presscat: Press release

European Commission kick-starts multi-stakeholder cooperation to decarbonise sector and achieve 2050 climate goals  

Brussels, 16 June 2023:– Today, on the occasion of the European Commission’s high-level conference on an energy transition initiative for EU fisheries, blue NGOs Oceana, ClientEarth and Our Fish are calling on the Commission and on fisheries stakeholders to set ambitious targets to achieve resilient and carbon-neutral fishing by 2050.   

Deputy Vice President at Oceana in Europe, Vera Coelho, said: “The energy transition initiative and related Partnership are an unprecedented opportunity to make progress in ensuring the fisheries sector plays its part in helping to resolve the greatest environmental challenge of our time – climate change.”  

The United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s latest scientific message is clear: all sectors must drastically cut their greenhouse gas emissions. Fisheries’ dependence on fossil fuels and their economic vulnerability to spikes in energy prices highlight the need to accelerate measures to reduce this dependence and move towards clean energy. To this end, the European Commission is initiating a multi-stakeholder partnership (the so-called “Energy Transition Partnership”), and developing a roadmap concerning its energy transition initiative for EU fisheries, launched in February. 

“To be effective in practise, the roadmap resulting from this Partnership must have substance in terms of tackling all the climate impacts of fishing. Concretely, this means reducing direct fuel emissions; protecting blue carbon, including sensitive carbon-rich habitats, from physical disturbance by bottom-towed fishing gear; and protecting fish from unselective, intensive fishing. No single party can go it alone – it requires commitment from all involved,” added Coelho. 

In addition to getting the fishing sector to cut its direct emissions and protect blue carbon, the European Commission must ensure that Member States better implement the Common Fisheries Policy and prioritise allocation of fishing opportunities to less climate-impactful fleets, including those that use more selective, less energy-intensive, and less habitat-damaging techniques. Finally, the Commission must provide necessary guidance and funding support to accompany fishers in this transition. 

Head of ClientEarth Europe, Adam Weiss, said: “We cannot successfully achieve the energy transition if we keep subsidising the use of fossil fuels – this is a no brainer. It is time to get rid of fuel tax exemptions in general, and for the fishing sector in particular, and use the money to aid the transition towards low carbon and low-impact fishing in Europe. To achieve this transition, we need to support small-scale fishers who are the most vulnerable to change, but who are not currently the main beneficiaries of public funding for the sector.” 

Oceana estimates the carbon footprint of EU fisheries at over 6 million tons of CO2 per year, on average – the equivalent of driving around the planet nearly 700,000 times. Today’s high-level conference will bring together stakeholders from across sectors – from fisheries and aquaculture, European institutions, research, financial institutes, and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) – to kick-start the Energy Transition Partnership. 

“This EU energy transition is an opportunity for EU countries to account for the full ecological and climate impacts of fishing, and ensure that the EU is leading the world in transitioning to low-impact and low carbon fishing,” said Rebecca Hubbard, Our Fish Program Director.  

 

*ENDS* 

Learn more: 

NGO Policy brief: Carbon-friendly & economically resilient EU fisheries 

Video on actions towards carbon-neutral EU fisheries 

 

#ClimateAction #fisheries 

 

Contact  

Emily Fairless, Oceana Communications Officer, efairless@oceana.org, +32 478 038 490 

Diane Vandesmet, ClientEarth Senior Communications Officer,  Dvandesmet@clientearth.org, +32 493 412 289 

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

Dublin, 11 May 2023:- NGOs today called for cross-departmental action from Ireland’s government to enable a transition to low impact, low emissions fisheries to deliver on commitments to halt biodiversity loss, take action on the climate crisis and secure the future viability of the Irish fishing industry.

Ahead of an event taking place today at Dáil Éireann (see below), Birdwatch Ireland and the Our Fish campaign are calling on Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Charlie McConalogue, Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications, Eamon Ryan, and Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Darragh O’Brien, to recognise the critical role that fish play in capturing carbon from the atmosphere as part of the ocean carbon pump, and thus approach fisheries management as carbon management by incorporating it into Ireland’s climate action plans.

