Politicians on the Europe Union’s fish committee gave a lukewarm reaction to EU Fisheries Commissioner Maria Damanaki’s much-anticipated proposals for reform to the EU’s Common Fisheries Policy (CFP).
Speaking to Damanaki on Thursday, a day after she unveiled the reform proposals, the 47-member committee voiced mixed opinions.
“This year, Maria Damanaki has spoken very strongly about restoring European fish stocks. I am disappointed that the proposal did not quite live up to that rhetoric,” Swedish MEP Isabella Lövin told SeafoodSource.
Lövin, a Green Party member, said while the package has “some strong points,” it fails to prioritize the environment, “which is fundamental to reach the economic and social goals.”
UK MEP Chris Davies, secretary of the European Parliament’s cross-party Fish for the Future group, said the reform “needs to go further.”
“First we must stop overfishing, then we must put more fish back in the sea,” he told SeafoodSource.
The proposals suggest bringing in tradable fishing rights, a gradual ban on discards and decentralizing some fisheries policy decision-making to regions.
On the rights-based system, Irish MEP Pat the Cope Gallagher called for “major changes” to the proposals. He warned that Irish fishermen will “vehemently oppose” any principle that would enable European companies to buy fishing concessions.
Also raising concerns about this system, Portugal’s João Ferreira claimed that “it will not be feasible to prevent concentration” of transferable quotas in certain member states.
Speaking about discards, a disappointed Lövin said, “Uunfortunately it is not a complete discard ban.” She questioned Damanaki on how the system would “check whether fishermen are dumping certain species and keeping other species on board.”
There is a growing sense that politicians are disappointed proposals on regional decision-making have not gone far enough. Gallagher stressed that there is “a strong political will” to scrap the one-size-fits-all policy and allow regions to resolve problems immediately.
Scottish MEP Struan Stevenson, the fish committee’s vice chair, pronounced, “We were promised a whale and you delivered a sardine,” citing the lack of “baskets of options promised” during talks leading up to the proposals.
Since the Lisbon Treaty, this is the first time that the European Parliament has a strong legislative voice in shaping the CFP. MEPs are effectively an equal partner with the Council of Ministers in the co-decision process.
Underlining this new process, Tony Long, director of conservation group World Wildlife Fund’s European policy office, warned this week that “ministers and MEPs must demonstrate the political courage to invest in sustainable fisheries management now or be prepared to carry the responsibility for ravaged stocks in the near future.”
