Category: Press

 

EU Holds Key To Just Transition to Low-Carbon, Low-Impact Fishing Industry – Report 

Brussels, 26 October 2021:- The EU and its member states must transition to a more ecologically, socially and economically sustainable fishing industry – and already have the means to do so, according to a new report published today. 

The report, How the EU can Transition to Low Environmental Impact, Low Carbon, Socially Just Fishing, published by the Our Fish Campaign and Low Impact Fishers of Europe (LIFE) finds that by activating Article 17 of the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP), and allocating fishing quotas based on transparent and objective criteria of an environmental, social and economic nature, the EU can achieve a just transition to a low-carbon, low-impact fishing fleet. 

The report proposes criteria and processes which the European Commission and EU member states could harness in order to achieve this goal, such as the reallocation of an increasing share of the Total Allowable Catch (TAC) over a period of eight years, which should include prescribed minimum allocations of fishing opportunities to the small-scale low-impact fishing fleet, indicators such as use of selective fishing gear, marine seabed impact, carbon cycle impact and history of fisheries and environmental compliance. 

“For many years, the systems used by Member States to allocate their fishing quotas have led to the concentration of fishing opportunities in the hands of a few big players, to the detriment of small-scale low impact fishers and the marine environment,” said Brian O’Riordan, Executive Secretary, Low Impact Fishers of Europe. “The current system is not fit for purpose, rewarding as it does those who fish the most. Rather we need a system that rewards those who fish the most sustainably and provide the greatest benefits to society.” 

“The EU has several tools and processes at its disposal to right this historic wrong. Next year the European Commission must report on the implementation of the CFP, and this provides a once in a decade opportunity to reset European fisheries policy on a correct course, beginning with a just reallocation of quota”, continued O’Riordan. 

“Ensuring a healthy ocean is a crucial component of humanity’s response to the climate and biodiversity crisis”, said Rebecca Hubbard, Programme Director with Our Fish. “The EU’s Common Fisheries Policy has the ingredients needed to realise a transformation of EU fishing to one that minimises impacts on protected species and marine ecosystems, increases carbon sequestration and maximises social benefits for coastal communities.”

“We just need to accelerate this transformation by incentivising good practice with priority access to quota and fish”, said Hubbard. “The European Commission can, and considering the current climate and biodiversity crisis, should, urgently help to accelerate this transition, while EU member states need to demonstrate political will and commitment to doing the necessary work to secure a healthy future for our fish populations and coastal communities”.

“Considering its numerous small scale fleet, with a significant part operating with low impact methods and with great social and economic importance, Portugal must be a leader member-state in the implementation of the Article 17”, said Gonçalo Carvalho, Executive Coordinator of Sciaena. “This will be a key element in enabling a transition to fisheries that contribute to safeguarding marine ecosystems and strengthening coastal communities.”

“France Nature Environnement supports the use of Article 17 of the CFP in order to move towards more sustainable fishing”, said Michel Morin, member of France Nature Environment’s expert fisheries working group. “The follow-up of scientific advice and the improvement of transparency in the allocation of quotas should be a priority, especially for small-scale fisheries.”

“There is a huge discrepancy between the current situation of fishing in France and the declarations of the European regulations in favor of fishermen such as ourselves who fish exclusively by line, and who meet all the criteria laid down in Article 17: contribution to the local economy, selective fishing gear, reduced impact on the environment, low energy consumption,” says Ken Kawahara, secretary of the Association des Ligneurs de la Pointe de Bretagne, “The situation regarding the allocation of fishing rights has not changed at all since 2013, and many small-scale fishing vessels still have to be content with fishing the few species that are allowed to them while some industrial trawlers have thousands of tons of quotas.”

According to the report, Spain has used some environmental and social criteria beyond the historical catches to allocate its quotas. “However, these are just exceptions,” explained Cecilia del Castillo, Fisheries Campaigner at Ecologistas en Acción. “Since Spain is currently drafting its new law on fisheries, it must do its best to include a more ambitious language and suitable criteria to ensure the implementation of article 17 of the CFP. Spain has now the opportunity to bet for a fair transition towards less harmful fisheries. This opportunity must not be wasted”. 

“At the moment there is a lack of political will and clear procedures in the European Union to implement the common fisheries policy,” says Sascha Müller-Kraenner, executive director of the Deutsche Umwelthilfe in Germany. “The Common Fisheries Policy’s Article 17 gives fishermen who use environmentally friendly and sustainable fishing methods the first access to fisheries resources, instead of environmentally harmful fishing methods such as bottom trawling. The current biodiversity and climate crisis makes it imperative to act quickly: some fish populations are in such a poor condition that they can no longer be fished. Therefore we call on Germany’s incoming fisheries minister to finally implement Article 17 and to take ecological criteria into account when allocating fishing quotas.”

