Archives: publications

  • Ireland Fish Carbon Briefing

    Ireland Fish Carbon Briefing

    Ireland: Fish Carbon Briefing
    Download the Ireland: Fish Carbon Briefing

    The ocean plays a vital role in regulating the Earth’s climate, and fish and fisheries are important aspects of understanding the ocean’s ability to absorb and store carbon. Recent research has highlighted that fishing activities not only reduce carbon sequestration but also increase emissions from the ocean, disturbing the entire ecosystem. Fishing gear’s direct impacts on the seafloor can result in the re-suspension of sediment with impacts on carbon sequestration, and fishing vessels also produce direct emissions from burning fossil fuel. This new science highlights the important role of fishing from a climate change perspective and emphasises the need for ecosystem-based fisheries management.

    If Ireland is to fulfil its climate and biodiversity commitments and obligations, and in doing so ensure viable fisheries in the future, it is essential to consider the long-term impacts of certain fishing activities and prioritise sustainability over short-term operating costs.

    Download the Ireland Fish Carbon Briefing (pdf)

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

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

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

     

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

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

    FR Resume Executif: Donner aux politiques européennes des pêches les moyens de restaurer la santé du milieu marin, de lutter contre le changement climatique et de créer des emplois

    DE Kurzfassung: Stärkung der EU-Fischereipolitik zur Wiederherstellung der Meeresgesundheit, zur Bewältigung der Klimakrise und zur Schaffung von Arbeitsplätzen

    Press release: Report: How EU Can Help Halt Climate & Biodiversity Crisis and Create Jobs by Seizing Fisheries Opportunity

     

    The European Union’s common fisheries policy primarily aims to ensure the sustainability of fisheries and to guarantee stable income and jobs for fishermen. This mission is reflected in the management of the impact of fisheries on fish stocks through the establishment of Total Allowable Catches (TAC) that determine the number of landings that can be made in a year. These TACs are allocated among member countries, then within these countries among fishers.

    To reduce the environmental impacts of fisheries, fishing ought to be guided towards low impact fishing practices, whilst securing jobs in the sector. This balancing act requires looking at socioeconomic impacts of incorporating environmental and social criteria in quota allocation.

    Through case studies, this analysis investigated the socioeconomic impacts of environmentally driven reallocation scenarios. The focus was on two fisheries, haddock in France and Ireland, and plaice in Poland, Germany, Sweden, and Denmark. The results investigate how favouring artisanal fleets equipped with passive gears would impact the sector’s revenues, contribution to GDP through added value, and number of jobs.

    Using a peer-reviewed method based on input-output models, Vertigo Lab computed the socioeconomic impacts of specific fishing activities at the European Union level. The indicators of interest were jobs, gross added value which indicated the sector’s contribution to the European Gross Domestic Product (GDP), and turnover which is the sum of revenues generated by the sector. The method not only evaluated the direct impacts generated by the sector, but also the indirect impacts and the induced impacts.

    The report, authored 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 allocated by EU member states according to economic, social and environmental criteria.

     

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


    Video recording of press briefing. View on YouTube

  • Report: Better Use of Public Money: the End of Fuel Subsidies for the EU Fishing Industry

    Report: Better Use of Public Money: the End of Fuel Subsidies for the EU Fishing Industry

    Download full report: Better Use of Public Money: the End of Fuel Subsidies for the EU Fishing Industry

    The EU fishing fleet is exempted from paying fuel taxes; these fuel-tax exemptions are indirect capacity-enhancing subsidies. High fuel prices and taxation can incentivise faster decarbonisation of industries1, hence such indirect subsidies stand in the way of a more environmentally friendly EU fishing fleet.

    With this exemption, the EU currently provides fuel tax subsidies to its fishing fleet to the tune of between €700 million and €1.3 billion each year.

