At today’s vote on compromise amendments to the Cadec (EPP, FR) report on the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF) in the Fisheries Committee, MEPs took the short-sighted decision to fund new vessels and engine modernisation by 12 votes to 11. A plenary vote in the European Parliament will take place later in the year.
Aid for the construction of new vessels was abolished during the 2002 reform of the CFP. Moreover, the EU reaffirmed its position for subsidies not to be given to new vessels at the Rio+20 conference last year. In spite of this a majority of MEPs voted in support of the reintroduction of such measures. Although this entails public money being spent on private enterprises in a sector which is overly bloated and has caused significant losses to the public purse due to the overfishing of stocks, some of which are now recovering. In all, €1.6 billion may be spent on up to 20,000 new fishing vessels.
A further blow to the coherence of the CFP was dealt by the Fisheries Committee through their support of storage aid for unwanted catches. These subsidies will remove much of the incentive for compliance with the EU’s muddled discard reduction plan. Improvements in selectivity, which may have resulted from the additional cost to fishers of catching bycatch or juveniles, are now less likely to be forthcoming.
Later this year, possibly in September or October, the European Parliament plenary will revisit the EMFF file. After a ringing endorsement for the revised basic Regulation and science-based management, today’s vote may well be overturned later in the year when all MEPs have the opportunity to have their say on the allocation of public funds.