The NGO Oceana on Tuesday 20 July called for measures to ensure an end to overfishing of certain fish stocks as negotiations begin between the EU and the UK in the ‘Specialised Fisheries Committee’.
This specialised fisheries committee is provided for in the Trade and Cooperation Agreement signed between the EU and the United Kingdom and makes it possible, among other things, to prepare for the forthcoming annual consultations on determining fishing opportunities for 2022 (see EUROPE 12742/5).
Recent advice from the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) shows the critical state of some stocks. Only 43% of the fish stocks shared between the UK and the EU are fished at sustainable levels, according to a statement (https://bit.ly/3BmwwmJ ) from Oceana.
Meanwhile, on Tuesday in Brussels, the Our Fish campaign handed over to EU Commissioner Virginijus Sinkevičius a petition signed by 17,296 people calling on the EU to take urgent action to avert the climate crisis, including ending destructive overfishing and supporting a just transition to ecosystem-based fisheries management.
The Commissioner also received a beach towel for the holidays with the inscription ‘Save the Ocean, Save the Climate, End Overfishing’. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)