Response to the Leaked EU Action Plan, reported by Euractiv and elsewhere:
“The EU’s Action Plan summarises many of the challenges facing the ocean, and proposes a few baby steps to address them – but great strides are needed to match the accelerating marine ecosystem decline. The European Commissioner for the Environment, Oceans and Fisheries, Virginijus Sinkevičius needs to jump the chasm between rhetoric and action: by fully implementing the Common Fisheries Policy, especially the provisions that prioritise low impact fishing, and delivering an accelerated and ambitious Energy Transition Action Plan for the fishing industry, he would truly be acting on the climate and biodiversity crises”, said Rebecca Hubbard, Program Director of Our Fish.
“The EU must end the ploughing up of seabed carbon stores and the excessive removal of the ocean’s carbon engineers – such as fish. This is not good fisheries management or good carbon management and the Commission’s Action Plan fails to fix this within the urgent timeframes we need. We are now looking to the Commission to publish a review of the Common Fisheries Policy which allows for a clear and meaningful transition plan to low impact and low carbon fishing without delay.”
Contact: press@our.fish