ClientEarth published, on Monday 27 September, a series of documents revealing the positions of EU countries on the 2017-2021 proposals on Total Allowable Catches (TACs) and quotas.
The files, according to ClientEarth, “show that countries such as Ireland, France and Spain have consistently pushed for unsustainable fishing limits in the Northeast Atlantic, defying the ambitious sustainability objectives and rules of the EU’s Common Fisheries Policy year after year”.
The NGO also states that EU fisheries ministers have “consistently ignored scientific recommendations and consequently failed to end overfishing by the EU’s 2020 legal deadline” set out in CFP rules.
The organisation denounces, once again, the lack of transparency of the ‘December Fisheries EU Council’ meetings.
ClientEarth has been working for years to tackle the issue of secrecy around TAC-setting and push decision-makers to proactively publish information in a timely manner. “This is crucial to ensure that civil society has a say in these negotiations, which are often heavily influenced by the fishing industry”, the organisation argues.
Link to documents: https://bit.ly/39Jgua9 (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)