Category: Press

Brussels, Belgium – Friday, 5 February
In a mixed bag of voting outcomes, the European Parliament’s Fisheries Committee (PECH) has called for more transparency around fisheries activities and traceability to seafood supply chains, while simultaneously weakening the existing rules for controlling EU fishing activities.

The Committee voted on a package of amendments to the EU fisheries control system, which have been under their voting consideration since last Monday. The result of the voting process is a significant number of loopholes that will make it more difficult to manage fisheries sustainably and make it easier for illegal catches to enter the EU market, putting the future of fisheries and marine health at risk.

In a move that signals a clear lack of ambition to improve at-sea monitoring and data collection, MEPs also failed to ensure that cameras will be placed on fishing vessels. By voting to retain a voluntary regime for their use – for which uptake has been extremely low – authorities will continue to be left without the high-quality fisheries and environmental data needed to ensure that EU fisheries are managed sustainably and conducted legally.

The positive outcomes from today’s vote on the EU fisheries Control Regulation − including on vessel tracking, catch reporting and sanctions − could mark a pivotal step to secure sustainable seafood and healthy marine ecosystems in the EU, provided next month’s European Parliament plenary vote fixes the loopholes created.

On behalf of the The EU Fisheries Control Coalition, Vanya Vulperhorst, Campaign Director Illegal Fishing and Transparency at Oceana in Europe said, “We strongly welcome the PECH Committee’s position to require tracking systems and catch reporting for all EU fishing vessels. But such efforts to help ensure healthy fish stocks must not be undermined by weakening the rules which oblige fishers to count what they catch. In the upcoming plenary Session, MEPs must align the future Control Regulation with the EU’s blue ambition and the EU Green Deal”.

Andrea Ripol, Fisheries Policy Officer at Seas At Risk said, “No one wants to eat fish that comes at the expense of killing dolphins and seabirds. By rejecting mandatory onboard cameras, MEPs have voted to deepen this stain on our seafood supply chains. If the European Parliament is serious about meeting the EU’s Biodiversity Strategy targets, it must amend this oversight in the upcoming vote in plenary.”

Marta Marrero Martin, Director of Ocean Governance at The Nature Conservancy said, “Today’s vote has ignored the fact that fishers are already able to install cameras on their vessels voluntarily, yet the vast majority decide not to do so. Until these systems are required across the fleet, authorities will remain without the high-quality data needed to ensure our fisheries are managed legally and sustainably. We call upon MEPs to reverse this decision at plenary. The EU should lead global fisheries management and control by example and not lag behind”.

Katrin Vilhelm Poulsen, Senior Seafood Policy Officer at WWF said, “Traceability is a cornerstone for sustainable seafood supply chains. We commend the Committee vote confirming the EU’s commitment to this value and call on all MEPs to do the same in next month’s plenary.”

Nick Goetschalckx, Fisheries Lawyer at ClientEarth said, “Today’s vote was not just about writing rules, it was also about ensuring that these rules will be effectively implemented and enforced afterwards. The important steps MEPs took today for more transparency on fisheries control activities and towards a standardised sanctions regime across the EU will ensure environmental accountability, but only provided they are upheld in plenary next month.”

Positive outcomes from the PECH Committee vote include:

• Vessel monitoring systems to be installed on all EU fishing vessels
• Mandatory reporting of all seafood catches
• Standards for sanctions to be harmonised across the EU
• Member State activities on fisheries controls to be published annually and available to the public
• Better monitoring of Marine Protected Areas
• Traceability of all seafood products from point-of-catch to point-of-sale

The negative aspects, weakening of current provisions and loopholes created by the Fisheries Committee vote include:

• No mandatory requirement for uptake of onboard cameras across the EU fleet, marking a failure to improve fisheries data, ensure compliance and monitor bycatch of sensitive species
• No mandate to report incidental catches of sensitive species and impacts of fisheries to sensitive habitats
• Weakening the rules of reporting and controlling the amount of fish caught and landed, which significantly increases opportunities for illegal fishing
• Weakening the rules for weighing catches, making it easier to under-declare
• Failing to remove Member States’ ability to veto submission of information on their control efforts

In next month’s plenary vote, the European Parliament is called upon to:

• Lock in the positive outcomes from the PECH Committee vote for vessel monitoring systems, reporting and sanctions;
• Introduce mandatory measures for onboard cameras (including CCTV), strengthen transparency provisions, and require measures to report and prevent bycatch of sensitive species; and
• Close the loopholes introduced by the PECH Committee to weaken fisheries controls, including for rules on catch reporting and verification.

