Brussels, 18/11/2013 (Agence Europe) - Blue Fish, a European association (France, Spain, Portugal, Ireland, Scotland, Germany, etc), which was set up in March of this year to promote best practice in teh fishing sector, on Monday 18 November welcomed the compromise recently reached at the fisheries committee of the European Parliament on deep-water fishing activities (see EUROPE 10957).
The president of Blue Fish, Olivier Le Nezet of France, said that the text voted on by the fisheries committee of the EP shows that scientific opinions have been taken on board, as they did not call for deep-water fishing to be banned. The scientific opinions of ICES “stress that resources are doing better for certain species and that this fishing activity can continue”, Le Nezet explained. Blue Fish hopes that the European Parliament will follow the same approach by a wide majority. The fishing committee reached a compromise (19 votes in favour, none against and four abstentions) making it possible to continue fishing for so-called deep-water species (black scabbardfish, roundnose grenadier, blue ling, etc). The Commission has proposed to ban deep-sea trawling within the space of two years.
Blue Fish argues that stocks exploited by this deep-water fishing sector have recovered within ten years. “This fishery sent scientists more than 35,000 research hauls”, explained Le Nezet. The areas in which these species are caught are soft bottomed, “which means that there is no impact on fragile ecosystems”. This fish is of great economic and social added value, he added.
Bass fishing. The Blue Fish association argues in favour of bass fishing being regulated at European level. MEP Alain Cadec (EBP, France) also called on the European Commission to set in place “a multi-annual management plan for bass at European level to put this endangered species under total allowable catch. The fishery currently authorised should be cut by at least 10%”. France has created a national bass licence, with ambitious measures (eight days of biological recovery during the spawning period between 1 January and 31 March of each year, increasing mesh size to 100 mm and creating a network of observers on trawlers fishing for bass). Bass fishing is a speciality of France, but British fishermen have recently started this fishery with a view to obtaining a share of the future European quota.
The NGO also argues that the management plan for eel and elvers, which contains European elements, “does not correspond to the reality on the ground”.
TAC and quotas. As regards the recent proposals on TACs and quotas for 2014, Blue Fish points out that stocks of fish managed under the MSY (maximum sustainable yield) principle have risen from 7% of stocks in 2007 to 66% in 2013. “This shows that the resources are coming back for many species. We need to improve things for the remaining 34%. We may, in this case, need to limit catch, such as haddock or cod”. According to Le Nezet, the application of the precautionary principle when no scientific opinion is available needs to be reviewed. The Commission is applying a 20% catch reduction, which the NGO finds excessive. (LC/transl.fl)