photo: buildscharacter

The European Commission is due to publish its proposal for the reform of the Common Fisheries Policy in July. However, recent press reports indicate that details of the Commission’s proposal are already being leaked to the media.

According to a recent European Voice article the proposal will include a discard ban, will decentralise elements of fisheries management and will feature a compulsory system of tradable quotas as a central element of the reformed CFP. Crucially, the article also says that the proposal fails to put ecological sustainability and environmental goals first. Instead, the protection of the environment appears to be just one of several aims, alongside economic goals. The European Commission had indicated that achieving sustainable fish stocks would take priority over other elements of the CFP. This is therefore a serious blow to what has been hailed as a radical CFP reform. Unless the proposal contains a clear legal guarantee that ecological sustainability must come first, truly sustainable and ecosystems based fisheries management will not be possible and economic and social pressures to continue overfishing will mean the future of our fish is likely to remain in danger.

The Commission’s apparent intention to include an obligation to land all fish is welcome but much will depend on whether this is limited only to commercial fish stocks or also includes non-commercial species and bycatch. Discards of commercial species are only half the story: In the UK 54% of the fish discarded are non-commercial species, thrown away because there is currently no market for them. If the complete waste of life from discards is to be dealt with and if a truly holistic approach is taken, all fish and shellfish species and other bycatch must be included in a discard ban, with the possible exception of species such as sharks which are proven to have a high survival rate when discarded.

Another area of potential concern is the Commission’s apparent reliance on a market-based approach of tradable fishing opportunities as the solution to overfishing. This view seems to be based on the fact that tradable catch shares are expected to lead to a reduction in the European fishing fleet and therefore of fishing pressure and overfishing. However, as long as fishing levels are unsustainable, overfishing will continue whether or not catch shares systems are used.

In fact, markets-based catch share systems in the US have had both negative environmental and social impacts, for example by allowing trade in catch shares between fishing sectors (for example between long-liners and beam trawlers) to lead to an increase in potentially damaging fishing techniques at the expense of low impact fisheries, meaning tradable catch share systems can result in fishing having a higher environmental impact.

To end overfishing, the reformed CFP needs to ensure that fishing is at sustainable levels and the relevant scientific advice is followed that sets those sustainable fishing levels. According to the European Commission in 2010, fishing quotas are set on average 34% higher than scientists advise. As a result of years of ignoring scientific advice, the European Commission has acknowledged that three European cod stocks (in the Irish Sea, the West of Scotland and the Kattegat) have now collapsed. Scientists advise that many more European stocks now need radical action to be taken to prevent further collapses. It is therefore essential that to prevent overfishing and protect these stocks the reformed CFP ensures scientific advice is adhered to.