Brussels, 08/04/2015 (Agence Europe) - The European Parliament fisheries committee held a debate on Tuesday 31 March on the systems used by EU countries for allocating fishing quotas and once again highlighted the negative effect of individual transferable fishing quotas.
Kim Stobberup presented a study on the criteria for allocation of fishing opportunities in the European Union (study carried out by Blomeyer & Sanz S.L). Individual transferable quotas (ITQs) are not the panacea for problems in fisheries management that Iceland and Canada, for example, believe, as they lead to strong concentration of fishing rights, said Stobberup. Where ITQs exist, it is, therefore, very difficult to offer fishing rights to new entrants (market mechanism). Stobberup suggested, then, that ITQs are more suited to industrial fishing where the main concern is economic efficiency.
He presented two case studies: coastal fishing in Denmark and bluefin tuna fishing in Spain.
In Denmark, ITQs were introduced in 2007, bringing with them an improvement in the economic performance of the Danish fleet (though not of the smallest vessels). A special system (bonus) to protect coastal fishing was introduced (with additional cod, sole and plaice quotas). Stobberup said that it had been realised that, despite this system of protection, the fleet is in decline, particularly in small fishing communities. “The additional quotas provided do not outweigh market forces”, he added. Most of the fishing rights are concentrated in the hands of the largest operators. “The ITQ system was devised to improve economic performances and did not take into account social and community-level objectives”, he said. It would, however, be difficult to turn the clock back: if the government wanted to change the system, he ventured, there would be legal action on the part of the major operators.
In Spain, ITQs are used in bluefin tuna fishery (but not in recreational fishing and small-scale fishing in the Canary Islands). The criteria used for allocating quotas are historic catches (60%) and employment figures (40%). The system of rights allocation has been criticised by some stakeholders (unhappy at the reference period used for determining historic catches), said Stobberup. He recommended that the Parliament encourage the European Commission, in coordination with the member states, to draft common guidelines to “facilitate a homogeneous approach in the allocation of fishing opportunities”.
The Commission has, in the past, proposed introducing ITQs at European level. It was decided, however, during the reform of the common fisheries policy (CFP), to leave it to the member states to decide which system they wanted to implement. (Lionel Changeur)