NGO voting priority recommendations for the ENVI vote on the EMFF

This document outlines the joint NGO voting recommendations for the Opinion Report of the Environment Committee of the European Parliament to the Commission’s proposal on the post-2020 European Maritime and Fisheries Fund.

NGOs recommend:

• Eliminating perverse and effort-enhancing subsidies that lead to fishing overcapacity, including funding to acquire new or second hand fishing vessels or replace engines;
• Ring-fencing at least 30% of the budget dedicated to activities linked to the protection and restoration of marine biodiversity and ecosystems;
• Removing funding for temporary cessation of fishing activities;
• Rejecting the re-introduction of permanent cessation of fishing activities unless it is effectively controlled and the fishing licence is removed from the system;
• Ensuring that the EMFF enables the conditions for a truly sustainable blue economy;
• Ensure that financial support under the EMFF is conditional upon compliance by Member States and operators with the rules of the CFP and of EU environmental law and that public funding supports activities that help achieve the environmental objectives of the CFP and the Integrated Maritime Policy, in particular through making financial support subject to conditions;
• Ensuring that funding for aquaculture is directed at activities that do not damage the marine environment and where there is a societal public good benefit to the investment;
• Increasing the budget allocated to funds dedicated to monitoring and control of fishing activities and data collection from 15% to 30%;
• Securing appropriate funds to improve the sustainability of the small-scale fishing sector and encourage participative management bodies at local level to increase co-responsibility.