Undercurrent: NGOs pull up EU commissioner over sustainability claims, May 19, 2021
On May 12, several NGOs — including Oceana, ClientEarth, Seas At Risk, Dutch Elasmobranch Society, Sciaena, and Birdwatch Ireland — sent a letter to Virginijus Sinkevicius, European Commissioner for Environment, Oceans and Fisheries, claiming a recent EU Commission representative’s statement was ‘misleading’ and ‘a hurdle on the path improving the sustainability of fisheries in the EU’.
Background: On Monday 10 May, 2021, a European Commission representative attending the Fisheries Committee meeting in the European Parliament made a misleading statement about the sustainability of fish available for sale in the EU. NGOs have written to the Commissioner for the Environment, Oceans and Fisheries Virginijus Sinkevičius, the Director General of DG MARE, and Members of the PECH Committee with our concerns about this misinformation. The EU has a long way to go to end overfishing and greenwashing will not help.