“If Ireland is to meaningfully deliver on its climate and biodiversity obligations, and secure the long term viability of the fishing industry, the government must grasp that good fisheries management is good carbon management, and take commensurate, widespread action to minimise destructive bottom trawling, eliminate fossil fuel subsidies, and prioritise low impact fishing practices”, said Sinéad Loughran, Marine Policy & Advocacy Officer at Birdwatch Ireland. “Ireland’s fishing communities would reap socio-economic benefits if the government takes the leap from the current mis-management regime to one where the role of fisheries management becomes part of climate action.”

“Fish are keystones of the ocean’s biological pump, the system constantly at work capturing and storing excess carbon from the atmosphere, where they play a critical role in the ocean’s capacity to sequester carbon”, said Angela Martin of Agder University, Norway [1]. “When more fish are left in the ocean, they not only enable whole ecosystems to thrive, they also help more carbon sink to the ocean floor. The removal of too many fish using methods like bottom trawling can add excessive emissions and damage this carbon-storing habitat – and this has potentially huge implications for climate and biodiversity obligations”.

The carbon stored by the ocean’s top layer of sediments is nearly double the amount contained in all terrestrial surface soils [2]. However, every year indiscriminate trawling of the seabed disturbs carbon from the seafloor, resuspending it in the water column. In addition, because they burn the most fuel, the most ecologically destructive fishing vessels also contribute the most emissions; the EU fishing fleet alone accounts for nearly 7.3 million tons of CO2 emissions per year – the fuel for which is exempt from tax, while other EU Member States also provide additional fossil fuel subsidies [3].

The EU has the legislative power to facilitate a transition to low impact and low emission fishing in Article 17 of the Common Fisheries Policy, which outlines the requirement to allocate quotas based on transparent, objective environmental, social and economic criteria, which, as studies have found, would also deliver more jobs [4].

“Put simply, the current EU system of subsidising high impact, fossil fuel intensive fishing activities is akin to cutting off your nose to spite your face – it puts short-term operational costs ahead of environmental sustainability, climate resilience, jobs and economic profitability”, said Rebecca Hubbard, Program Director of our Fish. “As an influential player in EU fisheries, Ireland should instead be prioritising access to fishing opportunities for low-impact and low-emissions fishing fleets in order to accelerate the transition to fisheries management that delivers climate, biodiversity and social benefits.”

“This transition to a low impact and low emissions fishing industry requires a concerted effort from the Department of Environment, Climate and Communications, to the Department of Housing, the Department of Finance, and of course, the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine”, said Loughran. “While the government’s Climate Action Plan recognises the role of blue carbon, by failing to embrace the role of marine biodiversity, including fish, in the ocean’s carbon pump, it risks missing out on the ocean’s potential for tempering the impact of climate change.”

“By excluding fishing industry emissions, both directly through fuel consumption and indirectly through the disruption or removal of oceanic carbon stores, the government has created a huge gap in Ireland’s total emissions inventory”, she said. “However, by taking into account the true extent of national emissions, the Irish government has the opportunity to implement a whole-of-economy approach to climate action as obligated under the Paris Agreement, and outlined in the Climate Action Plan. Recognising the role of the fishing sector in climate action and Ireland’s obligations under EU fisheries law would help to ensure that support and funding is provided for the transition to climate and nature-compatible fisheries management that we urgently need.”

“I am pleased to host Birdwatch Ireland and Our Fish in Leinster House to present their views”, said Jennifer Whitmore TD, Social Democrat spokesperson for Climate Action & Biodiversity. “This is a very important and timely discussion. Having worked in this area for many years as a fisheries scientist and ecologist, I have a particular interest in this important  issue. Our waters cannot simply be seen as a commercial space”.

“They represent a key element in the fight against climate change and require robust protection”, added Deputy Whitmore. The work of Our Fish, Birdwatch Ireland, along with others, is essential to informing our work in this field but it is up to the government to act.” 

