This week, ClientEarth’s Sandy Luk and Susie Wilks gave a presentation to European politicians in Brussels on whether the European Commission’s reform proposal for the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) will achieve sustainable fisheries. The event, hosted by Chris Davies MEP and Struan Stevenson MEP, who are both working actively on the CFP reform proposal, was well attended by a cross-party audience of UK MEPs and MEPs’ assistants.

The presentation showed how, time and again, the text of the CFP reform proposal is too ambiguous and imprecise, rather than containing the clear and binding legal commitments that are vital if it is to deliver sustainable fisheries. As a result, the proposal repeatedly fails to follow through on the Commission’s admirable ambitions in areas such as eliminating overfishing, ending discarding of (mostly dead) fish into the sea, and ending over-centralisation of fisheries management by moving decisions to a more regional level.

The presentation concluded with some of ClientEarth’s key recommendations for improving the CFP reform proposal, on specific and binding legal commitments that can ensure sustainable fishing and good governance of fisheries in the EU.
 
For more information, check out our CFP reform proposal briefings, available both as short summaries and as longer technical papers.