Regionalisation instead of ”top-down approach”, subsidarity and widened stakeholder involvement were key notions as the European Parliament has its saying on the upcoming CFP reform.
The non-binding resolution, part of the consultation process leading up to a 2012 decision on a new Common Fisheries Policy, was adopted 456-50, with all Green MEPs abstaining. The resolution’s contention that the fisheries policy should not be subordinate to e.g. environmental interests, as well as the expressed goal that the EU Third Country agreements should primarily protect EU fisheries interests, made it impossible for them to vote in favour, even though they could stand behind most of it, said Isabella Lövin, a Swedish Green MEP.
OCEAN2012, an alliance of organisations dedicated to transforming European Fisheries Policy with FISH as one of its founding members, issued a statement regretting that the resolution “failed to acknowledge the established connection between fisheries subsidies and overfishing.”
“It was an encouraging sign that MEPs recognise their increased responsibility on fisheries policy. Many of them accepted the fundamental necessity of conserving fish stocks as the basis for safeguarding the livelihood of fisheries dependent communities. However, it is disappointing that not enough of them voted to include this in the report”, OCEAN2012 said.
The adopted resolution also urged the Commission to “consider carefully” new management models to complement the traditional catch quota system.