On Tuesday 11 November, the European Parliament’s Committee on Fisheries recommended the introduction of programmes to renew the EU’s fishing fleets “supported by national and EU funding, as well as with the cooperation of private owners”.
In adopting (19 votes in favour, 3 against and 3 abstentions) an own-initiative report by Ton Diepeveen (PfE, Dutch) on the modernisation of the fishing fleet, MEPs believe that the measures to be taken should make it possible to “renew the fleet with more modern, safer and more environmentally-friendly vessels, while making the sector more attractive to encourage generational renewal”. The plenary vote in Parliament will take place in December.
MEPs regret that the current framework of the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) and the European Maritime, Fisheries and Aquaculture Fund (EMFAF) “severely limits” the scope for public support, which also discourages private investment in vessel renewal and makes it impossible to make the changes needed to decarbonise the EU fishing fleet. They are therefore calling for changes to the current legislative frameworks. The European Commission is invited to:
- identify and put in place additional and sufficient financing instruments, beyond the EMFAF, including innovative financing models, in order to support the massive investment needs linked to decarbonisation and the energy transition of the sector;
- support research into vessel design, including innovations that go beyond propulsion systems, improving the hydrodynamics of hulls, using lightweight composite materials and replacing hydraulic-mechanical systems with electric drives.
The transition to a more sustainable and resilient sector must go hand in hand with improving working and living conditions on board ships. MEPs are calling for priority to be given to modernising vessels in order to offer “enhanced capacity for proper on-board conservation of catches”, while strengthening traceability, communication tools and weather forecasting systems. They are calling for targeted measures to support the transition of small-scale fishing.
Preventive measures are also recommended to avoid any potential damage to the environment when developing and deploying new IUU fishing (precautionary principle). MEPs are calling for public policies and funding instruments that support fishers and communities adopting sustainable gear and practices that contribute to the preservation of biodiversity and the long-term stability of resources.
Detection technologies based on artificial intelligence should be used for more selective fishing.
Finally, MEPs want to improve the measurement of fishing effort by taking into account the actual time during which gear is used to catch fish (immersion time or active fishing), rather than simply counting the number of days at sea, as is currently the case. They are therefore calling for the definition of ‘fishing activities’ in EU legislation to be updated to reflect the different operational characteristics of fishing gears.
Link to votes and compromises: https://aeur.eu/f/jf8 (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)