 

For more information:

Download the Ireland fish-carbon briefing 

ENDS

 

Details of today’s event: Fish as Carbon Engineers – the role of fish and fisheries management in climate action

Date: 11 May 2023

Time: 1pm (duration 45-60 minutes)

Location: AV Room, Leinster House. For access to venue, contact sloughran@birdwatchireland.ie, +353 86 0810443

Host: Jennifer Whitmore, TD

Speakers:

• Angela Helen Martin, Agder University, Norway
• Professor Dave Reid, Marine Institute, Ireland 
• Rebecca Hubbard, Programme Director, Our Fish
• Sinéad Loughran, Marine Policy & Advocacy Officer, BirdWatch Ireland

 

Contact: Sinéad Loughran, Marine Policy & Advocacy Officer at Birdwatch Ireland, +353 86 0810443 sloughran@birdwatchireland.ie, 

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

 

Contact: Sinéad Loughran, Marine Policy & Advocacy Officer at Birdwatch Ireland, +353 86 0810443 sloughran@birdwatchireland.ie,

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

Notes:

[1] SA Saba, G.K., Burd, A.B., Dunne, J.P. et al. (2021). Toward a better understanding of fish‐based contribution to ocean carbon flux. Limnology and Oceanography, 66. https://doi.org/10.1002/lno.11709

[2] Atwood, T.B., Witt, A., Mayorga, J. et al. (2020). Global Patterns in Marine Sediment Carbon Stocks. Frontiers in Marine Science, 7. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2020.00165

[3] Our Fish (2021). The Fishing Industry’s Financial Gains Due To Fuel Tax Reductions For The Past 10 Years. A selection of cases within European fishing fleets..

[4] Empowering EU Fisheries Policy to Restore Marine Health, Tackle Climate Change and Create Jobs.

https://our.fish/publications/empowering-eu-fisheries-policy-to-restore-marine-health-tackle-climate-change-and-create-jobs/

 

 

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/

 

Video recording of press briefing. View on YouTube

Presentation of Report Launch: Empowering EU Fisheries Policy to Restore Marine Health, Tackle Climate Change and Create Jobs

Brussels, 19 April 2023:- Our Fish today called for the EU to implement a key component of its Common Fisheries Policy (CFP), in order to secure a just and sustainable future for EU fishing communities, as a new report demonstrates how greater employment potential can be generated by awarding EU fishing quotas according to environmental and social criteria. [1]

The report, authored by Vertigo Lab and commissioned by the Our Fish campaign, Empowering EU Fisheries Policy to Restore Marine Health, Tackle Climate Change and Create Jobs, finds that “the reallocation of [EU fishing] quotas in favour of environmental and social criteria appears to positively impact employment”, and details how EU Member States and the European Commission could realise the potential of the CFP through the full implementation the policy’s Article 17, which states that fishing access should be allocated by EU member states according to transparent economic, social and environmental criteria [2,3].

The report also reveals that fishing practices that have a lower impact on the marine environment also have a positive socio-economic impact. By examining case studies in Ireland, France, Germany, Sweden, Poland and Denmark, the report reveals that allocating fishing quota based on environmental criteria can create more jobs, keep wealth within the EU and simultaneously lower the ecosystem and carbon impacts of fishing, which further benefits dependent communities and helps the EU meet its international climate commitments.

“The results are encouraging for the transition to sustainable fishing”, said co-author Morgan Raffray of Vertigo Lab. “In our case studies, quota reallocation leads to job creation whilst it does not impact the economic output capabilities of the fishing sector.”

“The EU is sitting on a golden opportunity to revitalise the fortunes of the EU fishing sector”, said Our Fish Programme Director Rebecca Hubbard. “This report shows that if member states such as France, Ireland and Germany, gave half of the quota from destructive fishing fleets to lower-impact fleets, they could create more jobs, maintain strong economic outputs, keeping more wealth within the EU, and improving the future security for Europe’s fishing communities”.