ENDS

Download the report:

• Download: How the EU can Transition to Low Environmental Impact, Low Carbon, Socially Just Fishing (full report)
• Download: How the EU can Transition to Low Environmental Impact, Low Carbon, Socially Just Fishing (executive summary)
• Download: Für eine umweltschonende kohlenstoffarme und sozial gerechte europäische Fischerei (Zusammenfassung DE)
• Download: Cómo la flota pesquera de la UE puede convertirse en un flota de bajo ambiental, baja en carbono y socialmente justa (Resumen ES)
• Download: Comment la flote de pêche de l’UE peut-elle devenir à faible impact environnemental à faible émission de carbone et socialement juste ? (Résumé FR)

Download Presentation:

Presentation: EU Holds Key To Just Transition to Low-Carbon, Low-Impact Fishing Industry

 

Contact: 

Dave Walsh, Our Fish Communications Advisor, +34 691 826 764 press@our.fish

Sarah Namann, Marketing and Communications Officer, Low Impact Fishers of Europe (LIFE) communications@lifeplatform.eu

Cecilia del Castillo, fisheries campaigner at Ecologistas en Acción, Spain, +34 625 295 796, pesca@ecologistasenaccion.org

 

About Our Fish

Our Fish is working to end overfishing and restore a healthy ocean ecosystem. By collaborating with others, and deploying robust evidence, we are calling for an end to overfishing as a critical and significant action to address the biodiversity and climate crisis.

https://our.fish

About LIFE

The Low Impact Fishers of Europe (LIFE) is a European wide organization of organizations uniting European small-scale fishers to achieve fair fisheries, healthy seas and vibrant communities. 5% of the EU fish catch is produced by small-scale low impact fishing, supporting 70% of the fleet and providing 50% of the jobs at sea. 

https://lifeplatform.eu/

Media Briefing, October 26, 2021:

Luxembourg, 11 October 2021:- As EU fisheries ministers arrived for the AGRIFISH Council meeting early today in Luxembourg, they received a musical exhortation from a quartet of classical musicians and an opera singer, calling on them to Listen to the Ocean and the science, by setting fishing limits within scientific advice.

Arel Ensemble performed excerpts from String Quartet No. 4 by Bacewicz, String Quartet No. 8 by Shostakovich, String Quartet in E Minor by Czerny, and Movement for String Quartet by Copland, and were joined by mezzo-soprano opera singer Luisa Mauro for Il Tramonto by Respighi outside the European Convention Centre in Luxembourg, where EU fisheries ministers are gathering to set fishing limits for Baltic Sea fish populations for 2022. EU Commissioner for the Environment Virginijus Sinkevičius attended the performance.

“I’m performing this morning because I am sensitive to the future of our planet and music is my way of expression”, said mezzo-soprano opera singer Luisa Mauro.“I believe it is important to use an ecosystem-based approach to regulate access to marine resources, in order to ensure sustainability, and to prohibit destructive fishing methods”.

“The Arel Ensemble is proud to play outside the AGRIFISH meeting here in Luxembourg this morning, to promote the need to fight for the planet and a better, sustainable future!” said Bartłomiej Ciastoń, first violin. “With our Polish roots, the musicians of Arel Ensemble are well placed to respond to, and understand the need, to protect the Baltic Sea from overfishing. As musicians, we are taking action to preserve nature and help the marine environment in a way that we do the best and with heart – by playing music”.

“Today, the EU AGRIFISH Council will set fishing limits for Baltic Sea fish populations for 2022. We are running against the clock to stop the collapse of the Baltic Sea ecosystem and deliver on political promises to halt the climate and nature crises”, said Rebecca Hubbard, Our Fish Program Director. “The setting of fishing opportunities at sustainable levels is an essential precondition to deliver on these promises. Baltic Fisheries Ministers must listen to the ocean and the science, by setting fishing limits within scientific advice.”

 

See Joint NGO recommendations on Baltic Sea fishing opportunities for 2022

“Fisheries ministers have repeatedly set fishing limits for Baltic Sea fish stocks above scientific advice over the past decade, leading to huge declines in fish populations”, continued Hubbard. “In 2020, ministers improved on their track record, however they still set one fifth of fishing limits in the Baltic Sea above the best available scientific advice, thereby contravening the deadline to end overfishing by 2020, and failing to avert an ecological crisis [1,2]”. 

