Today, the European Commission published its proposals for the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF). The subsidy package will run from 2014–2020 and is valued at €6.5 billion, a slight increase on the previous fund.
Subsidies will be aimed at achieving the objectives of the reformed CFP, as Commissioner Damanaki hinted at during her visit to Stockholm last week. She gave the example of subsidies being made available for shifting to more selective gears in order to pave the way/support for the proposed discard ban .
Damanaki stated that the EMFF “will help fishermen in the transition towards sustainable fishing, as well as coastal communities in the diversification of their economies,” while also warning that “no more money will be spent to build big vessels”. No mention was made regarding subsidies for the modernisation of such vessels.
Aquaculture will also be a big beneficiary of the new subsidy package. The Commission press release states that “the fund will strive to boost this industry in a sustainable manner”. This at least signals a shift in the Commission’s language from July when the proposals for the CFP reform were launched, and no mention of sustainability was made.
Damanaki is aware that the CFP has led to the overexploitation of fish stocks, sometimes supported by a generous subsidy scheme that often favoured the most unsustainable and environmentally damaging vessels. She hopes that putting funds in place to assist the transition to fishing methods that are more selective and targeted will rebuild fish stocks to their previous levels.
However, it remains to be seen whether the small adjustments proposed in the EMFF budget will help to reduce fleet overcapacity, which has for so long been the scourge of sustainable fisheries management in EU waters. While the proposals include funds to further a social agenda in fishing communities through economic diversification, it remains to be seen whether this will lead to a reduction in fishing pressure.
Rather, the Commission proposals overall, including the EMFF, seem to embed overcapacity still further by removing the scrapping fund, failing to enforce capacity ceilings in Member States and most importantly by neglecting to include any measures to halt the increased catching capacity of existing vessels through technological creep.
Fishsubsidy.org is an organisation that has followed subsidies in EU fisheries closely over the years. They have raised persistent concerns over the lack of transparency with which subsidies are allocated and the lack of sanctions applied to vessels that receive public funds but have been convicted of illegal fishing activities. Moreover, they welcomed the proposals that compel Member States to publish their data in specific data formats; however, concerns with transparency persist over national co-financing and European subsidies still not being separated and final recipients of subsidies, such as vessels, not being named. This practice has been criticised by the OCEAN2012 coalition as “blind spending”.