“The EU has made commitments to environmental and climate action that are also critical to ensuring a healthy ocean for fishers and all citizens, yet these promises are being disregarded in everyday fisheries management, with the most destructive fishing fleets being automatically given the most access to fish, based on a status quo from a past era” added Hubbard. “The European Commission and EU Member States have the tools in the Common Fisheries Policy to rapidly turn this situation around. They need to immediately start driving the transition to a more socially fair, environmentally sensitive, and low carbon fishing fleet, and this report demonstrates how they can do it.”

Background: 

The European Union’s Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) primarily seeks to deliver the sustainability of fisheries and to guarantee stable income and jobs for fishers. This is ensured through limits on numbers of fish which can be killed (caught and landed) through the allocation of Total Allowable Catches (TAC). These TACs are distributed among member states, which then in turn are allocated to individual fishers.

The 2013 reformed CFP included an Article 17 which stipulates that access to fishing should be allocated by member states according to economic, social and environmental criteria. However, the CFP does not include criteria for carrying this out, and the European Commission has not obliged member states to report on this in a uniform and regular way.

Download: Empowering EU Fisheries Policy to Restore Marine Health, Tackle Climate Change and Create Jobs

Presentation of Report Launch: Empowering EU Fisheries Policy to Restore Marine Health, Tackle Climate Change and Create Jobs

ENDS

Contacts:

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

 

Notes:

[1] Empowering EU Fisheries Policy to Restore Marine Health, Tackle Climate Change and Create Jobs

https://our.fish/publications/empowering-eu-fisheries-policy-to-restore-marine-health-tackle-climate-change-and-create-jobs/

[2] Based in Bordeaux, France, Vertigo Lab is a “think-and-do-tank on environmental economics”

https://vertigolab.eu/en/home/

[3] Article 17 of the Common Fisheries Policy:

Criteria for the allocation of fishing opportunities by Member States

When allocating the fishing opportunities available to them, as referred to in Article 16, Member States shall use transparent and objective criteria including those of an environmental, social and economic nature. The criteria to be used may include, inter alia, the impact of fishing on the environment, the history of compliance, the contribution to the local economy and historic catch levels. Within the fishing opportunities allocated to them, Member States shall endeavour to provide incentives to fishing vessels deploying selective fishing gear or using fishing techniques with reduced environmental impact, such as reduced energy consumption or habitat damage.

https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=celex%3A32013R1380#d1e2066-22-1

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/

 

 

A video recording of the press briefing for the launch of the report is available above and on YouTube.

View the speakers’ presentation here.

Brussels, 12 April 2023: – Our Fish is calling on all EU Member States, particularly those with important small-scale fishing fleets, such as Spain, France and Germany, to support the introduction of appropriate fuel tax for the fishing industry in the revision of the EU Energy Taxation Directive, as a new report shows that by cutting fuel subsidies, the EU could have instead generated between €653 million and €1.4 billion in annual revenue, and used it to pay the salaries of twenty thousand fishers or fund over six thousand energy reduction & decarbonisation projects [1].

The study, commissioned by the Our Fish campaign, and authored by independent researchers, “Better Use of Public Money: the End of Fuel Subsidies for the EU Fishing Industry”, details how EU Member States could fund a more ecologically sustainable and socially equitable and resilient fishing industry by removing fuel tax subsidies, while also delivering good economic outcomes, with an average impact score calculated by the report authors of 188% above fuel subsidies. The report includes case studies for France, Spain and Germany and demonstrates that between 2010 and 2020, the EU fishing fleet was exempted from paying up to €15.7 billion in fuel taxes.

The report states that “In the proposal for a revised Energy Taxation Directive (ETD), the proposed tax rate for fishing industry fuel is as low as 3.6 cents per litre; approximately 20 times lower than average tax rates used for road transport (67 cents per litre). However, removing fuel subsidies does not necessarily mean a reduction in overall support for the fisheries sector… With 33 cents tax per litre in 2019 (the minimum level of taxation applicable to motor fuels specified in the EU Council Regulation on the taxation of energy products), the EU could have paid the salaries of twenty thousand fishers for a year or more than six thousand energy reduction & decarbonisation projects.”

