Changed fishing gears could reduce both harmful effects on the marine ecosystems and greenhouse gas emissions, as well as lower the fishermen’s fuel costs, a new report towards low impact fisheries shows.
The study, commissioned by the Brussels-based Seas At Risk organisation and performed by the independent fisheries consultancy MacAlister Elliott and Partners, also identified why the fishermen usually do not follow this apparently beneficial advice – lack of knowledge and inflexible EU fisheries management were the main obstacles.
Some of the key points in the report, titled “Moving Towards Low Impact Fisheries in Europe: Policy Hurdles & Actions” were:
- Bottom trawling has the worst impact on the environment, both in terms of habitat destruction and selectivity and in terms of carbon emissions.
- Although data on carbon emissions are not straightforward, in general, demersal trawl fisheries and offshore longline fisheries perform badly in terms of carbon emissions per unit catch, passive gears like nets and traps perform better than towed gears, and small vessels perform better than medium sized and large vessels.
- Where fish stocks are depleted and poorly managed, fisheries have bigger negative impacts than those fisheries on well-managed stocks.
- Common problems fishermen face when trying to switch to less damaging fishing techniques include costs, a lack of knowledge on best practices.
- Policy can also acts as a hurdle to a shift to more sustainable fisheries. Currently, the most serious policy hurdle to low impact fisheries is the inflexible nature of the EU fisheries management system.
“This comprehensive report shows both fishers and the environment will benefit from a shift to low impact fisheries”, said Monica Verbeek, Executive Director of Seas At Risk.
“The 2012 reform of the Common Fisheries Policy provides a unique opportunity to adopt well designed policy measures to promote such a shift.”
Among the improvements suggested in the report were:
- Preferential access to fish resources for low impact fisheries;
- Elimination of overcapacity using environmental and social criteria, ensuring that the most sustainable vessels remain in the fleet;
- Phase-out of fuel tax exemptions and other perverse subsidies;
- Redirection of subsidies to training/education programs promoting low impact fisheries;
- Introduction and promotion of spatial planning, with zones set aside for low impact fisheries, especially those using passive gears.