Brussels, 18/03/2010 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday 16 March, the European Parliament fisheries committee held a hearing on resource conservation and fleet management, one of the main issues of the reform of the common fisheries policy (CFP). Carmen Fraga Estévez (EPP, Spain) summed up the prevailing feeling with in the EP on the controversial matter of transferable (sellable) fishing rights as she closed the debate: “It is possible to see transferable rights working for fisheries on the high seas. I am much less happy at the idea of applying this system to coastal, artisanal fisheries”.
Fraga Estévez, chairwoman of the fisheries committee said that resource conservation policy was one of the most important issues in the reform and “many people think, like me, that this is a Gordian knot which requires comprehensive reform, if we want there to be a future for fisheries”.
Grímur Valdimarsson, Adviser to the Asssistant Director General of the Fisheries and Aquaculture Department of the FAO, said that, from the 1980s, worldwide fish catches had stagnated (82-83 million tonnes fished at sea). Aquaculture, however, had grown (particularly in China) to the extent that it now accounts for 44% of mankind's fish consumption. With the sector wasting at least $50 billion per year, he said it was time to move to a new era, an era of “sustainable, responsible and economically viable” fishing. He criticised modern fishing techniques which allow “fish to be found everywhere, leading to serious stock management consequences”. He urged an end to current lethargy, and advocated a catch management system based on rights. He accepted that there was great criticism of individual transferable (sellable) quotas, but pointed out that there existed a myriad of types of rights-based systems.
Thomas Hojrup, Professor of Ethnology, University of Copenhagen, Denmark, advised investing in the highest quality fishing, that is, fishing carried out close to the shores. He expressed the view that a transferable quota system “will not resolve fishing's problems”. In Denmark, “large vessels have won the competition battle over the small and have been able to monopolise quota management,” he said. The effect of the system was to “bring whole (small-scale) fishing communities to their knees”, he stated.
Adapting to local markets. Fredrik Lundberg, Chief Executive of the Åland Islands Fishermen's Organisation (seasonal fishing for cod and salmon mainly) said that “coastal fishing has to face very specific difficulties, but these are not sufficiently taken into account in the CFP”. For example, “we would like to improve profits, that is, make more money with less fish, selling directly to consumers”. “The CFP is based on restrictions and bans which limit what coastal fishing can do”, he stated, arguing a radical position: “It should be up to the member state to decide what is to be done” not Europe. Commercial possibilities had not been sufficiently exploited by fishermen, he noted (filleting, salting, selling on local markets). He criticised the excessive controls and the fact that, because of Community rules, “you cannot shift from one species to another or from one type of fishing gear to another”.
Grzegorz Halubek, President of the Polish Fishermen's Association, backed multiannual management plans, such as the cod plan in the Baltic Sea, though he said they should not be “cast in tablets of stone”. Some degree of flexibility was needed, he suggested, to be able to react to changes in the marine environment. “If catches are restricted too much, it could lead to by-catches and undeclared catches,” he pointed out. Overcapacity was the main problem with regard to fleet management, but, he said, the smallest fleets had to be protected while not losing sight of the “hard principles of the market economy”. A transferable quotas system would have advantages: it would lead to the withdrawal of part of the fleet without public aid, and so would help significantly reduce the size of the fleet and enhance its viability.
Guðríður Margrét Kristjansdottir, Fisheries Counsellor, Icelandic Mission to the European Union described fisheries management in her country: individual transferable quotas, a ban on discards and no restrictions on the number of vessels. Isabella Lövin (Greens/EFA) highlighted the damaging effect of individual transferable quotas on Iceland: “The large vessels buy up the small ones, and speculation ensues”. Transferable fishing rights should be allocated to fishermen who use the most environmentally friendly methods, she said, and she suggested that industrial fishing should be made financially responsible for the damage it causes at sea. (L.C./transl.rt)