Brussels, 25/02/2010 (Agence Europe) - Increased responsibility to the industry, good fishing practices, improving the traditional TAC (total allowable catch) and quota system and resolving the issue of fleet overcapacity were the main watchwords of the European Parliament which, in Brussels on Thursday 25 February, adopted the report by Maria do Céu Patrão Neves (EPP, Portugal) on the reform of the common fisheries policy (CFP), though with several amendments. The European Commission will bring forward its legislative proposals at the end of this year or early in 2011, for negotiation between the EP and the EU Council of Ministers.
The EP believes that the constraints and challenges that the current CFP will have to face require its urgent and far-reaching reform. Parliament recommends the creation of regional management bodies (in addition to the Regional Advisory Councils) operating in European Union waters and on which the member states and appropriate stakeholders are to be represented. The Commission was asked to examine closely if it would be possible to put in place new management models to complement current fisheries management models. MEPs acknowledge that overcapacity remains a serious problem and that there are still sectors of the European fleet, in particular the small-scale fishing fleet, where there has not been sufficient renewal and where there are obsolete or too old vessels which have to be modernised or replaced so as to increase safety on board and reduce the impact on the environment, without leading to an increase in fishing capacity. The EP believes reducing the funding allocated to the European Fisheries Fund (EFF) and the common organisation of the market to be among the factors which have led to an aggravation of the situation in this sector.
Protection and preservation of the resource. The EP believes that it is to local fishing communities that priority of access to fish stocks must always be given, even though the criteria for allocating access rights have to be updated; access should no longer be based solely on the criterion of historical catches. Environmental and social criteria should gradually be introduced to determine who has the right to catch fish. These could include the selectivity of the fishing gear and resultant by-catches and discards, disturbance to the marine habitat, contribution to the local economy, energy consumption and CO2 emissions, the quality of the end product, jobs created and compliance with CFP rules, with priority given to fishing for human consumption.
The Commission was asked to consider the social implications and serious damage to the fishing sector of certain predators, such as excessively high numbers of seals or cormorants.
Management models. With the adoption of compromises submitted by the EPP and S&D groups, the EP highlighted its support for abandoning the traditional top-down approach, and instead emphasising regionalisation and subsidiarity (horizontal decentralisation). MEPs urged the Commission to: - give careful study to the possibility of adopting new fishing management models to complement the system of TACs and quotas; - to consider changes that may be needed with regard to the principle of relative stability and to address the way in which, in sharing out fishing resources, preference may be given to coastal communities largely dependent on fishing.
Possible amendments to the principle of relative stability are a concession to Spanish MEPs. In exchange, other MEPs (from the EPP and other groups) obtained the removal from the text of the resolution of any explicit reference to the controversial individual transferable quota system (Ed: this does not mean that the EP is against these transferable quotas - far from it).
Fleet management. The EP believes that the current EFF and, in the future, structural funds for the fisheries sector should continue to finance the renewal and modernisation of fleets, especially the small-scale coastal and artisanal fleet, since this support is based on criteria of security (reducing accidents at work to a minimum), hygiene and comfort, and environmental protection, fuel economy and other criteria which do not involve any increase in fishing capacity for the fleets concerned.
The EP would like to see a decommissioning fund which would provide an effective short-term solution to the problem of overcapacity, based on standards which would prevent use of this fund being blocked by member states.
Fish farming. The EP says that Community fish farming should be better protected and its competitiveness enhanced, by means of support for research and technological development, improving management of coastal areas and lakes and building the specific needs of fish farming into EU market policy.
Markets and marketing of fish. Ambitious reform of the common organisation of the market (CMO) for fisheries products is called for, including: - mechanisms to promote concentration of supply (new producer organisations); - a study providing a detailed analysis of the general situation concerning the concentration of demand in the fisheries products market, in order to check for the existence of market strategies that might breach competition rules and push down the prices for most species; - market intervention mechanisms.
External relations. The EP says that new fisheries agreements with third countries should be assessed against criteria defined by Parliament and designed, inter alia, to promote balance between economic interests and sustainable fishing, enhance local employment and maintain the EU's credibility as an advocate of human rights and democracy. (L.C./transl.rt)