While not saying how big it should be – leaving the door open for political decision in individual countries - the European Union said because Europe’s fish stocks are desperately over-fished, the best solution is to scale back the continent’s fishing fleets dramatically. “We need to get out of the current situation, where too many fishing vessels are chasing too few fish,” EUFisheries Commissioner Joe Borg told reporters in Brussels. That came with a warning from a fishing trade and environmental group that the EU’s seas would be empty of fish in 40 years otherwise.
Close to 90 percent of Europe’s fish species are being pulled out of the water at unsustainable rates, and a third have suffered so heavily that they are in imminent danger of collapse, and in some areas, fishing fleets are so large that they can catch two or three times more fish than the sea can provide, Borg said as he called on EU member states to devise a new management system. “This is a decisive moment for the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP,) and I promise to leave no stone unturned,” he said, calling for a “new, radically different approach” to fisheries management, but he refused to say how deep the cuts to the EU’s fleet should be, stressing that any reductions would vary depending on the type of ship, fishing technique and sea area in question. He said that any solution would be a complex one, including changes to fleet size, support to coastal communities, and possibly new ways of allocating fishing quotas, among other improvements. Borg was speaking after the European Commission, the EU’s executive, launched a public consultation on how to improve the CFP, with an eye to approving a new, updated system by early 2012. The EU sets maximum catch levels for the fish in its seas. However, those quotas are traditionally drawn up by fisheries ministers in an end-of-year haggling session which routinely sets the limits high above those recommended by scientists. As a result, the CFP has long been vilified both by fishermen, who say that it forces them to throw back into the sea valuable fish that they have caught, and by environmentalists, who point out that the CFP has brought Europe’s fish stocks to the edge of collapse. Activist pressure groups Greenpeace and the Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF) praised the Commission’s report, with WWF calling it “commendably honest,” but Greenpeace said that any reform should include a 50 percent reduction in the size of the EU fishing fleet.

Overfishing evidence ignored
The EU said almost all the stocks are now overfished and that the EU’s fishing fleet of more than 90,000 boats was just too many, and that too many boats were now chasing too few fish with little regard for the consequences, a trend that would have to be stopped to safeguard a sustainable and economically viable industry. “Fleets have the power to fish much more than can safely be removed without jeopardising the future productivity of stocks,” the EU executive said in a report on Europe’s fishing future. “This imbalance is at the root of all problems,” the paper said. It also criticised the high subsidies governments still pay to the industry, often resulting in further overfishing. “European citizens almost pay for their fish twice: Once at the shop and once again through their taxes.” But cutting the fleet and subsidies could undermine the current practices of the industry and create more protests from the beleaguered fishermen in the coming years. French fishermen earlier this month created chaos by blockading several English Channel ports to protest EU fishing quotas for sole and cod. While the EU has set quotas, they have been so malleable as to do almost nothing to protect the amount of fish and environmentalists said scientific advice has been ignored for decades so politicians could appease the fishing industry.

Data is sealed
The Greens/EFA Group welcomed adoption in the European Parliament plenary of a report by MEP Raul Romeva of Spain that coincided with publication of the European Commission report acknowledging failures in this area. Romeva said,” The report strikes a good balance between the need for Member States to enforce CFP rules and the powers of the Commission to ensure that Member States fulfill that responsibility. As the bluefin tuna fishing season reopens, we are reminded of just one example of a fishery that is out of control. As witnessed last year, Member States have not obliged their fishermen to respect the rules and the Commission has been virtually powerless to act. This new control regulation would give the Commission tools to bring the Member States to task, which just might save the bluefin tuna.”
The new regulation increases the use of new technologies, such as electronic logbooks, which will save money, reduce administration and improve control over fisheries, he said, although decrying amendments on how much fish is caught in the EU remains confidential information. The group Oceana said it also welcomed what it called the constructive assessment of the present situation made by the Commission in the Green Paper.
The document, and a subsequent consultation period with stakeholders paved the way for the drafting of the Commission Proposal on the planned reform of the EU Fisheries Framework Regulation, to enter into force by January 2013.
However, the international marine conservation organisation warned that fundamental and far-reaching changes in EU policies are urgently needed for meeting the Commission’s ambitious goal of healthy and productive EU fisheries by 2020.

Fish almost gone
It said that scientific evidence shows an ongoing dramatic erosion of marine biological diversity that appears to be accelerating on a global scale, with predicted collapse of all fished species by the year 2048 under business as usual. Many of the world’s commercial fisheries and associated species are likely to be threatened by climate change impacts such as ocean acidification, changes in habitat and prey availability, potentially aggravating the already assessed collapse scenario, the group added.
The Commission Green Paper acknowledged the need for a core change to reverse the present negative trend, identifying the fundamental problem of European fisheries eroding their own ecological and economic basis, it said. “Unfortunately many precious years have been lost through low performing policy, said Xavier Pastor, Executive Director of Oceana- Europe“and today we are left to deal with stocks fished down to depletion, recovery plans unable to serve their aim, unmanaged overcapacity, poor environmental compliance, low profitability of the EU fisheries industry, governance structure failing in their accountability to common interests, perverse subsidies and incentives[4], insufficient monitoring and control, unsustainable loss of biodiversity.” “The EU has a challenge ahead to find the solution, but this may be the final chance to reverse on the current practice of fishing down marine ecosystems,” said Pastor. He said a modern EU Oceans management policy based on ecological sustainability as a key precondition to economic and social developments as well as a best available science- based ecosystem approach remain urgently needed.
Gaia Angelini, Policy Advisor at Oceana-Europe, said, “The new CFP should incorporate precautionary science into the design and governance of marine and fisheries policies as well as allowing for adaptive management to regularly assess and review decisions,” adding that the depleted status of European fish resources is an unacceptable price to pay for EU citizens both in terms of waste of commonly owned natural marine resources and the economic cost of bailing out the fishing sector with perverse and environmentally damaging subsidies. Oceana said it will be extensively contributing during the Green Paper consultation period to support a renewed CFP supporting responsible fisheries activities balanced with available fish resources and operating with maximum respect for marine habitats and life.

A fishing future?
MEP Jim Higgins of Ireland said that the new EU Green Paper on the Common Fisheries Policy offers a real opportunity for Irish Fishermen to get a fairer deal when it comes to EU policy. He Higgins promised to hold intensive talks with fishing organisation to ensure that Irish Fishermen Interests are central to the new Common Fisheries Policy proposals. “The most important thing said today by Commissioner Borg was he admitted that the current policy is a failure. Fishermen and scientists have always held to this line and it was about time the Commission realised it.
“What we must do now is to ensure that the new proposals put forward will be fairer, simpler and modern. They must respect the needs to fishermen and fishing communities. There must be better dialogue and improved consultation with fishing organisations and there has to be a clampdown on illegal fishing by foreign vessels in Irish seas.