CFP reform faces tough negotiations - will it deliver?

Caught this from the BBC Democracy Live website:
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The EU's Fisheries Commissioner has warned EU governments that a speedy resolution is needed to resolve the deadlock over reform of the EU's Common Fisheries Policy (CFP), during a meeting of the EU Fisheries Council on 22 April 2013.

There is currently a row between the Council of Ministers and the European Parliament over the issues of discards, which sees edible but unwanted dead fish thrown back in the sea.

MEPs want a full discard ban on all fish stocks by 2015, but the Council has backed a phased discard ban that would not be completed until 2017.

Fisheries Commissioner Maria Damanaki - who broadly backs the parliament's stance - warned that the member states were "running out of choices" and that "postponing the issues will not be of good to anybody".

The chair of the Fisheries Council, Ireland's Simon Coveney, said everyone agreed there needed to be new rules on the size and capacity of fishing fleets, but that "what has to be worked out is the mechanism to get us there".

He insisted ministers were working towards securing a deal by the May meeting of the Fisheries Council, and said there were already "signals on areas where we can find compromise".

The full public deliberations of fisheries ministers can be viewed here.

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This underlines the difficulty inherent in the EU co-decision process - finding agreement and hard negotiation between the tiers of the EU governance system: the Commission, the Parliament, and the Council of Ministers. So what do we know:

• The European Parliament called for a total ban to take effect 2015, one year later than sought by European Fisheries Commissioner Maria Damanaki;
• This timetable was opposed by the fishing industry and some EU members France, Spain, Portugal and Malta who indicated that it was unrealistic for implementation across their industries;
• A delay (a five year implementation plan) made its way into the EU Council of Fisheries Ministers and the resolution of the Council in it's 'general approach' reflected this;
• Under the agreement, a discard ban on pelagic species, such as herring and mackerel, would start in January 2014, but wouldn't take effect in the North Sea until 2016. The Mediterranean wouldn't be covered until 2017;
• The discard ban would apply to the main demersal stocks such as cod, haddock and whiting in the North Sea and Atlantic waters beginning in 2016;
• The ban will apply to Mediterranean, Black Sea and all other EU waters beginning in 2017.
• There is now a negotiation in place over the final text between the European Parliament, European Commission and member states - a 'trialogue' who will try to agree on a final version to be voted on by the Parliament. The next critical date is the 2nd of May where the Council will finalise its position on CFP reform with the Parliament proceeding a vote for CFP reform, likely in June.
• Both the Parliament and Council agree on a discard ban and on delivering MSY - its about how it will be implemented and written into law, the timing over implementation, and flexibility for the industry. 
• MEPs voted on 17th April to adopt a ban on discarding unwanted fish of 35 species caught in the Skagerrak (between the North Sea and the Baltic). The ban, to take effect gradually between 2014 and 2016, would be enforced with a remote electronic monitoring system.

The game is not over yet....good coverage here on CFP reform watch.

We'll be keeping an eye on the progress of the negotiations and summarising the developments here on the Sustainable Seas blog.

New research reveals huge loss of jobs and profits due to overfishing of EU stocks

New research published by new economics foundation finds that poor management of fish stocks is supressing jobs and sinking profits. The report Jobs Lost at Sea estimates the benefits of rebuilding 43 European stocks (out of more than 150) and finds that:

* Restoring these 43 stocks to their maximum sustainable yield (MSY) would generate 3.53 million tonnes of additional landings; enough to meet the annual demand of fish for almost 160 million EU citizens (and reducing carbon intensive imports Ed)
   
* Value of restoring fish stocks is worth £2.7 billion (€3.2 bn) per year to all countries. It is worth £1.5 billion (€1.8 bn) per year to the EU27, or almost three times its annual fishing subsidies.

* Value of restoring these fish stocks could support 100,790 new jobs, around 83,000 to the EU27 (31% more than current employment in the EU fishing sector).

* Restoring fish stocks could increase catch values from these stocks by 81% for the EU27, and more than double for most countries, including the UK (+109%) and Germany (+116%).

* Worst affected fish are cod (lost 970,000 tonnes/yr), haddock (lost 378,000 tonnes/yr), herring (lost 854,000 tonnes/yr) and whiting (lost 834,000 tonnes/yr).

Overfishing means the EU is getting much less out of its fish stocks than if they were restored and sustainably managed. The study has analysed of the difference between the current size of catches compared with their potential (‘maximum sustainable yield’) to highlight the scale of that overfishing has hijacked revenues and employment. restoring fish stocks from current levels to their maximum sustainable yield should be at the heart of European fisheries management. The reform of the Common Fisheries Policy is an ideal opportunity to put an end to this waste and restore profitable sustainable fisheries.

The degradation of our coastal ecosystem services

Two media articles caught my eye yesterday. And none of them were from News International!

