers
• Eliminate discards
• Deliver transparent decision-making and reporting processes to measure performance
• Properly address the issue of overcapacity in the European fleet

Reacting to the Commission’s announcement, UK Fisheries Minister Richard Benyon MP said: “The Common Fisheries Policy is in urgent need of radical reform. The proposals published today are just the first steps and we will be playing a leading role in Europe to agree a new CFP that can deliver a healthy marine environment and a prosperous, sustainable fishing industry. It is vital that we all work together to overcome the CFP’s serious failings, so that we no longer have dead fish being thrown back to the sea or fisheries policy treated in isolation from the wider marine environment”

The coalition including WWF, Greenpeace, RSPB, Marine Conservation Society (MCS), ClientEarth, nef (new economics foundation), and OCEAN2012 made the call in response to the publication by the European Commission on its proposals to reform the ‘broken’ Common Fisheries Policy (CFP). [4]

Dr Mireille Thom, Marine Policy Officer at WWF said: “Long term management plans on the basis of fisheries are a significant step forward, but the delivery mechanisms, responsibilities and timescales must be clarified. A critical next step must be for Ministers and MEPs to ensure the responsibility for the  management of these plans is decentralised to regional stakeholders. If we want to secure a thriving marine environment then fishermen, officials, scientists, industry and NGOs need to be recognised as co-managers of their fisheries, working together to implement multi-annual plans.”

Ruth Davis, Chief Policy Advisor of Greenpeace said: “With 72% of Europe’s fish stocks overexploited, we desperately need an emergency response plan to rescue our fisheries and the jobs and communities they support. The CFP reform process could produce that plan, but until Europe’s leaders acknowledge the urgency of the problem, and make the recovery of fish stocks central to the Common Fisheries Policy, we will be stuck with plans detailing the best way to subsidise the destruction of the Europe’s fishing industry.”

Euan Dunn, RSPB’s Head of Marine Policy said:  “It’s a tragedy that after thirty years of the CFP, stocks are more overfished in European waters than in other developed regions of the world, inflicting unacceptable collateral damage on marine ecosystems and dependent communities. Ministers must grasp the opportunity to chart a fundamentally new course which ensures that fishing lives within environmental limits.” 

Debbie Crockard, Fisheries Policy Officer of the Marine Conservation Society said: “It is outrageous that we are paying for sound scientific advice to be conducted by world experts, only for it to be disregarded as the baseline for stock management. Scientific advice must be considered the most important driver for sustainable fisheries management.”

James Thornton, ClientEarth CEO, said: “This is perhaps the best opportunity of our life-time to stop over-fishing in the EU. We have unprecedented public support for an end to discards; NGOs are working together and have the ear of the government - all in a year of CFP reform. The first and most important step is to make sure that sustainable fishing levels are set and can never be exceeded, either by obscure loopholes or horse-trading between member states.”

Aniol Esteban, head of environmental economics at nef said: “Fish are not only a source of food, but of jobs as well. If we keep overfishing, then we’re putting future jobs at risk. We must challenge the view that setting stricter fishing limits will put fishermen out of job. It’s actually the opposite. Any action that delays the restoration of fish stocks is bad for fishermen, bad for the seafood industry, and bad for society as a whole”