By Euan Dunn, Principal Marine Advisor (euan.dunn@rspb.org.uk)
In yesterday's vote in the European Parliament on public aid for the fisheries industry through the new European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF), it became clear that there is no ambition to end overfishing in EU waters. Perversely, the vote undermines recent CFP reform by subsidising the growth of Europe’s already bloated fishing fleet, jeopardising the long term viability of fishing communities and the marine environment they depend on.
After the progressive outcome of the EU Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) reform at the end of May which struck a significant blow for putting an end to overfishing, it became clear that a reform of the subsidies system was needed to bolster this. The hope – and rational follow-up to the promising vision for CFP reform – was for a redirection of public aid towards the recovery of Europe’s fish stocks and the wider marine environment for sustaining the livelihoods of fishermen into the future.
However, it turned out to be a forlorn hope today as the fishing industry’s vested interests of business-as-usual prevailed. So in May the Parliament took a bold step forward with its enlightened CFP reform proposal, only for its Fisheries Committee to take a big step backward by voting for subsidies which will only perpetuate the broken system of too many boats chasing too few fish.
Critically the Committee voted to reintroduce EU funding for vessel construction and modernisation, especially through engine replacement. That this fleet renewal was for small scale and coastal fisheries is scant comfort – most of the fleet in the degraded Mediterranean Sea falls into this category. This renewal measure opens the doors to 20,000 vessels being eligible for upgrading at a cost to the public purse of €1.6 bn (see here) and this ‘technological creep’ bearing down harder on already beleaguered fish stocks.
We’re all for funding to help Europe’s fleet make an overdue transition towards an ecosystem-based approach that rebuilds fish stocks and embraces more selective, less environmentally-damaging fishing methods, all of which would secure a long term future for the fishing industry. But it’s high time that taxpayers stopped footing the bill for rampant fleet overcapacity, overfishing and collateral damage on the marine environment.
All is not quite lost – despite fears to the contrary, the Committee did not give the French centre-right MEP Alain Cadec who is guiding the legislation through the Parliament, a mandate to begin negotiations directly with the Member States on the basis of today’s vote. Rather such negotiations will not start till after a Parliament plenary vote in the autumn. But today’s outcome has set a depressingly low bar which may well be nudged lower still by the end of the year.
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