A new report says that fishing boats bringing benefits to local communities and conserving UK seas must be rewarded with more opportunities to fish.
The report by the Institute for European Environmental Policy for the UK’s Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB), recommends that boats which best meet a new set of environmental, social and economic criteria should receive a quota bonus.
It points out that up until now UK fishermen have been given permission to fish based on historic catch records’. But new legislation under the reformed EU Common Fisheries Policy requires member states to change the way they allocate fishing opportunities giving best’ practice fishermen more opportunities to fish than others.
The RSPB said that the UK government now needs to decide how to meet this requirement under the new policy.
Euan Dunn, principal maritime advisor, RSPB, said: The way we are dishing out fishing opportunities must change if our governments are to comply with the new laws to reward and encourage environmentally friendly fishing which benefits local communities.
He added that 2015 will see massive changes in fisheries management, with effective Marine Protected Areas (MPAs), the introduction of the discard ban and new targets for sustainable fishing.
Allocating quota based on historic records is no way to manage fisheries, Mr Dunn added.
The RSPB is the UK’s largest nature conservation charity. It works towards protecting both threatened birds and wildlife in the towns, coast and countryside.
Mercator Media Ltd 2014