Strasbourg, 06/09/2007 (Agence Europe) - Why focus on carrying out a policy to reduce vessel tonnage and power, when results are so scant? It would perhaps be better to explore other avenues for controlling fishing catches by, for example, stricter controls of fishing by boats in a specific geographical area. These suggestions were formulated by the European Parliament following the vote on Wednesday 5 September on the report by Paulo Casaca (PES, Portugal), which analyses the European Commission report on efforts made in 2005 by member states to establish a sustainable balance between fishing capacity and fishing opportunities.
MEPs noted a gradual reduction in capacity and power of the fleet overall (around 2% a year) but “there has been no reduction in the level of exploitation of stocks, since the technical improvements made to vessels cancel out or exceed the possibilities as regards yield and fishing effort that these modest reductions represent”. Parliament believes that “it might be desirable to reconsider the usefulness of the current schemes for bringing the Community fleet into line with fishing opportunities”. It is calling on the Commission to “adopt the relevant initiatives for the possible transition from a fleet management system based on restricting vessel tonnage and power, to a scheme under which fishing effort can be controlled through management by geographical fishing areas”.
MEPs are also formulating other requests to the Commission: - proposals to improve the safety of small-scale coastal and artisanal fishing vessels in the European Union (aimed at increasing the size and power of engines and renovating vessels so as to improve the hygiene and safety conditions on board, without thereby increasing fishing effort: - a proposal for the setting up of a specific Regional Advisory Council for the outermost regions of the European Union.
The Parliament is requesting a detailed analysis of certain factors that have a considerable impact on the marine environment and resources such as pollution on the coast and at sea, industrial and agricultural effluence, sea bottom trawling and maritime transport. The Parliament thinks that it is inadmissible that “member states fail to comply with their obligations to gather and forward data in relation to matching their fishing capacity to the state of stocks” and calls for these countries to be subject to sanctions. (lc)