On November 22, Seas At Risk (SAR) organised a seminar ‘Making the CFP work for Low Impact Fisheries’ at the European Parliament in Brussels. The meeting took place just before the official SAR launch of their new report on how to integrate Low Impact Fisheries (LIF) into the new Common Fishery Policy (CFP). The report is said to include analysis on how policy measures could support developments towards more sustainable fishing techniques.
Already in 2009, Seas At Risk compiled a comprehensive report on how to move towards low impact fisheries (LIF) in Europe. The document included a definition of LIF—understood as fisheries utilising selective fishing techniques, which are less damaging to habitats and have lower carbon footprint— and identification of existing hurdles preventing such developments. The soon-to-be-published report on LIF and its considerations in the reformed CFP is a follow-up to the 2009 document. One of the key goals of the seminar therefore, was to discuss the most important conclusions of the upcoming publication on the issue.
The seminar was well attended, and included MEPs, Permanent Representatives, NGOs fishing industry, and Commissioner Maria Damanaki. The seminar participants expressed support for the inclusion of policy measures encouraging LIF in the new CFP. Among the attendees were MEPs Anna Rosbach, Isabella Lövin and Christofer Fjellner.
Crick Carleton, from Nautilus Consultants, presented the most important issues of the upcoming report. Carleton highlighted that in the current proposal for the new CFP, there is much focus on matching fleets to fishing opportunities, while in the management of stocks the concentration is on reaching MSY; however, what is neglected is the question of how to minimise fishing-induced negative impacts on the environment and how to protect biodiversity.
Carleton’s main message was that only small changes in the wording in the current Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) are needed to include LIF in the final version of the EU fisheries policy, thus inducing big transitions. For example, there should be explicit reference to low impact fisheries (LIF) as an objective in the new CFP reform proposals, with clear linkages to existing Directives, especially to the Marie Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD). Fishing regulations could thereby become flexible, so that for instance, only LIF vessels could be permitted to fish in the threatened marine areas. Furthermore, Carleton pointed out that a failing within the Commission’s CFP proposals is that high and low impact fisheries are not distinguished.
The introduction of Transferable Fishing Concessions (TFCs) should not be mandatory as suggested by the Commission for the new CFP, reports Carleton. Since fishing-induced environmental impact is often correlated with vessel size (small-scale fisheries in general have less negative impact), there is a risk that TFCs will cause increased marine degradation by larger vessels, as quota is likely to concentrate in their hands. However, if implemented, Member States (MS) should make use of low impact fisheries as management tools to restrict or counter the negative consequences of TFCs. Clear guidance on appropriate tools were recommended for inclusion in the CFP Basic Regulation. Preference in the allocation of TFCs to vessels deploying low impact fishing gear and practices should be one of those tools.
Regarding discarding, there is a need to broaden the focus from landing what you catch to not catching what you do not want, which implies improved selectivity of gears and fishing techniques.
It was also proposed that the possibility for Member States to reserve up to 5% of national fishing opportunities for allocation based on eligibility criteria, as proposed in the CFP reform proposals, should be expanded gradually to reach a mandatory reserve of at least 25% of national fishing opportunities. Guidance on allocation criteria should be agreed to at the EU level to ensure that the 25% reserve serves to promote low impact fisheries.
At the meeting, Commissioner Damanaki stressed that we have already reached the “red line area” and that fishing cannot continue in the current way. She stated that funds available for the development of European fisheries should remain at the current level, assuring that these funds would be used more progressively in the future, as part of the shift to more sustainable fisheries. “We will generously finance the selectivity of the gears”, she stated, and stressed that the same rules should apply in the European waters as well as for EU vessels fishing in foreign waters.
MEP Isabella Lövin, in her closing remarks, expressed the need for not only rewarding low impact fisheries but actively prohibiting fisheries that have significant negative impacts on the environment. She also advocated that Environmental Impact Assessments of all fisheries should be mandatory. She concluded, stating that socio-economic considerations must be included to safeguard especially the small-scale, and often coastal, fisheries.