Brussels, 12/12/2011 (Agence Europe) - Overcapacity in the fishing fleet continues to be one of the main reasons for the failure of the common fisheries policy (CFP) and current measures to reduce capacity have failed, said the European Court of Auditors in a report published on Monday 12 December.
The European Commission says it agrees with most of the Court's observations and recommendations. European Maritime and Fisheries Commissioner Maria Damanaki said: “The report of the Court of Auditors reinforces my conviction that business as usual is not an option. We need new ideas. In our proposals for a new Common Fisheries Policy we want to break with the past. We are addressing overcapacity through a system of transferable fishing concessions at national level and with safeguards to avoid concentration of ownership (of rights). In the new financial instrument 2014-2020, the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund, we propose to no longer finance scrapping of vessels, but instead spend the money on projects which will make a real difference.”
The Court of Auditors report, which assesses the measures designed to reduce fishing overcapacity, states that the CFP “does not have adequate rules for key issues related to overcapacity of the fishing fleet”: - given constant technological developments, the existing definitions of fishing capacity no longer adequately reflect the ability of fishing vessels to catch fish; - ceilings do not impose real restrictions on fishing fleet capacity; - although the alignment of fishing capacity to fishing opportunities is one of the cornerstones of the CFP and the European Fisheries Fund (EFF), fishing overcapacity has not been defined or quantified - this complicates the design of measures to reduce it and makes it difficult to assess the performance of those measures at member state level; - there are not sufficiently clear rules for the treatment (cancellation/transfer/sale) of fishing rights when fishing vessels are scrapped with public aid. Furthermore, the role of fishing rights in aligning fishing capacity to fishing opportunities is not specified by the regulations.
The Court of Auditors states, too, that member states “have not fulfilled their obligation under the CFP of putting in place effective measures to match fishing capacity to fishing opportunities”: - there were delays in implementing EFF-funded projects and in setting up management and control systems; - fishing effort adjustment plans did not provide a sound basis to adapt the capacity of fishing fleets to available fishing opportunities; - four of the seven member states examined in the audit (Poland, Portugal, Spain and the United Kingdom) had set inadequate targets for reducing capacity: this increases the risk that fishing fleet overcapacity is not adequately targeted for reduction; - subsidised investment on board fishing vessels may in practice increase their ability to catch fish; - the fishing fleet register was not correctly updated with details of fishing vessels scrapped with public aid: this overstated the fishing fleet capacity ceilings; - the eligibility and selection criteria for fishing vessel decommissioning schemes were not well targeted: this resulted in scrapping fishing vessels which had little if any impact on the targeted fish stocks; - the public aid rates used for decommissioning fishing vessels generally did not take into account their cost effectiveness on the basis of sufficient objective criteria; - application of the “fuel crisis regulation” did not bring the required fishing fleet capacity reductions; - the rules under which member states report on their efforts to balance fishing capacity with fishing opportunities are inadequate and lack clarity. This is one of the reasons for the incomplete and inadequate reporting by most member states, with the consequence that it is impossible to derive conclusions regarding fishing overcapacity.
The EFF has €4.3 billion for planning period 2007-2013 to support the CFP. The resources available contain €1.2 billion to adapt fishing fleets and, in particular, to co-fund vessel decommissioning schemes, on condition that the member states put in place fishing effort adjustment plans. (LC/transl.rt)