Brussels, 03/10/2011 (Agence Europe) - The revision of the common fisheries policy (CFP) proposed by the Commission has not convinced the peripheral maritime regions, which feel that it should take greater account of the particularities of these regions and their inhabitants, and the challenges they face. The General Assembly of the Conference of Peripheral Maritime Regions (CPMR), which was held in Aarhus, Denmark, on 29-30 September, highlighted the weak points of the new policy.
Lowri Evan, Director General of the Commission's DG Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, said maritime resources, the regional aspect of fisheries and funding needs had to be taken more into consideration.
Fish meal. No matter that Evans said again that current policy could not guarantee long-term sustainable fishing and that the proposal makes provision for a raft of measures to bring about a profitable and sustainable fisheries sector, the maritime regions remain unhappy at the Commission's desire to reorganise the system of fishing quotas: “The way this policy has been designed could result in a sort of industrialisation of fishing, either through poor management of individual transferable quotas, or incorrect interpretation of sustainable yield and the 'zero discards' rule, which will result in our producing fish meal rather than having real fish”, stated CPMR President Jean-Yves Le Drian.
The CPMR is worried, too, that some coastal communities could be destroyed. “Fishing is not just about fish. There are also the fishermen, their ports and the lands around. Fishing is also a socio-economic package, and a cultural asset. This aspect is not being taken into account” in the reform proposals, regrets Le Drian. Subsidies must be sufficient to meet the challenges identified by the CPMR. (MD/transl.rt)