“In our report, we calculated the avoided taxes for the EU large and small-scale fleet over the period 2010-2020 for three different scenarios of taxation, and then used the results to illustrate what could be done differently and with vastly greater social benefit than fossil fuel subsidies. This means putting vast sums of money to use for good fisheries performance”, said report co-author Dr Laura Elsler, independent scientific consultant. “The data clearly shows that by supporting the biggest emitters, fuel subsidies stand in the way of a transition to low-carbon fisheries.”

“What this report shows is that the EU could provide more of the subsidies that help shift from unsustainable and unprofitable fishing to income-supporting and environmentally sound use of public money. Ramping up alternative subsidies such as fleet decarbonisation, support of fishers and other schemes can have clear benefits for humans and the environment, with an impact higher than fuel subsidies”, said report co-author Dr Maartje Oostdijk, researcher at the University of Iceland.

“The review of the Energy Taxation Directive is critical to ensuring that EU legislation is up to date and it can deliver on its commitment to current and future generations to take action to end the climate crisis”, said Rebecca Hubbard, Program Director at Our Fish.

“While a crucial element of this action means cutting emissions and ending fossil fuel subsidies, the EU has for decades supported the consumption of fossil fuels by subsidising fuel for the fishing industry. As this report shows, subsidising fossil fuel use does no favours to the fishing industry or our communities, because alternative subsidies can deliver better outcomes for fishers, the environment and the climate.”

“EU member states who have important small-scale fishing fleets such as Spain, France, and Germany, could have instead invested the revenue generated by fuel tax to pay annual salaries, train fishers professionally, support low-impact fishing projects, energy reduction and decarbonisation, regenerative practice and fisheries management initiatives, and achieved an average impact 188% higher than fuel subsidies”, added Hubbard.

“Since the EU fishing fleet is currently very profitable, and the large-scale fleet are the ones that benefit the most from fuel subsidies, Member States could better support their small-scale fisheries with alternative subsidies, delivering improved socio-economic conditions and accelerating an urgently-needed decarbonisation of the EU fishing fleet”, concluded Hubbard.

 

Contacts:

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

 

Notes:

[1] Better Use of Public Money: the End of Fuel Subsidies for the EU Fishing Industry
https://our.fish/publications/report-better-use-of-public-money-the-end-of-fuel-subsidies-for-the-fishing-industry/

Disclaimer: The figures for the proposed tax rate by the Commission in the revised ETD are €0.0324 (not €0.036) and will be updated in the report shortly. The error came from the conversion from gigajoule to marine fuel.

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, 21 February 2023:- Responding to the European Commission’s publication today of a package of EU Action Plans aimed at addressing the biodiversity and climate crises in the ocean and fisheries, Our Fish Programme Director Rebecca Hubbard said:

“The ocean’s ability to provide us with life support systems like food and carbon sequestration is under threat as a result of the increasingly severe impacts of overfishing, human-induced climate change and pollution, yet the European Commission has today delivered inaction plans that fail to jump the chasm from lofty rhetoric to a roadmap for meaningful action that would both transform European fisheries and address the planetary crisis”.

Born out of the European Green Deal and President von der Leyen’s commitment to address the nature and climate crises, The EU Action Plan: Protecting and restoring marine ecosystems for sustainable and resilient fisheries (“Marine action plan”), along with the EU Action Plan: Energy transition of EU fisheries and aquaculture, and the Functioning of the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) report, were released on February 21, following months of delay [2,3,4].

“While we welcome the European Commission’s Marine Action Plan’s proposal to map seabed carbon and the impact of bottom trawling in EU waters, the proposal is too little, too slow and fails to address extraction of fish and CO2 emissions”, said Hubbard. “The EU must end the ploughing up of seabed carbon stores, the excessive removal of the ocean’s carbon engineers such as fish, and the CO2 emissions from vessels burning subsidised fossil fuel. These practices are neither good fisheries management nor good carbon management and the Commission’s Marine Action Plan fails to put this right within the urgent timeframes we need.”

