The E.U. Parliament has voted in favor of asking the E.U. Commission for proposals on revising the bloc’s Common Fisheries Policy (CFP).
The vote follows a review of the CFP, published in late April, which found that the measure had made some progress toward the sustainability of seafood stocks in the E.U. but was far behind what was initially expected. That review identified aging vessels, rising operational costs, and access to fishing opportunities as some of the issues still affecting commercial fisheries stocks after more than a decade since the CFP in its current form was launched.
The draft resolution of a new CFP is intended to provide greater support for small-scale fishers while pushing for action against illegal fishing, according to a release by the European Parliament.
The CFP, which was reformed in 2013, was originally intended to increase the productivity of E.U. fisheries, stabilize markets, and protect marine ecosystems. Fishing industry group Europêche has been critical of the policy in recent years and has pushed for the E.U. to reform it. The organization, which represents the fishing sector in the E.U., has fully endorsed the E.U.’s vote to reevaluate the CFP.
“Today, the Parliament has recognized what European fishers have been saying for years: Better implementation of outdated rules is not enough,” Europêche President Javier Garat said in a release. “The CFP needs a targeted legislative reform. We fully support Parliament’s resolution and expect the Commission to respect this democratic mandate by presenting concrete legislative proposals without delay”
Europêche maintained that the current rules, including the landing obligation and the current definition of fishing capacity under the CFP, have proven “unworkable or counterproductive.”
“The current CFP was designed for a different political and economic reality,” Europêche said. “It does not adequately address the consequences of Brexit, climate change, the energy crisis, growing competition for maritime space, Europe’s dependence on seafood imports, or the need to renew and decarbonize the E.U. fishing fleet.”
While Europêche has maintained the CFP is not fit for purpose any more, environmental groups have argued it would be adequate if countries actually followed the law.
"The European Parliament's call today to revise the Common Fisheries Policy sends the wrong signal, and it runs against the evidence,” Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF) Founder and CEO Steve Trent said. “The Commission's own evaluation found the CFP ‘fit for purpose.' This resolution barely acknowledges it and ignores its central conclusion. The problem was never the law; it is the failure to implement and enforce it.”
EJF has argued the tools to reform fisheries already exist within the CFP, but the E.U. needs to properly apply them to make them work.
Europêche, however, argues the bloc has been given the time to make it work and has failed to.
“The diagnosis has been made. Both the Parliament and Member States have now set the political direction,” Garat said. “There is no justification for further delay. Europe needs a CFP that works at sea, not only on paper.”
