As EU fisheries ministers try to reach an agreement on Total Allowable Catches (TACs) and quotas for 2021 on Wednesday 16 December, a number of resource protection NGOs have sounded the alarm over decisions that could harm fish stocks (see EUROPE 12620/17).
Rebecca Hubbard of Our Fish pointed out that overfishing costs €1.6 billion in lost revenue and 20,000 jobs a year.
Andrea Ripol of Seas At Risk referred to the failure of EU fisheries ministers to comply with scientific advice on the state of stocks. For example, 46% of the TACs in 2020 exceeded scientists’ recommendations (41% in 2019). Among the fish stocks at risk at this EU Council, she mentioned pollack, sole to the west of Ireland, and cod in the Kattegat.
Jenni Grossman of ClientEarth denounced violations of the rules on the prohibition of discarding fish at sea, which results in catches far in excess of TACs.
Jean-Christophe Vandevelde of Pew Charitable Trusts discussed the different scenarios in the negotiations between the EU, the UK, and Norway on shared stocks. He confirmed the European Commission’s proposal to set aside, in 2021, 25% of the 2020 TAC volumes for these stocks in the coming months. There is a high risk that the negotiations will end in negative decisions for the health of certain stocks, he said, citing Celtic Sea and North Sea cod in particular.
Javier Lopez, from Oceana, advocated a reduction of at least 20% in the fishing effort in the western Mediterranean by 2021, as opposed to the 15% proposed by the Commission. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)