“More positively, in its report on the Evaluation of the functioning of the Common Fisheries Policy, the European Commission has taken important steps forward in committing to develop an economic tool that properly values natural marine ecosystem services to society and developing a guide for EU member states to utilise environmental, social and economic criteria for the allocation of fishing quota. By allocating access to fish based on environmental or social performance criteria, the EU can drive the transition to a low-carbon, low-impact fishing fleet that restores the ocean and delivers thriving fisheries.”

“However the proposed EU Action Plan: Energy transition of EU fisheries and aquaculture appears to be more of a discussion paper than an ‘action plan’. An economic incentive is clearly needed to drive the decarbonisation of the EU fishing sector, along with a financial penalty for failing to implement it. In addition, the Energy Taxation Directive must eliminate all fuel subsidies, while the European Maritime, Fisheries and Aquaculture Fund (EMFAF) must be updated to require that at least 35% of any support goes to transitioning to low impact and low carbon fishing – anything less is gross hypocrisy.”

“This Commission and European Parliament have just over a year left in their mandates, yet the climate and biodiversity emergency does not stand for election or wait for endorsement. The time for grand talk is over – Our Fish is calling on the European Commission and EU member state governments to ditch the rhetoric and take definitive action, by immediately beginning to implement and strengthen the measures described in these proposals, and for Members of the European Parliament to support them in doing so”, concluded Hubbard.

In May 2021, sixteen European NGOs published a detailed ‘shadow action plan’ to provide key recommendations for the European Commission’s Action plan to conserve fisheries resources and protect marine ecosystems and to demonstrate the level of ambition and timeline that we expect it to deliver [5].

 

ENDS

 

Contact: Dave Walsh, press@our.fish, +34 691 826 764

 

Notes:

[1] Fisheries, aquaculture and marine ecosystems: transition to clean energy and ecosystem protection for more sustainability and resilience

https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_23_828

[2] EU Action Plan: Protecting and restoring marine ecosystems for sustainable and resilient fisheries

https://oceans-and-fisheries.ec.europa.eu/publications/communication-commission-eu-action-plan-protecting-and-restoring-marine-ecosystems-sustainable-and_en

 

[3] Evaluation of the functioning of the Common Fisheries Policy

https://oceans-and-fisheries.ec.europa.eu/publications/common-fisheries-policy-today-and-tomorrow-fisheries-and-oceans-pact-towards-sustainable-science_en

[4] EU Action Plan: Energy transition of EU fisheries and aquaculture

https://oceans-and-fisheries.ec.europa.eu/publications/communication-commission-energy-transition-eu-fisheries-and-aquaculture-sector_en

[5] Joint NGO Shadow Action Plan: Realising the Ambition of the EU Biodiversity Strategy in the Ocean: Key recommendations for the European Commission’s Action plan to conserve fisheries resources and protect marine ecosystems

 

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, 21 February 2023:- While the European Commission has just published the EU Action Plan: Energy transition of EU fisheries and aquaculture, NGOs criticised its lack of ambition, and the absence of concrete actions and strong guidelines – that would enable EU Member States to drive the process of decarbonisation of the fishing sector [1].

The urgent decarbonisation of the sector

The European Commission’s Energy Transition plan for EU fisheries comes as an important response to ongoing failure by EU Member States and the fishing industry to commence the much-needed decarbonisation of the sector.

The European fishing industry directly emits about 7.3 million tons of CO2 annually – about the same amount as Malta – by burning 2.3 billion litres of fossil fuel to power its engines. The carbon stored by the top layer of marine sediments is nearly double the amount contained in all terrestrial surface soils, but destructive fishing gears like bottom trawling disturbs and resuspends the carbon stored in the seabed and may be released back into the atmosphere.

A lack of strong guidelines

ClientEarth, Our Fish, Seas At Risk and BLOOM found that while the EU Action Plan lists actions facilitating dialogue and exchanges among scientists, decision-makers and industry, it fails to provide clear actions that would require Member States to set transition targets and redirect financing towards the energy transition.