    But under the European Green Deal and Fitfor55 package, every industry in the EU should both reduce emissions and cut fossil fuel subsidies2. In fact, the European Commission is now proposing to revise the Energy Taxation Directive (ETD)3, and to include in it a tax rate of €0.036 per litre. This rate is much lower than e.g., the rates used for road transport.

    Yet a number of EU Member States are currently proposing to continue exempting the fishing industry from paying fossil fuel taxes.

    Instead of these exemptions, the EU could use the revenue generated from a fossil fuel tax to support the fishing fleet in ways that are not only different but more beneficial to its long term future. Well- designed subsidies can enhance environmental and human well-being4. Instead of fueling carbon pollution and potentially unsustainable fishing, the EU could use the tax revenue from fossil fuel taxes to support decarbonisation, create sustainable jobs and increase the transparency of fish catches and trade.

    This report calculated the exempted taxes for the EU large and small-scale fleets over the period 2010- 2020 for three different scenarios of taxation: the European Commission proposed tax rate of €0.036 per litre, and two higher taxation rates used for land- based activities. Tax scenarios then illustrate what could be done with the vast tax revenue generated to support the fishing industry in achieving a just transition to low-impact and low-carbon fishing in the EU.

    Download full report: Better Use of Public Money: the End of Fuel Subsidies for the EU Fishing Industry

     

    DisclaimerThe figures for the proposed tax rate by the Commission in the revised ETD are €0.0351/litre (or 3.51 cents/litre) – a difference of 0.09 of 1 cent per litre, to the figures we have listed in the report (€0.036/litre). This came from a difference in the conversion from gigajoule to marine fuel. We have not updated every figure in the report to account for this since the difference is so tiny and does not significantly influence the tax revenue that the Commission proposes. 

    Better Use of Public Money: the End of Fuel Subsidies for the EU Fishing Industry – executive summary

    Better Use of Public Money: the End of Fuel Subsidies for the EU Fishing Industry - executive summary
    Better Use of Public Money: the End of Fuel Subsidies for the EU Fishing Industry – executive summary

     

    Other languages:

    Eine Bessere Verwendung Öffentlicher Gelder: Die Abschaffung Der Treibstoff-Subventionen In Der Eu Fischerei. Kurzfassung

    Eine Bessere Verwendung Öffentlicher Gelder: Die Abschaffung Der Treibstoff-Subventionen In Der Eu Fischerei. Kurzfassung
    Eine Bessere Verwendung Öffentlicher Gelder: Die Abschaffung Der Treibstoff-Subventionen In Der Eu Fischerei. Kurzfassung

     

    Mieux Utiliser L’argent Public : La Fin Des Subventions Au Carburant Pour Le Secteur De La Pêche Européen. Résumé Exécutif

    Mieux Utiliser L’argent Public : La Fin Des Subventions Au Carburant Pour Le Secteur De La Pêche Européen. Résumé Exécutif
    Mieux Utiliser L’argent Public : La Fin Des Subventions Au Carburant Pour Le Secteur De La Pêche Européen. Résumé Exécutif

    Mejor Uso Del Dinero Público: El Fin De Las Subvenciones Al Combustible Para El Sector Pesquero Europeo. Resumen Ejecutivo

    Mejor Uso Del Dinero Público: El Fin De Las Subvenciones Al Combustible Para El Sector Pesquero Europeo. Resumen Ejecutivo
    Mejor Uso Del Dinero Público: El Fin De Las Subvenciones Al Combustible Para El Sector Pesquero Europeo. Resumen Ejecutivo

     

  • New Paper: Fish are Carbon Engineers – COP27

    New Paper: Fish are Carbon Engineers – COP27

    Fish are Carbon Engineers

     

    Our Fish Briefing Paper, to be presented at COP27 on November 11th.

    Download pdf: Fish are Carbon Engineers

    The ocean is the largest store of carbon on the planet, and without it, the Earth would be 35 degrees hotter. Fish are keystones of the ocean’s biological pump, the system constantly at work capturing and storing excess carbon from the atmosphere and protecting us from the worst impacts of climate change. That’s why the protection of fish and their habitats as natural carbon engineers should be mainstreamed within the UNFCCC.

