In the proposals for the European and Maritime Fisheries Fund (EMFF), the Commission has recommended legislation to end subsidies for the replacement and upgrade of vessels engines. A coalition of NGOs has published a position paper supporting the move.
Overcapacity has long been recognised as a key failing of the CFP and the correlation between overcapacity and declining fish stocks has for too long proved an intractable problem for EU managers. Despite scrapping schemes, the catching capacity of the EU fleet has continued to grow by 3% per year for the past decade, largely due to technological creep. The continuous modernisation of existing vessels has meant that the fleet is becoming ever more efficient in its ability to catch fish. This new legislation aims to ensure the sustainable exploitation of the marine environment.
One long-standing problem which the NGO paper highlights is the difficulties in assessing the catching capacity of the fleet because of the way in which the actual engine power available on board can change. The under-declaration of engine power was highlighted in a Commission non-paper from 2006. Engines can be legally certified with a power much lower than they can use, due to changes made in the fuel injection settings. This has meant that “the real power installed on board is almost impossible to control.” This is an issue which needs to be resolved, and ending engine subsidies are a positive precautionary management tool.