“Unsurprisingly, this year, the health of fish populations in the Baltic Sea has worsened, with annual scientific advice by the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) proposing closure of the fisheries for eastern Baltic cod, western herring and western Baltic cod, as well as effective protection of cod spawning grounds from all fishing, and drastic cuts in salmon fishing [3,4].”

“This week, during the AGRIFISH Council, EU Fisheries Ministers must pull out all stops to counteract the decline of Baltic Sea fish populations. They need to follow the advice of scientists: by stopping fishing of eastern Baltic cod, western herring and western Baltic cod, and making drastic cuts in salmon fishing, if we are to have any hope of Baltic fisheries rebuilding and providing fishing communities a livelihood in the future” concluded Hubbard.

 

About the musicians:

Arel Ensemble is a string quartet based in Belgium and Luxembourg. Its musicians are members of the finest orchestras in the Benelux region and devoted chamber music players.

Luisa Mauro is a mezzo-soprano opera singer who has performed across Europe and Asia in festivals, concert houses and recorded for Stradivarius label. She teaches vocal technique, interpretation and linguistic support, and in 2019 received the nomination of Chevalier de l’Ordre de Mérite of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg.

ENDS

Photo credits: Ian Sanderson/Our Fish

Contact: 

Dave Walsh, Our Fish Communications Advisor, +34 691 826 764 press@our.fish

Notes:

[1] https://our.fish/press/ngos-welcome-eu-fisheries-ministers-setting-more-baltic-fishing-limits-in-line-with-science-but-ecological-crisis-not-averted/ 

[2] REGULATION (EU) No 1380/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 December 2013 on the Common Fisheries Policy

[3] https://our.fish/press/eu-must-respond-to-baltic-sea-ecosystem-and-fisheries-crash-with-urgent-radical-measures/

[4] Joint NGO recommendations on Baltic Sea fishing opportunities for 2022

https://our.fish/publications/joint-ngo-recommendations-on-baltic-sea-fishing-opportunities-for-2022/

 

About Our Fish

Our Fish is working to end overfishing and restore a healthy ocean ecosystem. By collaborating with others, and deploying robust evidence, we are calling for an end to overfishing as a critical and significant action to address the biodiversity and climate crisis. https://our.fish

Brussels, Monday 20th September: The EU fishing fleet receives a tax break of between €759 million and €1.5 billion from fuel tax subsidies each year, as well as producing nearly 7.3 million tons of CO2 just from burning fuel, according to a report published today by the Our Fish campaign.

The report, Climate Impacts & Fishing Industry Profits From EU Fuel Tax Subsidies, which estimates the fossil fuel tax subsidies received for the entire EU fishing fleet, and features case studies from France, Spain, Portugal, Italy and The Netherlands, finds that the destructive and fuel-hungry fishing vessels benefit the most from these perverse subsidies, while the climate, fisheries, and small-scale fishers suffer the consequences.

“Each year, the most destructive sectors of the EU fishing fleet are being paid to produce millions of tonnes of CO2. While European citizens are expected to pay fuel tax to use their cars, the fishing industry avoids paying between €759 million and over €1.5 billion in taxes each year [1],” said Rebecca Hubbard, Program Director of Our Fish. “These tax breaks from the EU not only worsen overfishing and jeopardise ocean health, they fuel climate change, the impacts of which will further disadvantage low-impact small-scale fishers.”

“In the fishing industry, environmentally harmful subsidies have created a skewed system which incentivises larger vessels and fleets to engage in practices that actively harm the marine environment and deplete already threatened fish stocks”, said Grace O’Sullivan, Member of the European Parliament, Rapporteur for the EU’s 8th Environment Action Programme.  “This is unacceptable, and a key obstacle to achieving the emissions reductions and corrective measures urgently needed to address the climate and biodiversity crises.“

“The European Parliament has voted to support the 8th Environment Action Programme (EAP), on which I am the Parliament’s lead negotiator, seeking to set a deadline of 2025 for the phase out of fossil fuel subsidies and 2027 for the phase out of other environmentally harmful subsidies in the EU”, she continued. “Success and progress around that position now depends on the outcome of the next step in the process, trilogue negotiations with the European Council and Commission, which are currently underway.”

“The 8th EAP, is an opportunity to see decisive binding deadlines in the EU to phase out environmentally harmful subsidies and see an end to the practice of giving tax breaks and wasting public money, which add to the destruction of already vulnerable marine ecosystems, and put more sustainable, low-impact small-scale fishers, their families and communities at a disadvantage”, concluded O’Sullivan.

“At this point of the climate emergency, every ton of CO2 counts. The EU has an obligation under the new European Climate Law to eliminate as much CO2 as possible in order to reach climate neutrality by 2050”, said Hubbard. “This is an opportunity to drive a rapid transition to low-carbon, low-impact fishing, by ensuring the fishing industry pays its taxes.”

