On March 13, a seminar on ‘Restoring ecological balance as a priority for the reform of the Common Fisheries Policy’ was organised by the OCEAN2012 coalition, in close collaboration with the Polish Parliamentary Group on Maritime Economy. The aim of the seminar was to discuss potential changes the reform of the Common Fisheries Policy may bring upon the Polish fisheries sector, such as the implementation of the Maximum Sustainable Yield (MSY) limit, and the inevitable economic pitfalls if fisheries management persists ‘business-as-usual’ without regard for maintaining ecological balance.
The seminar was accompanied by the exhibition organized by Klub Gaja under the project “Fish have a voice!”, which through a beautiful collage of photographs (courtesy of the Belgian artist Dos Winkel) and illustrations (courtesy of a Polish artist Beata Tarnawa) brought the issue of overfishing in Poland and globally to the forefront.
The meeting had a wide-ranging audience from representatives of government and public administration to policy makers, fishermen, scientists and NGOs. Among those present were Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Kazimierz Plocke; Vice Director of the Fisheries Department, Janusz Wrona; and Chairman of the Parlimentary Group on Maritime Economy, Konstanty Oświęcimski. There were close to 70 participants.
Seminar lectures were delivered by renowned scientists: Dr. Reiner Froese from Helmholth Centre for Ocean Research – GEOMAR, and Professor Krzysztof Skóra from the Institute of Oceanography at the University of Gdańsk. Both lecturers provoked heated responses, which tended to dominate the time originally allotted for effective discussions.
The seminar has been organised in light of the ongoing reform of the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) and the critical situation of many fish stocks in the European waters. Scientific studies have shown that fish stocks in the seas and oceans are shrinking dramatically. In the EU it seems that stock overexploitation seems to be the rule rather than exception. The reformed CFP, it is hoped, could help to end overfishing, reduce damage to ecosystems and re-build the EU fishing sector so that is environmentally sustainable, and socially as well as economically viable.
The first lecture was delivered by Dr. Rainer Froese, who explored the current problem of over-exploitation of marine resources in the world and in Europe, with specific focus on the Baltic Sea. Dr. Froese explained the currently debated approach to fisheries management proposed by the European Commission based on the Maximum Sustainable Yield (MSY). MSY is the maximum average catch that can be continuously taken from a stock under existing environmental conditions, while still maintaining population size at the point of maximum growth. To put it simply, the status of a harvested stock depends on the size of the fish population (biomass [B]) and the rate of exploitation (fishing mortality [F]). The concept therefore is used to determine catch levels below the fishing mortality (FMSY) that – theoretically – ensures that the population size or the biomass (BMSY), is maintained over time.
It has already been determined that MSYcould be reached tomorrow, let alone by 2015, (more specifically, the fishing mortality target, FMSY), and the EU is legally bound to restore fish populations to BMSY under the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS, Articles 61.3 and 119.1(a)), the 1995 UN Fish Stocks Agreement (UNFSA, Article 5 and Annex II), and the FAO Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries (Article 7.2.1).
To achieve healthy fish stocks, the goal must be to maintain populations above levels that can produce the BMSY limit, which according to Froese “creates a reserve that reduces yield slightly and provides a precautionary safety margin”. He furthermore stated that if the CFP reform fails, it will encourage more overfishing. “In 1950s we used only 20% of the stocks” he added, whereas today 63% of fish stocks are overfished in the Atlantic, 82% in the Mediterranean, and 4 out of the 6 stocks for which scientific advice is available in the Baltic Sea.
Benefits to managing fish stocks above MSY levels are many, and include: healthy ecosystems, larger sized fish, higher fish stock biomass, less dependence on subsidies in the fisheries sector, not to mention higher catches, profit margins and returns on investment.
The second lecturer, Professor Krzysztof Skóra noted that ecological balance should be a condition upon which further development of fisheries is based on in the Baltic Sea and beyond. He added that a compromise based on science is needed among the Polish stakeholders in reference to the reform of the CFP, because “compromising nature is not an option”. “It is an absolute necessity to reach a compromise which gives an opportunity for our marine resources to rebuild naturally”, he added, “otherwise, we risk upsetting the ecological balance of our natural resources, such as fish stocks, which will not be able to withstand excessive pressure, and collapse”. Professor Skóra stated that fishermen should be leaders in creating and encouraging good ecological status of the Baltic Sea, however there is lack of political will to enforce this. Without fish there cannot be an economically profitable fisheries sector in Poland or elsewhere.
Heated responses followed both lectures. Vice Director of the Fisheries Department, Janusz Wrona, remarked that MSY by 2015 is a timeframe too short to follow. He added that he believes the MSY research presented by Dr. Froese needs further examination, and concluded by saying that he believes that there should be more attention paid to ‘fish-eaters’, and not only to fishermen.
Fishermen, Grzegorz Szomborg, did not agree with Dr. Froese either, and claimed that fish stocks in the Baltic Sea are not overexploited. He said that according to the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES), the fishing quota for 2012 could be much higher. In his view, scientific research is not entirely reliable or trustworthy.
“Such a conference should not only consist of environmental lobbying. We agree that we all need to protect nature, but people eat fish and fishermen want to live” – said Polish Parliamentarian of the Law and Justice Party (PiS), Dorota Arciszewska-Mielewczyk. She added that joint decisions need to be taken so Poland is not hurt in CFP refrom process, because Polish fishermen have greater limitations compared to fishermen from Germany or Scandinavia.
Clearly, Polish stakeholders possess wide-raging views and priorities for how fisheries management should look in Poland. There seems to be a deeply embedded distrust of fishermen towards scientists and scientific advice. There is scepticism, albeit slightly surprisingly, of some government and public administration officials towards a move to conserve fish stocks; rather, priorities seem to center on short-term economic gains, as well as the maintenance of the current status-quo. Fish is a public resource, and this meeting was a clear case in point that much needs to be done at the stakeholder level to promote an effective exchange that leads to a Common Fisheries Policy reform which serves the environment, economy and society in a balanced way.