Policy Recommendations

  • In order to improve PCD, the negotiations of the fisheries agreements must be based on the contracting countrys priorities for suitable development of its fishing sector and its country as a whole (food security strategies for example).
  • Conditions and prioritization needs to be introduced for access to third countries waters; In line with the FAO Code of Conduct, priority access should be reserved for the national fleets, especially small scale and artisan fishing activity. Further access should be restricted to those operators who can demonstrate that their operations fit with EU sustainable fisheries development criteria.
  • The EU should respect the surplus principle as concluded in the UNCLOS; the EU should not fish in countries where a surplus is not proved and the prevention of overexploitation cannot be guaranteed.
  • The EU should step up efforts and provide the necessary resources to help contracting countries develop more effective national resource management systems in order to prevent overexploitation.
  • The EU should ensure better adherence to laws and codes of conduct of EU fleets. Illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing must be tackled.
  • In accordance to the Cotonou Agreement as well as Development Policy of the EU, the fisheries and trade policies need to be mutually satisfactory and combat poverty by supporting the development of an environmentally and socially sustainable local fisheries sector in the third countries.
  • EU fisheries subsidies, directly or indirectly need to be phased out where they are proven not to be socio-economically profitable for any of the stakeholders. The EU should raise the price of fishing licences to its fleets and technological progress of the vessels needs to finance itself through the market, in order to abort any hidden subsidy that hurts poor fishermen.
  • Fisheries Agreements must be negotiated, concluded or extended based on a scientific basis and reliable data. The reviewed CFP should define a decision-making framework ensuring that decisions are taken at the appropriate levels (maximum sustainable amount of catch and total allowable catch need to be set by scientists for example).

 

Case: Fisheries Partnership Agreements

10-07-2008 Are soaring oil prices the best thing that could have happened to the world's marine ecosystems?

10 July 2008

In Europe and all over the world, fishermen are protesting against soaring oil prices. Governments should do someting to support them, and make sure they don't go out of business, they say. And it's not just words they use, it's also rocks and flares, at manifestations in Brussels last month. 

But, just as the oil price now seems to be all that stands between us and runaway climate change, it is also the only factor which offers a glimmer of hope to the world's marine ecosystems. No east Asian government was prepared to conserve the stocks of tuna; now one-third of the tuna boats in Japan, China, Taiwan and South Korea will stay in dock for the next few months because they can't afford to sail.

The following article from the Guardian, July 8th, 2008, explains why the EU should finally stop supporting an unsustainable industry. 

"Trawlermen cling on as oceans empty of fish - Europe is propping up an unsustainable industry "

July 8. An article in the newspaper The Guardian states that "Just as the oil price now seems to be... the only factor which offers a glimmer of hope to the world's marine ecosystems... No east Asian government was prepared to conserve the stocks of tuna; now one-third of the tuna boats in Japan, China, Taiwan and South Korea will stay in dock for the next few months because they can't afford to sail.... The indefinite strike called by Spanish fishermen is the best news European fisheries have had for years". Over seven years, European taxpayers will be giving this industry €3.8bn. The author argues that "Except for the funds used to re-train fishermen or help them into early retirement, there is no justification for this spending.... If the member states want to protect the ecosystem, it's a good deal cheaper to legislate than to pay.... By ensuring that far too many boats, and far too many desperate fishermen, stay on the water, and that the remaining quotas are stretched too thinly, the EU will slow down or even reverse the greening of the industry".

 

More information?

Click here to read the article in The Guardian, July 8 2008