ENDS

The EU Fisheries Control Coalition – The Environmental Justice Foundation, The Nature Conservancy, Oceana, Seas At Risk, and WWF, together with ClientEarth, The Fisheries Secretariat, Our Fish and Sciaena – is working to ensure that fisheries management in the EU safeguards ocean health and marine life for generations to come.

Notes to editors:

The fisheries Control Regulation is the cornerstone of how fisheries are controlled and monitored in the EU. This helps to ensure seafood is caught within sustainable limits and follows legal procedures, with direct impacts for Member States, fishers and consumers, as well as the health of marine ecosystems.

The current revision process of the Regulation offers opportunities to make fisheries management more sustainable, address the lack of transparency on how the EU fleet is regulated and, as a result, increase profits for the sector. In addition, a strong future Control Regulation is key to stopping illegal fishing activities, which hurt fishers operating within legal boundaries.

Larissa Milo-Dale
EU Fisheries Control Coalition Communications Coordinator
Senior Communications Officer for Marine, WWF European Policy Office
lmilodale@wwf.eu
+32 483 26 20 86

What: Media briefing held on January 14, 2021, by NGOs, followed by a Q/A session, to announce publication of a joint paper detailing 10 recommended EU actions on marine biodiversity in response to the EU 2030 Biodiversity Strategy, and the preparation of the EU Parliament’s position on the Strategy.

Why: On January 14th, both the Environment and Fisheries Committees of the European Parliament (EP) discussed a first draft of the EP response to the European Commission’s EU 2030 Biodiversity Strategy, issued in May 2020. The EP will be finalising and voting on its position in the coming months, and this Strategy is fundamental to driving the EU’s ambition to halt the extreme loss of biodiversity in Europe and globally, from 2021 onwards.

Speakers and Presentations:

1. Rebecca Hubbard, Our Fish – Saving Europe’s Biodiversity and Maximising Climate and Ecosystem Benefits of Fisheries
2. Andrea Ripol, Seas at Risk  – Fisheries bycatch of sensitive species and harmful fisheries subsidies – Biodiversity Strategy 2030
3. Nicolas Fournier, Oceana – Protecting marine habitats, Tackling bottom-trawling in Europe
4. Eleonora Panella, IFAW – Underwater noise and using EU influence globally
5. Matthew Gianni, Deep Sea Conservation Coalition – deep-sea fisheries (more EU) and deep-sea mining

This event saw the launch of a joint NGO paper on EU marine biodiversity to learn about how key marine policy gaps in the EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030 can be overcome, and NGO recommendations for areas of improvement to the EU Parliament draft Own Initiative (INI) report on the Biodiversity Strategy – which was presented in the ENVI Committee on Thursday January 14th.

Back to the Source – Saving Europe’s Biodiversity Starts in the Ocean, jointly published by BirdLife Europe, BLOOM, ClientEarth, Deep Sea Conservation Coalition, Greenpeace European Unit, IFAW, MEDASSET, Oceana in Europe, Our Fish, Sciaena, Seas At Risk, The Nature Conservancy, WDC – Whale and Dolphin Conservation, provides a toolkit of 10 ocean-related actions that EU decision-makers, including the European Commission, EU Member State ministers and MEPs, can use to translate this strategy into tangible and binding actions to ensure the long-term health of our ocean, in order to sustain ourselves, our communities and livelihoods.

The Leaders Pledge For Nature, UN Sustainable Development Goals, Paris Agreement, European Green Deal have all set a path towards transforming the way we do things in order to save life on the planet. But the planet needs more than promises.  Life originated in  the ocean, and continues to depend on the ocean – it provides every second breath we take. Without a healthy and functioning ocean, life would be impossible.  Back to the Source provides guidance on how the EU can rapidly accelerate progress towards this urgent goal.

 

Brussels, 17 December 2020:- Today’s EU Council of Agriculture and Fisheries Ministers decision to continue overfishing in its own waters is “a shameful move that undermines global progress towards achieving a healthy ocean and the EU’s commitment to sustainable fisheries management”, said Our Fish Program Director, Rebecca Hubbard. Two leading fisheries scientists also called the EU move to roll over 25% of 2020 quotas for stocks shared with the UK “not acceptable”, as it could cause overfishing it will prove “difficult to reverse”.

Of the TACs (Total Allowable Catches – quotas) set for approximately 30 EU-only fish stocks, it appears that around 30% have been set above scientific advice for sustainable limits, as provided by the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) [1]. For both the severely unhealthy fish stocks of cod in the Kattegat and roundnose grenadier in the deep sea, ICES had advised zero catch, yet both received “bycatch” TACs (supposed quotas for ‘untargeted’ catch). A number of other TACs, which the European Commission had proposed in line with ICES advice, including southern hake, and sole and pollack in the Bay of Biscay, were pushed above scientific advice by EU fisheries ministers [2,3].

