MEPs on the European Parliament’s Committee on Fisheries were divided, on Thursday 9 July, over the arrangements for revising the multiannual plan for the management of demersal stocks in the western Mediterranean (see EUROPE 13881/7).
The rapporteur, Carmen Crespo (EPP, Spanish), stressed the need to reach a broad consensus among the political groups on this file. She wants to correct a regulation that “needs improvements”, in order to offer “a new future outlook” to thousands of fishers as well as to Mediterranean coastal communities.
The draft report identifies the heart of the problem: the mechanism based on the most vulnerable stock, Isabelle Le Callennec (EPP, French) explained. Hake plays this role, even though it represents only a small share of catches and sometimes less than 5% of the turnover of certain trawlers. For this reason, she supports the request to revise Article 4(3) of the regulation in order to replace this so-called “single-species” logic with an approach based on the state of all stocks, while explicitly incorporating socioeconomic criteria. Ms Le Callennec therefore supported the stabilisation mechanisms proposed by Ms Crespo: a 20% cap on annual effort variations, interannual transfer of fishing opportunities and a multiannual management cycle.
Nora Junco García (ECR, Spanish) proposed introducing more socioeconomic criteria into decision-making, fully recognising the mixed nature of Mediterranean fisheries and moving towards management “that is more flexible, more proportionate and better adapted” to the specific features of the region.
Taking account of the state of the resource. Éric Sargiacomo (S&D, French) called for a “balanced” approach, one that takes account of “the worrying state of certain fishery resources in the Mediterranean”. On the substance, several proposals echo the demands advocated by Spain, he noted. According to Mr Sargiacomo, however, it is necessary to “broaden the vision” in order also to take account of the demands of other Member States, notably France and Italy. He also underlined the importance of combating illegal fishing and the entry onto the European market of products resulting from unsustainable practices.
The Greens/EFA group recalled that there was still “an imbalance between fishing opportunities and fleet capacity”. That political group acknowledged that reductions in fishing effort had been significant, but considered that they remained proportionate to the level of overexploitation of stocks. The Greens/EFA group called for the restoration of fishery resources to continue in order to ensure the future of the sector.
For Emma Wiesner (Renew Europe, Swedish), the environmental dimension of the report and the still worrying situation of certain stocks should be given greater prominence. She said she was in favour of greater flexibility for fisheries and local communities, provided that “the real state of the environment” and the need to ensure healthy and sustainable stocks are fully taken into account.
Link to Ms Crespo’s draft report: https://aeur.eu/f/msd (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)