“The proposed EU Action Plan is more of a discussion paper than an Action Plan. What is fundamentally needed to drive the decarbonisation of the EU fishing sector is an economic incentive to drive it, while issuing a financial penalty for failing to do so. The EU and the Member States must eliminate all fossil fuel subsidies in the revised Energy Taxation Directive and the European Maritime Fisheries and Aquaculture Fund (EMFAF) must be updated to require that at least 35% of any support goes to transitioning to low impact and low carbon fishing – anything less is gross hypocrisy,” said Rebecca Hubbard, Program Director at Our Fish.

“The energy crisis has exposed a lack of planning and vulnerability in the EU fishing sector, and has stressed the need to move even more quickly and strategically away from business as usual. EU funds and national funds must not be used to subsidise fuel for fishing vessels – it contradicts the pursuit of the energy transition, which is being driven at in parallel. The European Commission must provide EU Member States with strong guidelines on how to support the transition, how to move away from energy-intensive and destructive fishing practices and how to direct EU funds and national State aids towards the goal of decarbonisation. Small-scale and artisanal fishers should be supported as a matter of priority in the decarbonisation process.’” said Flaminia Tacconi, Senior Lawyer at ClientEarth.

Decarbonisation must not be an opportunity to maintain destructive fishing methods

“Directly or indirectly subsidising fossil fuels for fisheries can no longer be justified in the context of the climate emergency. Bottom trawling, among the most destructive fishing techniques – acknowledged as such by the European Commission in its marine action plan published today – is not only highly fuel-intensive but also releases sequestered carbon from the seabed and interferes with the carbon cycle. While the energy transition plan fails to address the urgently needed move away from this fishery, an encouraging step in the European Commission’s proposal in the Marine Action Plan is its plan to assess the impact of bottom fishing on the release of CO2 from the seabed in order to have a realistic knowledge of the CO2 emissions released by fishing activities”, said Monica Verbeek, executive director of Seas At Risk.

“We have identified dangerous caveats in the European Commission’s Communication on the energy transition of the fishing sector which has apparently not learned the lesson from the scandalous cases of electric fishing and demersal seining: the decarbonisation of the fishing sector must not be used as a new Trojan horse by industrial lobbies to perpetuate destructive methods. Equipping trawlers with electric engines or “the adoption of ‘flying’ or lighter trawl doors that reduce drag” are a fraud, said Valérie Le Brenne, Project manager at BLOOM. “At this stage, the Commission’s action plan is clearly geared towards maintaining industrial and large-scale fisheries rather than preserving small-scale coastal fisheries, which are the most selective and sustainable, and the most likely to move quickly to a low-carbon model”, she adds. “It’s a shame”.

“To remedy this, the European Commission should analyse EU member states’ application of Article 17, which requires states to allocate quotas based on environmental, social and economic criteria, and propose example criteria including seabed impacts and CO2 emissions, to incentivise the transition to low-carbon fishing, with targets and timelines. Existing active EU fishing fleet capacity should not be increased during the process of adopting new technologies”, added Rebecca Hubbard [2].

 

ENDS

Contacts:

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

Diane Vandesmet, ClientEarth, DVandesmet@clientearth.org; +32 493 41 22 89

 

Notes:

[1] EU Action Plan: Energy transition of EU fisheries and aquaculture

https://oceans-and-fisheries.ec.europa.eu/publications/communication-commission-energy-transition-eu-fisheries-and-aquaculture-sector_en

[2] Common Fisheries Policy Regulation TITLE II, Specific measures, Article 17

Article 17 requires Member States to allocate fishing opportunities using transparent and objective criteria with a focus on social, environmental, and economic criteria, including for example, the use of fishing gears with low environmental impact and reduced energy consumption.

https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/HTML/?uri=CELEX:32013R1380&from=EN

 

27/10/21: EU Holds Key To Just Transition to Low-Carbon, Low-Impact Fishing Industry – Report

In this 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.

https://our.fish/press/eu-holds-key-to-just-transition-to-low-carbon-low-impact-fishing-industry-report/

 

Website: https://decarbonisenow.eu/

 

 

 

 

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

 

 

 

EU fisheries ministers fail to adequately protect critically endangered European eel and other vulnerable fish species during quota negotiations for 2023

Brussels, 13 December 2022: Today, after a marathon meeting that ran all through the night, EU fisheries ministers have reached an agreement on the fishing opportunities for 2023. Although EU Member States have been legally obliged to set all fishing limits at sustainable levels since 2020, they have again failed to do so for some of the most vulnerable fish stocks.