“EU fisheries ministers don’t seem to have gotten the memo. Whilst EU leaders are running around signing pledges, waxing lyrical about revolutionising our relationship with nature and taking climate action, EU fisheries ministers have today signed off on another year of overfishing that will continue wrecking ocean health – which will subsequently impact human health”, said Hubbard.

“Unfortunately, today’s outcome shows how far EU member states are from delivering on their promises to their citizens – including our children, who will inherit the legacy of their decisions. EU fisheries ministers willingly lock themselves into this abusive cycle, which helps nobody – not the fish, the ocean, the climate or the fishers. After a year of horrendous warning signs that ongoing destruction of nature will have serious repercussions, today’s outcome is not just unbelievable, it’s shameful”, concluded Hubbard.

It appears that fisheries ministers stayed up all night specifically haggling over how to water down the (already weak) Commission proposal for reducing demersal fishing effort in the Mediterranean Sea from 15% to just 7.5% – a pitiful outcome for the beleaguered Mediterannean, which led to vilification of France, Italy and Spain by EU Commissioner for the Environment, Oceans and Fisheries, Virginijus Sinkevičius during the AGRIFISH press conference, who said that he regretted that “fisheries ministers were not ready to fully take into account consideration scientific advice” [4].

In addition, fisheries ministers agreed on the Commission’s proposed roll over of 25% of 2020 TACs shared with the UK and Norway, as a contingency plan for January – March 2021 (to ensure fishing of shared stocks can continue until a more permanent agreement for fishing in 2021 is made).

“The EU decision to ‘roll over’ 25% of 2020 quotas for fish stocks shared with the UK for the first quarter of 2021, which disregards scientific advice for sustainable fishing limits, exposes the true depth of the EU’s fisheries myopia”, said Hubbard. “While this rollover is clearly aimed at dealing with short-term political problems, it is not based on scientific advice for 2021 fishing limits, and ultimately makes the next set of decisions even harder, leaving fish populations in an even worse state.”

“It is absolutely fundamental that the EU does not go ahead with setting these contingency TACs unless the UK and Norway agree; setting quotas unilaterally will break with the international law of the sea and turn the ocean around Europe into the wild west”, she added.

“While I understand the need for pragmatic measures to set preliminary TACs for 2021, this should not be an excuse for ignoring scientific advice to avoid overfishing”, said Dr Rainer Froese, GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research in Germany. “For example, ICES recommended a 17% reduction in the 2021 catch of North Sea cod, and this reduction should be applied to the preliminary TAC. A rollover approach that leads to overfishing in the first quarter will be difficult to reverse later on.”

“This 25% ‘roll over’ rule is clearly not acceptable. The Commission suggests to do even worse than the already outdated and insufficient Maximum Sustainable Yield approach. While we should urgently move toward a more precautionary ecosystem-based approach, the EU Commission is proposing to not follow the scientific advice for at least the first quarter of 2021. For some stocks it will be too late, with detrimental effects on fish populations, fishers and marine ecosystems,” said Didier Gascuel, Director of the Center for Aquatic Sciences and Fisheries at Agrocampus Ouest in France.

A recent Our Fish analysis of 20 years of the EU-Norway Agreement on shared stocks shows that on average, the EU, Norway and UK have exceeded scientific advice on fishing quotas by an average of 11% [5].

 

Contacts:

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

Rebecca Hubbard, Our Fish Program Director, press@our.fish,+34 657 669 425

 

Notes:

[1] As this press release was published, detailed analysis was ongoing on the outcomes of the meeting. Please contact press@our.fish for more details.

[2] Agriculture and Fisheries Council, 15-16 December 2020

https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/meetings/agrifish/2020/12/15-16/

[3] Commission proposes fishing opportunities in the Atlantic and North Sea for 2021

https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_20_1979

[4] The EU Council Press Conference, 17/12/20

https://video.consilium.europa.eu/event/en/24298

Commissioner Sinkevičius press statement after AGRIFISH Council, 17 December 2020, Brussels

https://ec.europa.eu/commission/commissioners/2019-2024/sinkevicius/announcements/commissioner-sinkevicius-press-statement-after-agrifish-council-17-december-2020-brussels_en

[5] Ending the Blame Game Carousel: 20 Years of EU, Norway and UK Overfishing

A new analysis of joint EU, Norwegian and UK fishing practices demonstrates how for the last 20 years, the EU, along with Norway and the UK, have consistently set annual fishing limits for shared stocks above scientific advice. This clear proof of overfishing, usually comes with well-worn excuses of how the other parties are to blame. Norway blames the EU and UK for uncontrolled discarding of fish at sea, while the EU blames Norway for pushing fishing limits above Maximum Sustainable Yield

