The Pew Environment Group on Tuesday announced the launch of a coalition dedicated to improving the Europe Union’s fisheries management system and preventing overfishing.
Ocean2012 — formed by the Coalition for Fair Fisheries Arrangements, the Fisheries Secretariat, Seas At Risk, NEF (New Economics Foundation) and Pew — will actively participate in the process of reforming the EU’s Common Fisheries Policy (CFP), which hasn’t been updated since 2002. The EU is accepting public consultation on the CFP through year’s end.
EU Fisheries Commissioner Joe Borg “has called for a wholesale fundamental reform of the Common Fisheries Policy. Ocean2012 is a response to that call,” said Uta Bellion, director of the Pew Environment Group’s European marine program and Ocean2012 coordinator.
“Continuous overfishing has resulted in less productive fisheries with a loss of jobs and livelihoods,” she noted. “Fewer and smaller fish are being caught with greater effort required to find them. The simple fact is that without fish there can be no fishing.”
In 2007, the EU Court of Auditors said the CFP failed to achieve its main objective of sustainable fisheries. Then in April, Borg published a green paper detailing the CFP’s weaknesses and calling on the EU’s fishing and seafood communities to provide feedback to strengthen the policy.
“EU fish and marine habitats belong to all Europeans, so it is vital they seize the opportunity of contributing to the reform of the CFP,” said Bellion. “As a coalition, Ocean2012 is open to all organizations who share the vision of healthy oceans where abundant fish and wildlife contribute to human well being.”
