Fishermen with more selective gear and a history of compliance with EU rules are among those highlighted in a new report on who should be given priority access to limited fishing resources in the future.
The report, commissioned by the OCEAN2012 alliance and written by the Meridian Prime consulting firm founder Chris Grieve, was based on case studies from ten different fisheries in Europe and around the world to show how reform of the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) could be modeled.
OCEAN2012 was founded in Brussels last summer with the scope of pushing the next EU CFP, to be decided in 2012, in a more sustainable direction.
FISH was one of its five founding members.
The report, Environmental and Social Criteria for Allocating Access to Fisheries Resources, recommends the following criteria as standards for choosing which fisheries should be given priority access to the resources:
- Selectivity – Fishers using fishing methods with low by-catch should be given priority access to the available resources;
- Environmental impact – The impact of different gears and practices on the environment, including damage to the seabed and pollution, vary widely. Fishers using less destructive fishing methods should be given priority access;
- Energy consumption –Fishers using vessels and fishing methods that consume less energy per tonne of fish caught should be given priority access;
- Employment and working conditions – Fishing methods that provide more employment opportunities and have less environmental damage should be given priority access. Working conditions should comply with relevant international standards, notably the 2007 International Labour Organisation (ILO) Work in Fishing Convention; and
- History of compliance – Past compliance with the rules of the CFP by fishers as well as EU Member States should be considered when allocating access to fishing rights.
“The right to fish in EU waters should be granted to those who contribute to the goal of ending overfishing,” said Markus Knigge of the Pew Environment Group and OCEAN2012. “Allocating access to commonly held fisheries resources through the implementation of strict environmental and social criteria is an effective way of doing this.”
The fisheries studied in the report were the Georges Bank cod fishery in Cape CodUSA; the toothfish fishery in South Georgia; trawling in Koster-Väderö fjord, Sweden; the Prud’homies fisheryLanguedoc-Roussillon, France; the Os Miñarzos fishery in Lira-Carnota Spain; Creel Fishing in Loch Torridon Scotland; the South-West Mackerel Box fishery in England; The Integrated Fisheries Foundation (IFF) in the Wadden Sea, Netherlands; traditional island lobster fishing in the Torres Strait, Papua New Guinea and Australia; and the hake handline, traditional linefish, west coast rock lobster and abalone fisheries in the Western Cape, South Africa.