    Unless urgent and comprehensive action is taken, we are heading towards societal collapse as a result of breaching multiple planetary boundaries. Our Fish proposes 6 clear recommendations for Parties to the UNFCCC COP that would ensure fish can fulfil their critical role as carbon engineers and help deliver climate action.

    The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change will hold it’s 27th Conference of the Parties at Sharm el-Sheikh from 6 – 18 November. Countries will meet to take action to limit climate change to 1.5 degrees (according to the Paris Agreement).

    Download pdf: Fish are Carbon Engineers

    Danish: Hav, fisk og kulstofkredsløb

  • Letter: Civil Society Urges EU and UK to End Overfishing of Shared Stocks

    Letter: Civil Society Urges EU and UK to End Overfishing of Shared Stocks

    NGO logos: Civil Society Urges You to End Overfishing of Shared Stocks

    28 September 2022

    Mr. Virginijus Sinkevičius
    Commissioner for Environment, Oceans and Fisheries European Commission

    Mr. Ranil Jayawardena MP
    Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs UK Government

    Subject: Civil Society Urges You to End Overfishing of Shared Stocks

    Dear Commissioner, Dear Secretary of State,

    Soon, the EU and the UK delegations will be back at the negotiation table to decide on the future of our fisheries in 2023, which will have consequences for years to come. You will set over 100 catch limits for fish stocks shared among the EU, the UK, Norway and other coastal states in the Northeast Atlantic. We urge you to set and reach a clear objective for these negotiations: to significantly improve the state of shared fish populations, for the sake of the environment and the people.

    Science-based management is a cornerstone not only of the fisheries chapter of the EU- UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement but is also enshrined in the EU’s Common Fisheries Policy and in the UK’s Fisheries Act. Numerous international agreements, including the United Nations Fish Stocks Agreement, the Convention on Biodiversity and UN Sustainable Development Goal 14, all required fishing at sustainable levels by 2020, a deadline missed both by the EU and the UK.

    We remain concerned that the final decisions taken by the EU and the UK behind closed doors are at odds with their public commitments and legal obligations. Both parties claim leadership on tackling the biodiversity and climate crises we all face, but exploitation of fish populations beyond what is sustainable seriously undermines the credibility of such claims. Almost two thirds of the 2022 catch limits involving the UK [1], mostly referring to stocks shared with the EU, were set above scientific advice, and 28% of fully assessed stocks are still overfished in Northeast Atlantic waters [2].

    Persistently poor political decisions drive overfishing and hurt economies. For example, after having depleted all European cod populations, the EU and the UK import large amounts of cod from Russia, at high risk of illegal and unsustainable catch [3]. The EU and the UK must follow scientific advice, apply an ecosystem-based approach, and transition to low-impact and climate-friendly fisheries to restore their own fishing resources.

    Fisheries are dependent on a healthy environment. Long-term and widespread socio- economic losses will outweigh short-term and private profits if the EU and the UK continue to exceed scientific advice when setting catch limits. Overfishing and destructive practices have been the main cause of marine biodiversity loss for the last 40 years and now we also know that they critically undermine the resilience of fish and other wildlife to the impacts of climate change and their capacity to mitigate it [4].

    In the face of accelerating climate change and biodiversity loss, there is no more time to lose. We therefore urge you to finally deliver on your commitments and:

    • Set catch limits not exceeding the best available scientific advice provided by the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea, regardless of whether the advice is based on the Maximum Sustainable Yield (MSY) approach or on the data- limited precautionary approach.
    • Provide a “climate buffer” and improve population resilience by setting Total Allowable Catches below the maximum catch advice for species particularly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change.
    • Apply an ecosystem-based approach when setting catch limits, with special attention to mixed fisheries, interspecies dynamics (e.g., forage species, prey- predator relationships), and the recovery and conservation of the most depleted stocks.
    • Eliminate bycatch and discards, increase selectivity, and diligently control fisheries by remote electronic monitoring with cameras and/or appropriate on- board observer coverage.
    • Increase transparency of decision-making in line with the UNECE Aarhus Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-Making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters.

