Greenpeace today urged EU Fisheries Ministers to stop deluding
fishermen and themselves by taking firm action to drastically
reduce fishing activities and to conserve fish stocks in EU waters
and elsewhere.
Unless this is done effectively, the EU is putting marine
ecosystems, fishing communities and global food security at risk by
exporting its domestic problem throughout the rest of the world.
Collapsing fisheries in EU waters and steady declines in the global
catch should come as a wake up call to EU ministers and fishermen
that short term political and economic interests must not continue
to guide the reform of EU fishery policies.
"Many fishermen and politicians are in denial about the critical
state of fisheries here and abroad," said Greenpeace Campaigner,
Hélène Bours. "It's only a matter of time before we wipe out our
few remaining viable fisheries and then proceed to wipe out
everybody else's as well. It won't be only the small-scale
fisherman who lose out to big operators - misguided policies will
put at threat a billion other people who depend
upon fish in their diet."
EU Ministers are gathering in Brussels for a weeklong session of
meetings to debate the Common Fisheries Policy that will determine
the scope and direction of EU fishing activities for the next ten
years. As next year's quotas are also on the table, it promises to
be a contentious meeting - a panel of scientific experts has called
for a virtual shutdown of key fishing grounds (1). However, fishing
leaders and politicians with an eye to the next election have
predicted financial ruin for an already beleaguered industry,
should the scientific advice be implemented.
Greenpeace fears that the unless immediate and firm action is
taken, then fishing grounds in the North and Irish Seas and to the
west of Scotland will collapse. Ministers should be building a set
of sound, precautionary fisheries management policies, as well as
firmly addressing critical issues of overcapacity and
overfishing.
The environmental organisation recommends that the following
actions to be
taken:
-eliminate subsidies for the construction and modernisation of
fishing vessels and the creation of joint ventures,
- redirect these subsides towards: promotion of selective and
low-impact fisheries and reduction of fishing capacity through
scrapping programmes
In its subsidy programmes, the EU must consider qualitative
critera, such as degree of bycatch leading to waste and discards,
damage to the marine habitat and the employment provided to
fishermen.
Greenpeace believes that these criteria should be used to shape
EU fishing policy, rather than simply promoting the maximum of
production at any cost. It will lead to less environmentally
destructive fishing fleets, more abundant and diverse fish stocks
and, consequently, coastal fishing communities with a future of
hope rather than of despair.
"What we see happening in the EU waters is a microcosm of what
will happen world-wide unless we get a handle on our own problems,"
said Beatrice Gorez from the Coalition for Fair Fisheries
Arrangements. "We are encouraging the ministers to look long and
hard at the consequences of their political decision-making this
week. Do they want to see fisheries collapse here, and EU trawlers
roaming the globe like a pack of predators: unaccountable and often
lawless?"
Notes: (1) Cod stocks in the North Sea are at their lowest. The independent bodyof scientists, the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea,called for a total ban on fishing for cod in the North Sea, Irish Sea andwaters off the west coast of Scotland. They also recommended a moratoriumon catching other species such as haddock and whiting, where cod is oftencaught incidentally.