In his draft report on the implementation of the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP), to be presented shortly to the European Parliament’s Committee on Fisheries, Gabriel Mato MEP (EPP, Spanish) proposes strengthening the socio-economic and food security dimensions of the CFP.
He also suggests, before the presentation of the European Commission’s report on the functioning of the CFP, an adjustment of the “present relative stability” (method of allocating fishing quotas).
This is a highly sensitive issue, as EU Member States are traditionally committed to this principle of allocating fishing opportunities.
Mr Mato calls on the Commission to provide a “comprehensive assessment of the present relative stability and of possible scenarios for adaptation”. In his view, the gap between national quotas and the “actual interests” of Member States’ fishing fleets has increased over time.
Mr Mato regrets that, since 2014, the implementation of the CFP “has primarily focused on the environmental aspect of this policy”, a view not shared by many MEPs.
Hence the need, in his view, for “the CFP reform” to rebalance the objectives of the policy.
The draft report (https://aeur.eu/f/42b ) calls for changes to the Maximum Sustainable Yield (MSY) target and the rules on the landing obligation. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)