Brussels, 25/05/2011 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday 25 May, the European Commission adopted a document setting out how it will determine fishing opportunities in EU waters in 2012. The Commission's ideas will be put out to wide-ranging consultation over the summer. In the autumn, the Commission will bring forward its proposals for total allowable catches (TACs) and quotas for 2012. It is proposing a new way of calculating catch limits, including a 25% reduction in quotas when there is not enough scientific data on the state of stocks. EU fisheries ministers will discuss the document on 28 June.
Every year, the Commission unveils its policy statement on fishing opportunities before the summer. There will be two major differences for TACs and quotas for 2012. Firstly, “we will have a simpler and clearer methodology linking decisions even closer to scientific advice. We are moving towards maximum sustainable yield (MSY) quotas.” Secondly, when there is no scientific advice available, the precautionary principle will apply, so “I call on member states to collectively improve our data”, said Fisheries Commissioner Maria Damanaki.
But why are changes needed? First and foremost, overfishing has to be phased out, in order to achieve the objective of managing stocks according to the maximum sustainable yield principle. Member states have already agreed a target date of 2015 for achieving this objective. “Some progress” has been made towards this target, mainly in the Atlantic and Northern region, less so in the Mediterranean, Damanaki noted. Progress is, however, too slow, she regretted.
Where member states do not provide proper information for scientists to be able to do their work, “we don't have a lot of choices”, Damanaki said, before going on to list the options: - “we should reduce the quotas until we know that catches are sustainable”: the Commission document states that where there is a lack of scientific advice on overfishing, a 25% reduction in the TAC and/or fishing effort should be proposed; - “member states have urgently to collect the necessary data and the scientists have to analyse it”; - “we have to look for management methods that can work even where only partial data are available”.
What will be the impact of this effort (ending overfishing) on people and the environment? Firstly, it will contribute to making fishing fleets profitable. Around 30-40% of the EU fishing fleet is not making enough money to keep going in the long term. “We cannot go on providing subsidies to support continued overfishing”, the commissioner warned. Reducing fishing pressure means more fish in the sea.
Secondly, putting an end to overfishing will lower the impact on the marine environment, reduce accidental by-catches of unwanted species and reduce CO2 emissions. Finally, it will help reduce discards.
Individual transferable quotas. Damanaki confirmed that the Commission would, as part of the reform of the common fisheries policy (CFP), bring forward proposals in mid-July setting up individual transferable quotas but only at national, rather than European, level (that is, fishermen will be able to sell quotas to others from the same country). Safeguards are needed to ensure that the fleet will not be too heavily concentrated in certain specific regions, the commissioner said, noting that, hitherto, it had proved impossible to settle the issue of overcapacity in the fleet. It was for that reason, she said, that new instruments were needed. “The possible introduction of transferable quotas is without doubt a solution to this problem of overcapacity”, she said.
State of the resource. In 2010, ICES, the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea drafted a new opinion on TAC levels that would lead to fishing corresponding to MSY by 2015. The Commission welcomes this new opinion and intends to use it as the basis for drafting its TAC proposals. TACS ensuring maximum sustainable yield have been set for Atlantic-Scandinavian herring, blue whiting and North Sea herring. However, an important obstacle in deciding the fishing opportunities for 2012 is precisely that scientific advice is missing for about two-thirds of the TACs. In most cases, this is because of missing information on catches.
The state of stocks in EU waters is improving. The number of stocks being overfished in the Atlantic has fallen from 32 out of 34 in 2004 to 22 out of a total of 35 stocks in 2010, or, in percentage terms, from 94% to 63%. Some stocks of sole (Skagerrak, Kattegat, Baltic, Western Channel and Celtic Sea), haddock (North Sea), herring (North Sea, West Scotland and Celtic Sea) saithe (North Sea, Scotland), megrim and Norway lobster (North Sea) are no longer said to be overfished. In the Mediterranean, however, 82% of known stocks are being overfished. (L.C./transl.rt)