France seeks to modernize fishing

France is on the cusp of implementing new rules that seek to modernize fishing and agriculture in the country.

Already voted through by the national assembly and the senate, the new law — loi de modernisation de l’agriculture et de la pêche (LMAP) —  is expected to be adopted definitively within the month.
 
For fishing, the rules build on the need to create an inter-professional body that spans the entire supply chain, supporting players in the aquaculture and shellfish industries, and the creation of a new liaison committee that links fishermen, scientists and non-profit organizations.
 
The law also seeks to clarify how the various branches of government can interweave with producer organizations in terms of managing resources.
 
France is divided into large regional areas, such as Brittany, and small departments. The new law is also expected to reform the country’s fishing committees to dissolve local committees and redistribute roles between the regions and the departments.

And with an eye on aquaculture, the new rules will set up regional schemes for fish farming.

In addition to the upcoming LMAP, stakeholders in the French fishing and aquaculture industries at a meeting last week also discussed imminent reform to Europe Union’s Common Fisheries Policy.

Under the aegis of the government-funded organization FranceAgriMer, players across the supply chain heard how reform to the CFP, expected in 2012, has essentially four key priorities for France: the consolidation of trade norms across the EU, notably labeling; the need to improve the sector’s organization by reinforcing its position; aid for stocking produce; and change in the bloc’s policy of importing seafood, including environmental and social criteria.
 
“The instruments that financially support fishing should be better coordinated, even re-grouped,” concluded the stakeholders.

And progress on the country’s seafood eco-label — kicked-off in 2008 by the ministry for food, agriculture and fishing — is once step closer to reaching the marketplace. FranceAgriMer informed the industry that bureau Veritas is in the process of finishing the technical criteria for the label.