Brussels, 18/07/2011 (Agence Europe) - In their response to the consultation on fishing opportunities in 2012, Europêche, the Association of National Organisations of Fishing Enterprises in the EU, and the Cogeca fisheries working group, consider (i) the Commission's proposals that total allowable catches (TACs) be reduced by 25% or more when scientific advice is not available, (ii) the firm and inflexible objective of reaching maximum sustainable yield (MSY) for all species by 2015 (when the 2002 Johannesburg international agreement applies to depleted stocks and speaks of a target to be reached, if possible, by 2015), and (iii) the lack of socio-economic accompanying measures are unacceptable.
“The measures proposed by the Commission are disproportionate, punitive, unbalanced and will undoubtedly lead to the loss of a huge number of jobs in the short term in the whole industry”, the organisations say in a press release.
Europêche and Cogeca welcome the Commission's statement that stocks in EU waters are improving. Because of this, it must be stated that, despite pressing demands from the sector, “the necessary efforts have still not been made to improve the situation as regards the amount of information available or to present adequate evaluations of stock levels”. In addition to this, the repeated reference to the overcapacity “of the EU fleet” is not appropriate, the two organisations argue, as there are distinct fleet segments in each member state which represent different shares of the resources.
According to the Commission itself, “in the North Sea … all known stocks except plaice, haddock and herring are overfished”. The organisations point out that herring is significantly under-fished and that nephrops are not overfished. Europêche and Cogeca back extending multi-annual management plans to all fisheries, using solid scientific opinions and in-depth consultation of stakeholders in the preparation of the plans in order to guarantee that, as well as environmental features, economic and social consequences are taken into account. (L.C./transl.rt)