“The revision of the Energy Taxation Directive proposes a small, nominal tax for the fishing industry, but this will do nothing to halt the climate crisis or restore the EU’s overfished and unhealthy seas. Tax exemptions for the fishing industry should be completely removed from the revised directive and all energy products taxed according to their energy and carbon content. This will simultaneously increase the budget of EU member states and help fund a transition to a more sustainable fisheries sector that doesn’t cost the earth”, concluded Hubbard.

Contact:

Dave Walsh, Our Fish Communications Advisor, +34 691 826 764 press@fish.eu

The report, Climate Impacts & Fishing Industry Profits From EU Fuel Tax Subsidies, is available in English, French, Spanish and Italian at: https://our.fish/publications/report-climate-impacts-fishing-industry-profits-from-eu-fuel-tax-subsidies/

 

Notes:

[1] This is based on the calculation of litres of fuel consumed by EU fleets multiplied by a potential tax rate. Fuel consumption data comes from the Annual Economic Report on the EU Fishing Fleet 2020 (AER) by the Scientific, Technical and Economic Committee for Fisheries (STECF). No marine fuel is taxed in the EU or has been taxed in the past, therefore tax percentages used are based on assumptions. For the purposes of the report, we assume that taxes on gas oil would be most relevant to the fishing industry sector. Following the EU Council Directive on the taxation of energy products, we use the minimum level of taxation applicable to motor fuels, which is €0.33/l as our lower estimate, and the historic EU weighted average excise duties for gas oil for road transport, which is €0.67/l as our upper estimate, to give a potential likely range of taxes that the fishing industry would have paid.

As of 2018, the EU fishing fleet burns 2.3 billion litres of fuel each year

That is an estimated €759 million – €1.5 billion taxes avoided each year

[2] Press briefing on the launch of Our Fish report on the EU Energy Taxation Directive, Climate Impacts & Fishing Industry Profits From EU Fuel Tax Subsidies

Speakers: Grace O’Sullivan, Member of the European Parliament, Rebecca Hubbard, Our Fish; Flaminia Tacconi, ClientEarth.

Recording available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=szTtjgRjJL8

About Our Fish

Our Fish is working to end overfishing and restore a healthy ocean ecosystem. By collaborating with others, and deploying robust evidence, we are calling for an end to overfishing as a critical and significant action to address the biodiversity and climate crisis. https://our.fish

 

 Press briefing September 16: How EU Fuel Tax Subsidies Drive Climate Impacts & Fishing Industry Profits

Marseille, 4 September, 2021:- Dozens of people dived into the Mediterranean Sea today during the IUCN World Conservation Congress to celebrate the power of the ocean to fight climate change, and to call on political leaders to take climate action by ending destructive fishing.

Dive into Climate Action saw big-wave surfing champion Maya Gabeira and European Commissioner for the Environment, Oceans and Fisheries Virginijus Sinkevičius, join members of the public for an early morning swim on Marseille’s Plage du Prado.

The event, organised by Our Fish, Seas at Risk, Oceana and WeMove Europe, took place during the IUCN World Conservation Congress in Marseille, France, which brings scientists, conservationists and world leaders together to discuss and decide how to restore nature, in the context of crucial negotiations to adopt a new global framework to reverse biodiversity loss by 2050 [1].

 

“Today we’re diving into the sea to celebrate the awe and wonder of the world’s ocean”, said Rebecca Hubbard, Program Director of Our Fish. “The power of the ocean to fight climate change is enormous – as the largest carbon sink on the planet it must be protected from destructive activities like bottom trawling and overfishing”.

“Bottom trawling is a devastating practice that destroys the seafloor, kills marine life and releases huge amounts of carbon. It is horrendous to think that this destruction takes place everywhere, and even inside European so-called ‘protected’ areas” added Maya Gabeira, big-wave surfer and Oceana Board member.

Close to 150,000 people have already signed a petition to stop bottom-trawling, starting with marine protected areas, and Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) recently recommended a ban. Now, it’s up to Commissioner Sinkevičius to follow-through.

“The Ocean is the largest carbon sink of our planet, absorbing more than 25% of all CO2 emissions. But overfishing, pollution and biodiversity loss critically weaken the ocean to play this role. Saving the Ocean is saving the climate” said Tobias Troll, Marine Policy Director of Seas At Risk.

