The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) is urging European Parliament members to vote down EUR 1.6 billion (USD 2.1 billion) in funding for fishing vessel upgrades, which the WWF said will endanger threatened fish stocks.
The proposed funding is part of a EUR 6.5 billion (USD 8.4 billion) package the parliament’s fisheries committee is expected to vote on shortly. Of that, EUR 1.6 billion is expected to be earmarked for constructing and modifying up to 20,000 fishing vessels.
The WWF, in a statement, said the move could “set the clock back 20 years” for endangered fish stock recoveries. The upgrades will increase the capacity of fishing fleets, the WWF argued, which will further deplete already endangered fish stocks.
“Fish stocks need to be given the time to recover so that there will be an industry in the next few years,” said Tony Long, director of WWF’s European policy office. “If we keep pumping money into upgrading the national fleet, all we are doing is increasing the ability of the fishing industry to decimate the last pockets of fish in threatened areas.”