    We thank you for your time and consideration and hope to see significant progress in ending overfishing in the Northeast Atlantic, as well as a transition to sustainable, climate- smart, transparent fisheries.

    Please find our specific recommendations attached. We look forward to meeting you and your departments to discuss them in detail.

    Yours sincerely,

    Pascale Moehrle, Executive Director, Oceana in Europe

    On behalf of:
    BirdWatch Ireland, Blue Marine Foundation, ClientEarth, The Danish Society for Nature Conservation, Deep Sea Conservation Coalition, Deutsche Umwelthilfe (DUH), Des Requins et Des Hommes (DRDH), Dutch Elasmobranch Society, Ecologistas en Acción, Fair Seas, The Fisheries Secretariat, France Nature Environnement (FNE), Marine Conservation Society, Our Fish, Sciaena, Seas At Risk, Whale and Dolphin Conservation

    1 Bell, E., Nash, R., Garnacho, E., De Oliveira, J., O’Brien, C. (2022). Assessing the sustainability of fisheries catch limits negotiated by the UK for 2020 to 2022. Cefas.

    2 Scientific, Technical and Economic Committee for Fisheries (STECF). Monitoring of the performance of
    the Common Fisheries Policy (STECF-Adhoc-22-01).

    3 Much of Russia’s catch remains unassessed and close to half of its assessed stocks are classified as overfished. Moreover, Russia is currently second (after China) in a global index on illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing (IUU), and its behaviour has worsened since 2019, when it was ranked fourth.

    4 IPCC (2019) Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate. IPBES (2019) Global Assessment Report on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services.

     

  • Letter to European Commissioner: Including Russian seafood and fishing vessels in upcoming EU sanctions

    Letter to European Commissioner: Including Russian seafood and fishing vessels in upcoming EU sanctions

    Including Russian seafood and fishing vessels in upcoming EU sanctions - NGO logos

    Download letter (pdf)

    Mr. Virginijus Sinkevičius
    Commissioner for Environment, Oceans and Fisheries European Commission

    Brussels, 1st September 2022

    Subject: Including Russian seafood and fishing vessels in upcoming EU sanctions

    Dear Commissioner Sinkevičius,

    As Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine continues to cause immense human and environmental devastation, it has also brought into sharp relief multiple fundamental issues with the sustainability of trade and economic ties between Russia and the EU, and the urgent need to transition the EU’s economy to a nature-positive, carbon-neutral future.

    Russian seafood imports by the EU are significant. According to EUMOFA,(1) Russian exports of fisheries and aquaculture products to the EU accounted for EUR 580 million (2020 data), ranking Russia as the 11th non-EU supplier of seafood to the EU market by value. A large proportion of these imports are whitefish, such as cod, haddock and pollock, which enter the EU single market every week, either directly or through non-EU countries where they are processed, with destination markets in Portugal, Spain, and Germany.(2) Many EU populations of these whitefish species are severely overfished, leading to the EU seafood market’s dependence on such imports.

    Russia maintains a fleet of more than 1000 commercial fishing vessels worldwide, primarily trawlers, heavily subsidized and expanding. (3) Russian fishing vessels have access to ports and fishing authorizations across the globe, including in Europe, where for example in 2019-2021 they spent 550 000 hours fishing in the Norwegian EEZ, and 49 289 hours in the Faroe Islands EEZ.(4)

    However, Russia is known for being an uncooperative partner in international fora, and there are serious concerns about the sustainability of its catches. For example, in 2021 the European Commission expressed concern that the Norwegian-Russian bilateral management plan for Arctic cod disregarded international cooperation and deviated significantly from the MSY management standard.(5) Overfishing of that key cod population was systematic from 2017 to 2020, as the quotas set by Norway and Russia also overshot the level fixed by their own bilateral management plan. Furthermore, much of Russia’s overall fish catch remains unassessed and close to half of its assessed stocks are classified as overfished. (6)