ENDS

 

https://www.climateocean.com/

 

https://act.wemove.eu/campaigns/bottom-trawling

 

NOTES

[1] https://www.cbd.int/doc/press/2021/pr-2021-08-18-cop15-en.pdf

 

Contact: 

Dave Walsh, Our Fish Communications Advisor press@our.fish, +34 691 826 764

Brussels, 9 August 2021:- Responding to the publication of the ‘Physical Science Basis for the Sixth Assessment Report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which unequivocally states that unprecedented CO2 emissions are leading to widespread, rapid and intensifying changes not seen for thousands of years, Our Fish Programme Director Rebecca Hubbard said:

“This latest IPCC report is the wake-up call to beat all wake-up calls. The EU must now take this as their go-button to deliver every climate action that they can, including ending destructive fishing and overfishing – this is crucial for the ocean, which has been key to slowing global warming by absorbing so much excess heat and CO2 emissions.”

“The warming that humans have generated has already locked in changes for hundreds to thousands of years to come – especially for the ocean, with rising sea levels, and the melting of glaciers and sea ice.”

“The frequency and intensity of marine heatwaves – such as that which recently killed a billion marine animals in the Pacific northwest – will also become larger. So the impact on the ocean from climate change will also have increasingly worse consequences for fishers.”

“Scientists are certain that within twenty years we will reach 1.5 degrees of warming, but that if we urgently decarbonise and achieve carbon neutrality by 2050, we can stop the warming. Therefore, every ton of CO2 matters and activities damaging ecosystems that store carbon, such as the seabed and fish populations, must be halted and the environment restored.”

“In the ocean, the EU must fast-track the transition away from the most carbon-emitting activities such as bottom trawling; they must eliminate all fuel subsidies for the fishing industry; and they must comprehensively minimise all climate impacts caused by fishing, so that our ocean ecosystems can be restored and continue to mitigate and adapt to extreme climate change”, she added.

 

Notes:

AR6 Climate Change 2021: The Physical Science Basis. The Working Group I contribution to the Sixth Assessment – Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)

https://www.ipcc.ch/report/sixth-assessment-report-working-group-i/

The Summary for Policy Makers: https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg1/#SPM

Press conference: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z149vLKn9d8

Contacts:

Dave Walsh, Our Fish Communications Advisor press@our.fish +34 691 826 764

About Our Fish

Our Fish is working to end overfishing and restore a healthy ocean ecosystem. By collaborating with others, and deploying robust evidence, we are calling for an end to overfishing as a critical and significant action to address the biodiversity and climate crisis. https://our.fish

 

 

Brussels, 19 July 2021:- The Our Fish campaign presented a petition signed by 17,296 people to the European Commissioner for the Environment, Oceans and Fisheries, Virginijus Sinkevičius today in Brussels, calling on the EU to take urgent action to prevent and reverse the climate and nature crisis by ending destructive overfishing, and to support a just transition to ecosystem based fisheries management.The commissioner also received  a colourful beach towel emblazoned with the words “Save the Ocean, Save the Climate, End Overfishing” [1].

“Before he takes off to the beach this summer, we thank Commissioner Sinkevičius for receiving and acknowledging the voices of 17,296 people from around Europe and hope he takes with him their crucial message to ‘Save the Ocean, Save the Climate, End Overfishing’”, said Rebecca Hubbard, Program Director for Our Fish. 

“The ocean is protecting us from climate change by absorbing 90% of human-generated heat and sinking more carbon than forests, yet we continue to undermine it by overfishing and using fishing methods that destroy biodiversity and produce CO2 emissions. This is not consistent with the European Green Deal or the EU Biodiversity Strategy.

“The EU must immediately stop setting fishing limits above scientific advice and start monitoring and eliminating the full range of environmental and climate damage caused by EU fishing. A just transition to a more sustainable and resilient fishing fleet needs to be mapped out so that EU fishers and coastal communities have a future that is part of the solution to the nature and climate crisis”. 

The EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030 states that the European Commission will develop an ‘Action Plan to conserve fisheries resources and marine ecosystems’ in 2021. This Action Plan is under development (2) – NGOs are calling on the European Commission to ensure that it includes ecosystem and climate impact assessments and maps a path to eliminate the most destructive form of fishing, bottom trawling (3). 

Ends

Contacts

Our Fish Communications: press@our.fish, +34 691 826 764

Notes

(1)https://save.our.fish/ 

(2)https://ec.europa.eu/info/law/better-regulation/have-your-say/initiatives/12953-Action-plan-to-conserve-fisheries-resources-and-protect-marine-ecosystems- 

(3)https://our.fish/publications/realising-the-ambition-of-the-eu-biodiversity-strategy-in-the-ocean/ 

 

Photos available from

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1OOin59f-iDR4rC8UAZruGmXTEVhvJ2TA?usp=sharing