According to Chris Davies (ALDE, UK), the rapporteur on the Environment committee (ENVI) for the CFP basic regulation, an overwhelming groundswell of opinion has emerged against the Commission proposals for mandatory TFCs (transferable fishing concessions).
Davies was speaking at a panel discussion in the European Parliament, entitled “sustainable fisheries in the EU: getting the incentives right”. In his report for ENVI, Davies noted that shadow rapporteurs from every group in the Parliament had rejected the Commission proposals for mandatory TFCs. He thought that the amendments in the Fisheries Committee (PECH) would follow a similar line. Moreover, in the Council, a significant majority of Member States have also voiced the opinion that quota allocation should remain their prerogative.
Rather than merely looking at the way in which TFCs may or may not contribute to sustainable fisheries management, academics from Gothenburg University and the MEP Isabella Lövin (Greens/EFA, SE) stressed the need for fishing quotas to be set within the boundaries recommended by scientific advice. It was stressed that setting fishing limits which enhance the long-term sustainability of fish stocks should be the first step that the EU takes to solve its problems. Quota allocation systems can then be subsequently amended.
Lövin argued that harvest control rules, which would end the annual haggling over quotas at Council meetings, should be implemented. This would lead to the EU settling long-term targets for fish stocks, and annual quotas being negotiated which meet these targets. Moreover, a system of giving priority access to fishing vessels which best meet the objectives of managers would have a more sustainable outcome then merely allowing speculations within a TFC market to determine who has the right to fish.