Brussels, 05/01/2010 (Agence Europe) - The aim of reform of the common fisheries policy (CFP) must be “to secure the economic sustainability of the fisheries sector so that it can contribute to the provision of jobs and prosperity in coastal areas”, Maria Damanaki says in her responses to MEPs' written questions, ahead of her hearing in Strasbourg on 19 January before the European Parliament fisheries committee. The maritime affairs and fisheries commissioner designate wants to “break the vicious circle” of extensive overcapacity in EU fleets with most stocks being overfished and poor overall economic performance in the catching industry. Damanaki, who has been a Socialist party MP in the Greek parliament for 28 years, says her other priorities include putting in place new rules on control, ending the “waste” of discarding fish at sea, and consolidating the EU integrated maritime policy.
Her first priority would be an “ambitious and comprehensive” reform of the CFP, building on the green paper published by the Commission in April 2009.
Various options are emerging on this issue, she says, mentioning: - bringing the future decision-making process closer to those directly concerned by the rules - the fishermen themselves; - adapting mechanisms to bring fleet and resources into balance, while safeguarding small-scale artisanal fisheries from the negative effects of this restructuring; - overhauling bilateral fisheries partnership agreements (concluded with a number of third countries); - reforming the common market organisation (CMO) for fisheries products. She says, too, that more attention has to be paid to what stakeholders have to say and that the regional advisory councils (RACs) and the other committees have to be fully engaged in shaping the new policy.
Until the new policy is in place, Damanaki's second priority would be to further improve compliance with the rules (“reverse the current trend” of weak control and overfishing) and sustainability (which is, she says, closely connected to eliminating discards) of the CFP. The new control framework came into force on 1 January 2010. It is made up of three separate, but linked, regulations: one regulation tackles illegal, undeclared and unregulated fishing, a second refers to fishing authorisations for the European Union fleet operating outside EU waters and a third sets up a Community control scheme to ensure compliance with common fisheries policy rules (control regulation).
Her third priority would be to further consolidate the EU integrated maritime policy to free up the full economic and job-creating potential in: - short-sea shipping; - making full use of marine renewable energies; - new marine technologies; - maritime spatial planning. As part of implementing the EU integrated maritime policy, Damanaki would bring forward: - a communication on maritime spatial planning; - a roadmap for the integration of maritime surveillance; - a communication on marine knowledge; - an action plan on measures to improve governance in the Mediterranean; - a communication on the contribution of the integrated maritime policy to growth and jobs; - a regulation to ensure the funding of future maritime policy for the period 2011-2013.
Among the other initiatives planned by the commissioner designate are: - presentation of new recovery plans (for salmon and pelagic stocks in the Baltic Sea, haddock in the West of Scotland, herring in the Celtic Sea, and sole and plaice in the North Sea); - a draft regulation setting minimum criteria for labelling sustainable fishing on fishery products in the EU; - a communication on the EU's role in enhancing the operation and efficiency of regional fisheries management organisations; - initiatives to step up the implementation of the CFP in European sea basins.
Damanaki says, too, in her responses to the questionnaire that she was the first leader of a political party in her country to explicitly support strengthening the role of the European Parliament and extending the co-decision procedure. “I have maintained these views throughout my parliamentary career, including my recent position as chairwoman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs and Defence in the Hellenic Parliament,” she writes. (L.C./transl.rt)