The European fisheries sector appreciates the position adopted by the Commissioner for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries of the European Union (EU), Karmenu Vella, who in a recent meeting of Europêche stressed the need to actively rely on all stakeholders in the sector to ensure the economic-environmental sustainability goals of the fishing activity are met.
“It is really satisfying to note the willingness to talk shown by the new commissioner, his conviction that sustainability must be environmental as well as economic, and his willingness to pursue an open door policy,” said Javier Garat, president of Europêche and secretary general of the Spanish Fisheries Confederation (CEPESCA).
“Fishermen have made a great effort to reduce the pressure on stocks and have worked closely with the scientific structure,” he added.
Garat also stressed that it is possible to see the first positive results, since, according to the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES), “in the northeast Atlantic there has been a decline in the number of overfished stocks before establishing the sustainable maximum yield (SMY) goals, as now there are 36 populations being fished at this level.”
CEPESCA is pleased that Commissioner Vella considers that to save fish stocks, it is good to favour “those fishermen who have made sacrifice to achieve the objectives that we are enjoying now and it is the time to seize and not to waste the momentum achieved”.
To Vella it is also important to consider the danger represented by waste in the oceans and the progress made for cleaning it after Europêche collaboration with the NGO Waste Free Oceans.
Currently, illegal fishing multiplies the catches in EU waters by three.
Among the issues discussed at the General Assembly of Europêche held last week, those discussed were:
The importance of having appropriate exceptions for the viability of the discard ban;
The challenges represented by the total allowable catches (TACs) and quotas;
Management plans;
The Framework Directive on the Marine Strategy;
International governance;
The situation in the Mediterranean;
Autonomous tariff quotas (ATQ);
The sustainable fisheries partnership agreements with third countries.
Europêche also advocated the elimination of the tariff of 0 per cent, especially for imports of tuna loins and flatfish because it believes that it is only helpful to reduce the final product price.
Furthermore, it proposed to organize a workshop with the Advisory Council of the Mediterranean to provide a suitable place where scientists can present their assessments and investigations of different fish stocks.
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