The Commission visit to the Ministry in Spain took place on 28 September, with the goal of presenting its proposals for the CFP reform to stakeholder groups, and in particular to the Ministry responsible for fisheries issues. Although some Member States decided to keep the Commission meetings a closed affair (i.e.: Poland), in Spain more than 100 people representing the Spanish fishing industry, and non-governmental organisations, joined the proceedings.
The background for the need of a solid CFP reform was presented by Ernesto Penas of the European Commission’s DG MARE (Directorate General of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries). He emphasised the need to balance environmental, social and economic factors, and stressed that the balance of the social and environmental aspects is simply not possible without the recovery of our fish resources. Other issues he explored were the discard ban, Transferable Fishing Concessions (TFCs), the Maximum Sustainable Yield (MSY) principle, aquaculture, the external dimension, the financial instrument, and the common market organization.
With more than 100 stakeholders in attendance, a great part of which was represented by the industrial sector, it was difficult for everyone to express their opinions on the matters delineated above.
A significant part of the stakeholder discussions was spent on TFCs and its ‘mandatory’ aspect, the difficulty of applying the discard ban, the importance of regionalisation, and the lack of consensus on the definition of artisanal fleet. The Commission recognised the difficulty with regards to the ambiguity of the term artisanal but added that the definition had to be generated and agreed upon by each Member State; however, in principle it will include vessels under 12 metres.
Penas stressed that the issue of overcapacity in EU fisheries needs to be addressed— if the status quo is maintained, jobs will be lost as the state of several fish stocks is critical.