    Moreover, Russia is currently ranked as the second out of 152 nations for poor performance when it comes to effectively fighting illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing, and its behaviour has worsened since 2019, when it was ranked fourth. Globally, only China is assessed as having a worse performance. (7) In the IUU Fishing Index, Russia was assessed for its vulnerability, incidence, and response to IUU fishing, with many transhipments at sea (8) – notorious for their high risk – within the Russian EEZ, both of pelagic fish and whitefish.

    The USA has introduced a ban on Russian fish and seafood imports (9) that entered into force at the end of June 2022. A 35% tariff on Russian whitefish was also included in the latest batch of sanctions implemented by the UK Government in July (10). To date, however, the European Union has only banned Russian caviar and substitutes and some shellfish (11)— so-called “high-end seafood”. The impact of these EU bans is likely to be rather limited, for those imports are relatively low in volume.

    Given the economic value of seafood exports for the Russian economy, the lack of cooperation from Russia on sustainable fisheries management, and the high risk of IUU fishing from Russian operators, the EU should expand the scope of its sanctions to include Russian fishing vessels and all seafood. Specifically, the EU should ban the import of all fish and seafood originating in Russia or caught by Russian-flagged or Russian-owned vessels, regardless of its route to the EU market, and refuse access by Russian-flagged and Russian-owned fishing vessels into EU waters and ports.

    However, such sanctions will only be effective if they are underpinned by transparency, traceability, and control. For example, it is worth noting that a large proportion of Russian seafood imports are currently reaching the EU through the Netherlands, which is facing an infringement procedure due to its failure to effectively control, inspect and enforce essential aspects of weighing, transport, traceability and catch registration with respect to landings of EU and non-EU fishing vessels in Dutch ports. (12)

    Currently no information is required on the origin of processed and prepared seafood products, such as cans, to enter the EU market. A digital traceability system should be set up to ensure authorities have all the information needed to ensure no products from IUU fishing enter the EU market, and specifically to avoid Russian fish being mislabelled as being caught by a different country. Simultaneously, all Member States should step up their import and port controls, for any ban should also apply to Russian-owned fishing vessels that try to evade the sanctions by changing their Russian flag or registration to that of another state. Port authorities can identify an attempt to reflag or change registration by checking a vessel’s IMO number (the unique identification number assigned on behalf of the International Maritime Organization), and information on beneficial ownership should be shared to ensure the sanctions are effective.

    Furthermore, now is the moment to call for global alignment in approaches to catch certificates, to ensure that illegal seafood does not reach our plates. Illegal loads can be exported to important seafood markets that do not require catch certificates or do not require it for all species, like key fish markets of South Korea, Japan, USA, Canada, and China. In addition, Russian-caught seafood may be unloaded or sent to other countries, like Norway and China, for processing and relabelling, so it is imperative that the EU has a clear picture of the origin of the fish and the path it took to get to the single market.

    Finally, the EU must urgently ensure that its own fish populations are rebuilt to abundance, to reduce the EU’s dependence on imports from uncooperative yet competitive, high IUU- risk sources such as Russia. We urge you to lead the upcoming discussions on fishing opportunities with the Council, in particular to take immediate action on the most overfished stocks (such as all cod populations in EU waters). Restoring these valuable stocks requires following scientific advice when setting fishing opportunities, applying an ecosystem-based approach to restore them, and transitioning to low-impact and climate- friendly fisheries.

    We look forward to hearing from you on this important matter shortly and remain at your disposal should you wish to discuss the above in more detail.

