Brussels, 16/07/2014 (Agence Europe) - In an interview with EUROPE, European Commissioner for Fisheries and Maritime Affairs Maria Damanaki reviews her last five years at the Commission. She would like to remain for a second term but the Greek government has not yet chosen the person it wants to have in the Juncker Commission. She is optimistic about the successful implementation of the common fisheries policy. (Interview conducted by LC)
Agence Europe - The end of your current mandate as Commissioner for Fisheries and Maritime Affairs is approaching. What is your assessment of these five years?
Maria Damanaki - I think that we had remarkable achievements. We have a new common fisheries policy with radical changes. There is still a lot to be done because now the implementation is in front of us. We want the main commercial stocks to be fished in a sustainable way by 2020. This will bring additional income to our fishermen: sustainable fish stocks mean that they can fish more than 2 million tonnes more fish a year. In recent years we already had very good results: when I took office, we had 5 stocks fished at sustainable level in the North-East Atlantic. Now we are at 27. Next year we could have 30.
We also have a new international policy, with new Fisheries Partnership Agreements that fully respect the principle of sustainability and where EU vessels will only fish the surplus of the stock in order not to compete with the local fishermen. We have a new international policy to fight illegal fishing, with legislation allowing us to block imports from countries that don't fish in a sustainable way. And, we have solved the mackerel problem in the North-East Atlantic by using new instruments at our disposal.
Another important new element of the reform is regionalisation. The member states and our fishermen are going to decide together on a regional basis how to best manage the fisheries policy. So far, we have seen very good results. This year we are going to implement a discard ban in small pelagic stocks and in the Baltic Sea and we have already received regional plans that are very good. Perhaps it will not be necessary for the Commission to make any changes on these plans.
To help the transition towards the new policy, we also have a new fund for our fishermen and for our Blue Growth agenda. This new fund is focusing more on small-scale vessels. We have stopped giving money for new vessels and now we are giving money for small-scale vessels to take over up to 85% of the expenses for more selective gear, for example, or for safety of the fishermen.
Would you like to stay in the European Commission? At maritime affairs, or with another portfolio?
The European experience was very important for me. I have learned a lot. Yes, I would like to have a second mandate, but it is not up to me, the Greek government is going to decide. This is not done but in any case I am very happy by what I have achieved.
What is your best memory, and the worst?
The most difficult moment was the period in which there was a possibility of Greece being expelled from the eurozone. It was a nightmare. The best moment was after the vote of the reform of CFP in the European Parliament by an overwhelming majority after many years of work.
The discard ban poses real problems for fishermen - especially as the detailed rules have not yet been adopted. How can Europe help its fishermen adapt to these restrictions?
I can understand the concerns. This is a very difficult issue to implement. That's why we have in our regulation some flexibility and a step by step approach. And we will be ready to give compensation. For 2015, we are going to start as we have scheduled with implementing the discard ban in the Baltic Sea and for pelagic stocks. And then we are going to do more. To help the fishermen we have the regionalisation: if Regional Advisory Councils come with a good proposal on discard plans, the Commission is going to accept it. Referring to mixed fisheries, I can understand the difficulties. We are going to use our fund to help the fishermen, to give them incentives to implement the discard ban. In the quotas for 2015, we are going to have in mind the discard ban in the areas where it is going to be implemented (in the Baltic region). We are going to have quotas that can give an incentive to our fishermen.
You mean higher quotas?
Yes, in a way, in full respect of MSY.
Do the member states in EU have sufficient funds to modernise vessels?
For security and also for selectivity of gear yes, we have European funds. But we have decided to stop using taxpayer's money to subsidise the building of new vessels; I can understand that some member states will give state aid to their fishermen to modernise their vessels, for example to buy new engines. But we need a decrease of the power of the engine to avoid an increase of the fishing capacity. We have to keep the capacity under a cap.
You have proposed a total ban on driftnets from April 2015. Such a decision would hit some small businesses hard. Would you accept an exemption for small-scale fisheries?
We are waiting now to hear the opinion of the member states. I cannot prejudge the result of the procedure. For the moment we haven't received concrete proposals from all sides yet. We have received proposals from the French sector, and the Italian sector is rather in agreement. We are going to examine these proposals very carefully. At the moment, the use of certain driftnets is already prohibited in the EU. Now we are trying to close the loopholes because we have a lot of infringements referring to problems with implementation of this rule. So what we want is simpler rules.
The controversial proposal to ban trawling in deep water in 2015 is still on the table. How do you see the evolution of this issue, knowing that the Council may be divided?
There are different opinions on this issue. Our proposal is not about banning all deep-sea fisheries. What we want is to abandon the most disastrous practices. The European Parliament already expressed an opinion in December 2013. So I think that we are going to discuss the issue in the Council very soon. The Presidency of the Council cannot postpone the discussion for long.
You will propose the 2015-2016 quotas for deep-sea species in autumn. Will you propose stabilising the catch or decreasing it?
The deep-sea stocks are very vulnerable and we need better scientific advice. We have already increased the quota for deep-sea stocks where there is clear scientific advice. For the stocks for which we have clear advice we are going to follow the advice. For the stocks on which there is not a clear picture we are going to follow the precautionary principle.
What is the situation concerning the long-term management plans?
I think that there will be a solution - but it is for Council and Parliament to agree. I hope we can make new proposals in the autumn for a new generation of long-term management plans which will be multi-species plans. In September, I hope that we are going to find a solution. The first long-term multi-species management plan will be for Baltic Sea, and not only for cod.