Brussels, 03/02/2016 (Agence Europe) - After visiting a number of countries and launching a public consultation, European Fisheries Commissioner Karmenu Vella, speaking in Malta on the sidelines of the SeaWeb Seafood conference on Wednesday 3 February, announced that the Commission will present a “political initiative” on ocean governance in the next few months.
International discussion on ocean governance is growing as the use of marine resources is increasing globally. Illegal fishing, uncontrolled seabed mining, marine litter are only some of the challenges that need to be addressed through global cooperation, says the Commission. The existing international ocean governance framework, it argues, could be ineffective in addressing such maritime challenges, particularly in the 60% of the oceans that are beyond national jurisdictions.
The public consultation which ran from June to October 2015 received 154 contributions from governments, citizens, public bodies, businesses, associations and NGOs. Commissioner Vella also visited Portugal, Ireland, Malta, the United States, Norway, Chile, Spain and France, among others, to learn of ideas on ways to develop cooperation on governance of the seas and oceans.
“International rules and bodies exist, and they address many areas: illegal fishing, biological diversity, marine pollution. But this set-up is too fragmented”, Vella stated. He noted that the institutions are there, but they do not collaborate enough, and sometimes they lack the teeth necessary to enforce the existing rules.
Emerging activities, like offshore renewable energy, deep water hydrocarbon exploitation and seabed mining, “need to be properly regulated lest they do more harm than good”, the Commissioner went on. He said that regional seas conventions and regional fisheries management organisations could be strengthened and called for existing agreements, like the FAO port state measures agreement (which seeks to detect illegal fishing when vessels enter ports), to be ratified.
Sound decisions require a sound knowledge base. The Commission laments the lack of data and of data-sharing. “We still don't know nearly enough about marine ecosystems and human impacts. This impedes good management and safe industrial development”, Vella made clear. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)