Blue Implosion – How EU Failure To Enforce Fish Discard Ban Could Drive Fisheries Management System To Collapse

A new paper, The Unintended Impact Of The European Discard Ban, has found that an increase in annual EU fishing quotas of up to 50% was applied to ‘support’ the implementation of the Landing Obligation (LO) – the rule to reduce fish waste – in EU waters in 2020, despite widespread failure to enforce the rule and the continued discarding of fish

 

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

 

Joint NGO media briefing, 14 December 2020: Note poor audio for first 2:40

Brussels, 15 December 2020:- As the AGRIFISH Council meeting opens this morning, the Our Fish campaign is calling on the EU to “make peace with nature” and to demonstrate leadership in ocean governance by setting fishing limits in line with scientific advice and ending overfishing in 2021 [1].

Fishing limits will be set during this week’s AGRIFISH for approximately 30 North East Atlantic and deep sea fish populations, which are exclusively fished by EU member states – approximately 25% of all stocks accessed by the EU. The EU will therefore bear sole responsibility for any quotas set above scientific advice [2].

A recent Our Fish analysis of 20 years of the EU-Norway Agreement on shared stocks shows that on average, the EU, Norway and UK have exceeded scientific advice on fishing quotas by an average of 11% [3]. This analysis further shows that the fish populations of most interest to the EU and UK are more heavily overfished than those of interest to Norway, undermining any EU argument that Norway is primarily to blame for overfishing.

“This week the EU has an opportunity to demonstrate that it is committed to ending the war on nature, by ending overfishing of EU fish populations”, said Our Fish Programme Director Rebecca Hubbard. “To continue setting quotas above scientific advice would not only worsen ocean health, it would set a bad tone for the upcoming UK and Norway negotiations for shared stocks and undermine the EU’s work on global ocean governance and climate action”, she added.

In his December 2nd State of the Planet speech, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said that “making peace with nature is the defining task of the 21st century” [4]. EU First Vice President Frans Timmermans echoed this during the opening of the EU International Ocean Governance forum yesterday, adding that without a “healthy ocean, we cannot have a healthy planet” [5].

“There is no time left for words without action”, concluded Hubbard. “This AGRIFISH meeting is a clear litmus test for how committed EU leaders are to the Green Deal and making peace with nature – will they walk the walk or are they just full of hot air?”

ENDS

Ocean Uprising:

A heroic herring hero swims through the ocean, evading voracious cod, dolphins and massive industrial trawlers in “Ocean Uprising”, an online game released by the Our Fish campaign, ahead of the EU AGRIFISH Council negotiations on North East Atlantic fish stocks.

Game players are invited to sign a petition addressed to the European Commission, EU Council and EU Member states calling for an end to destructive overfishing in order to build ocean resilience in response to the climate and nature crisis, and to support a just transition to ecosystem-based fisheries management.

Press release: https://bit.ly/heroicherring

Play the game: https://bit.ly/oceanuprising

 

See also:

Blue Implosion – How EU Failure To Enforce Fish Discard Ban Could Drive Fisheries Management System To Collapse

A new paper, The Unintended Impact Of The European Discard Ban, has found that an increase in annual EU fishing quotas of up to 50% was applied to ‘support’ the implementation of the Landing Obligation (LO) – the rule to reduce fish waste – in EU waters in 2020, despite widespread failure to enforce the rule and the continued discarding of fish

https://our.fish/press/blue-implosion-how-eu-failure-to-enforce-fish-discard-ban-could-drive-fisheries-management-system-to-collapse/

 

Contacts:

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

Notes:

[1] Agriculture and Fisheries Council, 15-16 December 2020

https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/meetings/agrifish/2020/12/15-16/

[2] Commission proposes fishing opportunities in the Atlantic and North Sea for 2021

https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_20_1979

[3] Briefing: Ending the Blame Game Carousel: Norway, the EU and UK Have All Been Overfishing for 20 Years: Agreed TACs compared to ICES scientific advice in the EU-Norway Agreement

https://our.fish/press/ending-the-blame-game-carousel-20-years-of-eu-norway-and-uk-overfishing/

Full analysis:

https://our.fish/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Agreed-TACs-Compared-to-ICES-Scientific-Advice-in-the-Norway-Agreement-2020.docx.pdf

[4] December 2nd, 2020: The UN Secretary-General speaks

on the state of the planet

“On 2 December at Columbia University, the UN Secretary-General delivered a landmark speech on the state of the planet, setting the stage for dramatically scaled-up ambition on climate change over the coming year”

https://www.un.org/en/climatechange/un-secretary-general-speaks-state-planet

[5] EU International Ocean Governance Forum 2020 – December 14-16, 2020 – Virtual event

https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/maritimeforum/en/frontpage/1628

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