The first article from the Independent on the limits of domestic fish stocks to meet demand makes some interesting points about consumption of seafood in the UK and Europe and the capacity of marine ecosystems to meet that demand. It states that July 16 is 'Fish Dependence Day' - the point where if we relied solely on UK stocks, supply would run out. Of course, we do not rely solely on UK stocks, we are dependant on EU and international imports to meet demand as well as increases in aquaculture. The Fish Site lists the dates that other EU members would became dependent on fish imports as follows: Portugal, 26 April; Germany, 27 April; Italy, 30 April; Spain, eight May; France, 13 June; and the UK, 16 July.

The message is this: Our currently exploited marine systems and stocks cannot supply the demand for seafood across the EU. Essentially the EU is exporting overfishing to other places around the globe to meet this supply and driving aquaculture development. There are 2 responses to this problem: reduce demand for seafood, likely by increasing prices or changing eating habits; or boost the capacity for supply. Boosting supply will come either from increasing aquaculture (which carries it's own environmental issues and is limited in it's capacity to expand) or from natural systems. Marine systems and capture fisheries, are already at full capacity, and in many cases are   stretched to breaking point. For example see this article in the recent Sydney Morning Herald on outbreaks if jellyfish. This issue is symptomatic of the degradation of ecosystem services by climate change, coastal pollution and overfishing. If we are to avoid the ecological collapse of coastal and marine systems and restore them to formerly productive states then bold and concrete steps are needed. Managing supply and demand is  an important part of the response - from the fish that we buy and eat through to large scale restoration of marine systems. There will be painful and controversial choices, but it is critical that we look at the long game.

UK Parliament debate on discards

European ministers have agreed that tackling fish discards "must be a priority" for Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) reform and that "action must be taken now", the UK Commons has been told.

The European Commission has set out ideas for ending the practice of dumping dead fish back into the sea due to lack of demand or because fishermen have used up their quota. At Commons question time on 17 March 2011, Fisheries Minister Richard Benyon said there had been "constructive and positive debate" in Europe about measures needed as part of CFP reform, which should be "practical, effective and developed in cooperation with the industry".

See the link below for recent footage from the UK Parliament on the EU discards issue: 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/democracylive/hi/house_of_commons/newsid_9426000/9426529.stm

It certainly appears the the time for concrete action on discards has arrived and this wasteful and unsustainable practice will soon come to an end. However, it is important that fishermen and scientisits are a part of the solution, and that any measures from the EU do not increase pressure on allready stessed stocks  and issues such as bycatch are addressed.

The end of discards is in sight......

Ministers from across the EU are moving to propose new actions and reforms to end the hideous practice of discards in fisheries. As reported in the Guardian this will potentially be the biggest change to the Common Fisheries Policy in decades, aiming to eliminate the practice where as much as two-thirds of the fish caught in some areas is thrown back into the water, usually dead, as a result of the current EU system of quotas. When fleets exceed their quota, or unintentionally catch species for which they do not have a quota, they must discard the excess at sea. About 1m tonnes are estimated to be thrown back each year into the North Sea alone.

The waste of edible fish was highlighted in an influential Channel 4 television series, headed by the food writer Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, which helped to gather more than 650,000 signatures for a petition to end the practice.

THe UK propose three alternatives to the current quota system: a "catch" quota, whereby fishermen land all of their catch, monitored by CCTV cameras, but may have the amount of time they can spend at sea curtailed; changes to fishing gear to reduce discards; and promoting markets, both within the EU and for export overseas, for fish that are currently little eaten, such as dab and pouting. Retailers have also called for reforms to fisheries management including giving fishers the opportunity to develop long term management plans for stocks and allowing fishers to increase stewardship of the resource. In the 'cut and thrust' of  negotiations for quota and reforms across the EU states, we hope that the sustainability of the stock and the ecosystem prevails over short term economic interests.

For more information see:
BBC story on discards

New report highlights decline in UK fisheries

A new report in the journal Nature Communications has highlighted the massive increase in effort needed to maintain UK fisheries and the significant decline of stocks against historical benchmarks.

Figures gathered by the UK government since 1889 showed fishing vessels today have to work 17 times as hard to land the same number of fish as they did in 1889. The data suggests technological developments in the fleet and their movement to new fishing grounds enabled them to fish further, deeper and faster – masking the decline in UK waters. The study calculated the "landings of fish per unit of fishing power", comparing the effort put in with the amount of fish caught.

Overall, the UK trawl fishing fleet landed twice as much fish in 1889 than it does today, the researchers from the University of York and the Marine Conservation Society said. Landings peaked in 1937 - when the catch was 14 times what it is today.
Improvements in technology and movement to new fishing grounds masked severe declines in fish stocks.

The report highlights that some species populations were only 1% or 2% of historically levels. The crash has been huge for some species - with the rate at which halibut were being caught declining 500 times and haddock by more than 100 times. Both species have declined by more than 99%, while hake and ling declined by more than 95% and cod have fallen by 87%, the researchers said.

As the move to reform the EU Common Fisheries Policy gathers pace, it is critical the the emphasis be on restoring stocks to previous productive and diverse levels - levels that sustain communities AND marine ecosystems.

The full paper can be read here.