Seafish: EU ban on driftnet fishing unnecessary

An independent report, released on Friday by Seafish, calls for “an immediate re-think over the universal ban on driftnet fishing being proposed by the EU” to allow for wider debate over the topic.The report, which explores the economic and environmental impacts of the proposed ban, states that the proposed ban is “unnecessary, heavy-handed, disproportionate and inappropriate for U.K. waters.”

Seafish said while compiling the report it found that the proposed ban is almost universally unwelcome in the U.K., to the extent that the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has authored a Letter of Consultation counseling against a full ban. 

“This has had the effect of generating some unusual alliances across fishing interests in the U.K. fishermen, managers, legislators, campaigners and NGOs are opposed to this ban as it stands and are calling for exemptions, at the very least, in order to ensure this low-impact, versatile and iconic form of fishing can continue in to the future,” Seafish said.

The report goes on to state that by blanket banning a practice that is widely used by small boat fishermen in the U.K., it will not only endanger the livelihoods of a significant number of subsistence fishermen across the U.K. but it may also fail in its environmental objectives given that the problems it seeks to address do not exist within U.K. waters.

Instead of a blanket ban the report suggests that further regionalized decision making when it comes to Common Fisheries Reform may be a better option in order that we achieve the desired environmental goals. The content will be used to help inform Seafish's submission to the consultation exercise and is available for industry and other stakeholders to independently view ahead of the submission deadline on Monday 30 June.