Brussels, 22/04/2009 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday 22 April, the European Commission adopted the Green Paper on the reform of the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP), making clear the priority of reducing fishing capacity in line with the state of the resource (see EUROPE 9881 for the detail of the Green Paper). Fishermen and other stakeholders within the sector, experts, civil society and interested parties are invited to respond and send their points of view on the future of European fisheries before 31 December 2009. Commission proposals are expected by the start of 2011, with adoption by the Council in 2012. The new CFP will then come into force from 1 January 2013. The Commission hopes, however, that some decisions, in particular on reducing the size of the fishing fleet, will be taken before 2012.
Presenting the Green Paper to press, European Fisheries and Maritime Affairs Commissioner Joe Borg stated: “Today, we are taking the first step towards a new, radically different approach to fisheries”. He said that the Paper analysed the current situation, but gave no ready-made solutions.
Despite some progress thanks to the 2002 CFP reform (stock recovery plans, Regional Advisory Councils, regulation to prevent the entry into the EU of products from illegal fishing), many problems remain and have to be addressed “in a radical way”. The commissioner said again that 88% of European fish stocks were overfished, compared with a global average of only 25%, and that one third of Europe's stocks cannot reproduce “at a normal rate”. In many fisheries, “we continue to fish two or three times more than stocks can sustain”. This, he said, was mainly the result of overcapacity. This overcapacity was economically inefficient because, not only did it exhaust stocks, it also constantly reduced the sector's profits. He said that solutions had to be found to build up the most endangered stocks while, at the same time, ensuring that fish remained a reliable source of income for fishermen.
In addition to reducing catching capacity (possibility of a special fund for the destruction of vessels, or putting in place transferable, including sellable, quotas?), ways have to be found: - to restore the productivity of our oceans and seas; - readjust our decision-making mechanisms so that the sector is more closely involved in the process; - examine the principle of relative stability (granting fishing possibilities according to catches made between 1979 and 1983), with one solution being, perhaps, to make the system “more flexible”. Europe must also reduce its dependence on imports, which represent two thirds of fish products consumed in the EU. (L.C./transl.rt)