    Yours sincerely,

    Pascale Moehrle
    Executive Director, Oceana in Europe

    On behalf of:

    BirdLife
    ClientEarth
    Deutsche Stiftung Meeresschutz
    Environmental Justice Foundation
    The Fisheries Secretariat
    GEOTA Goodfish LOD Oceana
    Our Fish Sciaena
    Seas At Risk Sharkproject

    Download letter (pdf)

    References:

    1 The EU Fish Market – 2021 edition
    2 Wegren, S.K., Nilssen, F. (eds) Russia’s Role in the Contemporary International Agri-Food Trade System
    https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-77451-6_6
    3 Nearly 80 per cent of Russia’s fisheries subsidies – worth approximately US$1.1 billion in 2018 –are linked to activities that promote overcapacity, including reduced fuel prices and tax exemptions. Russia set a target of building at least 100 new vessels by 2025.
    4 https://usa.oceana.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/Russia-Fishing-Analysis_by-Oceana.pdf
    5 https://oceans-and-fisheries.ec.europa.eu/news/eu-expresses-concern-over-unsustainable-decisions-arctic-cod-norway-and-russia-2021-08-23_en
    If MSY approach had been followed by Norway and Russia, the agreed TAC on the Northeast Arctic cod should have been lower by over 200 000 tonnes, according to ICES advice.
    6 https://www.minderoo.org/global-fishing-index/results/country-reports/rus/
    7 https://iuufishingindex.net/ The Index has been developed by Poseidon Aquatic Resource Management Ltd., a fisheries and aquaculture consultancy company working globally, and the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime, an NGO network of experts working on human rights, democracy, governance, and development issues where organized crime has become increasingly pertinent.
    8 According to Oceana’s report from 2017, 50 percent of the suspected transshipping events worldwide occurred within Russian waters: https://oceana.org/press-releases/oceana-report-exposes-thousands- suspected-vessel-rendezvous-sea/
    9 Executive Order on Prohibiting Certain Imports, Exports, and New Investment with Respect to Continued Russian Federation Aggression | The White House
    10 https://www.seafish.org/about-us/news-blogs/uk-government-tariff-on-russian-whitefish-introduced/
    11 https://www.politico.eu/article/eu-russia-caviar-ban-war-ukraine-saction-trade/
    12 https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/inf_20_1687

  • Joint NGO feedback to the European Commission on the Common Fisheries Policy’s state of play and orientations for 2023

    Joint NGO feedback to the European Commission on the Common Fisheries Policy’s state of play and orientations for 2023

     

     

    Joint NGO feedback to the European Commission on the Common Fisheries Policy’s state of play and orientations for 2023

    On behalf of Bund für Umwelt und Naturschutz Deutschland e.V. (BUND), ClientEarth, Danmarks Naturfredningsforening, Deutsche Umwelthilfe, Ecologistas en Acción, The Fisheries Secretariat, France Nature Environnement, De Nederlandse Elasmobranchen Vereniging, Stichting De Noordzee, Oceana, Our Fish, Sciaena, Seas At Risk, and WWF, we hereby respond to the European Commission’s public consultation on the progress towards more sustainable fisheries, the state of fish stocks and the setting of fishing opportunities.2

    The current Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) Basic Regulation entered into force on 1 January 2014. It contains ambitious objectives and concrete timelines to put the European Union at the forefront of global fisheries management and make European fisheries economically, socially, and environmentally sustainable. However, although some progress has been made, in particular in Northeast Atlantic waters, the EU is still far from reaching its overdue legal obligation to harvest all stocks sustainably by 2020.

    Despite the significant increase in fleet profitability and the reduction in overfishing brought about by the CFP in the last decade, the most recent Scientific, Technical and Economic Committee for Fisheries (STECF) report on the monitoring of the CFP performance3 confirms that “many stocks remain overfished and/or outside safe biological limits and the objective of the CFP to ensure that all stocks are fished at or below FMSY in 2020 has not been achieved”.4 Specifically, the Baltic Sea fish populations are not improving, the Mediterranean and Black Seas remain in a dire state with 85% of assessed stocks overfished, whereas the proportion of Northeast Atlantic Maximum Sustainable Yield (MSY) assessed fish stocks subject to overfishing has decreased from around 75% in the mid-2000s to 28% more recently.