“Ministers pay lip service to sustainability but, behind closed doors, they again choose short-term profitability over long-term wellbeing of the people and our planet” says Hélène Buchholzer, Fisheries Policy Officer at Seas At Risk. “Ministers’ systematic failure in setting sustainable fishing quotas for the most vulnerable species is alarming, as it erodes the ocean ecosystems we all depend upon.” 

The reluctance to take decisive measures is particularly notable for the critically endangered European eel. Despite the need for protection, it continues to be fished across most of its natural range. The scientific advice for 2023 is zero catches in all habitats for all life stages, including glass eel for restocking and aquaculture. Yet, parallel to efforts to protect biodiversity in Montreal, Member States were fighting proposed restrictions on their eel fisheries.

“The scientific advice is very clear – no fishing for eel can be considered sustainable. Instead, we need to do everything we can to stop all mortality of this critically endangered species and restore lost habitats.” says Niki Sporrong at the Fisheries Secretariat. “The Commission put forward a clear proposal to protect the peak migration in EU waters. After member states pushed back all night, the effectiveness of the complex agreement now announced is difficult to assess and leaves many potential loopholes. Overall, it is not the deal for eel we were hoping for.”

Fisheries Ministers also discussed fisheries for vulnerable deep-sea fish, these are species all grow slow and mature late, making them particularly vulnerable to overfishing. The scientific advice for many of them is that all fishing should stop or be greatly reduced.  Although these quotas officially are set jointly with the UK the bulk of the fishery is done by EU countries (France, Spain, Portugal, Ireland and Denmark).

“Sadly the EU member states weren’t able to turn a page on deep-sea conservation and decided to once again go over the scientific advice for several stocks. This flagrant disregard of the precautionary principle threatens not only the deep-sea stocks and ecosystems, but also the communities that still depend on them.” said Gonçalo Carvalho, Executive Coordinator of Sciaena. 

Since Brexit came into force 3 years ago the fishing quota negotiations have become a complex process of interlinked, closed door meetings. This opaque process makes public scrutiny of choices made increasingly hard, and although the negotiation outcomes should be based on scientific advice on sustainable catch limits this is quite often ignored.

Early next year the European Commission is expected to finally publish its long awaited review on the implementation of the Common Fisheries Policy as well as an ‘Action plan to conserve fisheries resources and protect marine ecosystems’. Both will be crucial milestones in the implementation of the European Green Deal and Biodiversity Strategy for 2030 and today’s decisions should thus also be seen as a benchmark for the future ambition.

“While scientists warn that fisheries need specific conservation rebuilding plans in the face of escalating climate change impacts, EU fisheries ministers refuse to acknowledge that more precautionary fisheries management will also deliver much-needed benefits and resilience to fish, ecosystem and fishers,” says Rebecca Hubbard from Our Fish. “This is a particularly stark contrast between science and politics while the UN Convention on Biological Diversity is underway in Montreal, and demonstrates the EU is still into talking big, but not acting on climate or biodiversity.” 

NOTES:

NGOs’ letter urges EU and UK leaders to end overfishing of shared stocks – Seas at Risk (seas-at-risk.org)

ENDS

Contacts:

Niki Sporrong, European Eel Project Manager, FishSec, +46 708 531225, niki.sporong@fishsec.org

Sara Tironi, Seas At Risk Communication officer +32 483 457 483 stironi@seas-at-risk.org

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

Gonçalo Carvalho, Executive Coordinator, Sciaena, +351936257281, gcarvalho@sciaena.org