In a letter to the Slovakian Presidency of the EU, NGOs have requested that the December Council meeting at which quotas are set for hundreds of Atlantic and North Sea fish stocks is live streamed and publicly accessible.
Fish stocks are a public resource and it is in the public interest that decisions are taken in line with agreed legislation and support the growth of fish stocks and improve the future livelihood prospects of fishers.
Currently more than 60% of assessed stocks are outside safe biological limits and nearly half of stocks are subject to overfishing. This situation has taken place under an opaque decision-making process with a lack of public scrutiny that Transparency International has been critical of.
In the past some Council meetings have been live streamed, however, there has not been consistency on this subject. Live streaming would be in line with the requirements of the Aarhus Regulation to ensure that environmental information is made publicly available and widely disseminated.
Against the backdrop of a lack of public confidence in the EU institutions and decision-making process in the light of the Brexit vote, we at The Fisheries Secretariat also call on the Slovak Presidency to improve transparency and stream the Council meeting.