  • Briefing paper: Decarbonising the EU Fishing Fleet – Opportunities, Challenges and Critical Elements for a Necessary Transition

    Briefing paper: Decarbonising the EU Fishing Fleet – Opportunities, Challenges and Critical Elements for a Necessary Transition

    Briefing paper: Decarbonising the EU Fishing Fleet - Opportunities, Challenges and Critical Elements for a Necessary Transition

    On the 14th of June 2022, we held a workshop during which experts presented the decarbonisation solutions available in the maritime sector, followed by a discussion with various stakeholders on what is needed to decarbonise the EU fishing sector.

    This paper is aimed at sharing recommendations and resources developed as a result of the June 2022 workshop, and to instigate action on the necessary path to decarbonisation.

    Download Briefing paper: Decarbonising the EU Fishing Fleet – Opportunities, Challenges and Critical Elements for a Necessary Transition

    Decarbonising the EU Fishing Fleet. Opportunities, Challenges and Critical Elements for a Necessary Transition

     

    See also:

    Video of Workshop: Decarbonising the EU Fishing Sector
    Read the briefing paper: Decarbonising the EU Fishing Fleet: Lessons from Today’s Shipping Industry
  • Letter: Urgent meeting request on the EU Action Plan to conserve fisheries resources and protect marine ecosystems

    Letter: Urgent meeting request on the EU Action Plan to conserve fisheries resources and protect marine ecosystems

    Download PDF: Letter: Urgent meeting request on the EU Action Plan to conserve fisheries resources and protect marine ecosystems

    Download PDF: Letter: Urgent meeting request on the EU Action Plan to conserve fisheries resources and protect marine ecosystems

    Attention:

    Director General, Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, Charlina Vitcheva

    Director General, Environment, Florika Fink-Hooijer

    Brussels, 12 July 2022

    Re: Urgent meeting request on the EU Action Plan to conserve fisheries resources and protect marine ecosystems

    Dear Directors General Charlina Vitcheva and Florika Fink-Hooijer,

    We are contacting you in order to follow up on the conversations we had with Commissioner Sinkevičius and Director General Charlina Vitcheva at the UN Ocean Conference in Lisbon. We are deeply worried to hear that the European Commission has decided to postpone again the release of the EU Action Plan to conserve fisheries resources and protect marine ecosystems, which was announced originally for 2021. We are concerned about the apparent lack of willingness to address the impacts of the most destructive fishing gears on marine biodiversity. We are equally concerned that certain inaccurate figures and unscientific arguments about the climate and biodiversity impacts of bottom-contact fishing methods, such as their supposedly beneficial “ploughing” effect on marine ecosystems, are used by the European Commission in the public space.

    At a time when the European Commission is preparing the release of the EU Ocean Action Plan, we call for an urgent meeting with you. In order to refer to the most advanced and reliable science in the conduct of public maritime affairs, we propose we also invite several scientists to this meeting.

    As you know, civil society and scientists expect the European Commission to deliver an ambitious strategy to tackle the impacts of destructive fishing, such as the use of bottom-contact gears in EU waters, including inside Marine Protected Areas (MPAs), in line with international objectives and scientific warnings pertaining to the protection of marine biodiversity and coastal ecosystems, and to the urgent need to preserve the ocean carbon sink in order to fight climate change.

    There is overwhelming evidence showing that the ocean is in a dire state that requires a full and resolute plan of action to allow it to recover its lost biodiversity, habitats, and geophysical functional capacity. In Lisbon, the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres spoke of the “ocean emergency”. Some leaders rose to the occasion: France’s President Emmanuel Macron unexpectedly called for a ban on deep-sea mining in the High Seas, Norway released its VMS data in the public sphere, and Thailand announced a moratorium on new commercial fishing licenses for bottom-trawling and a $40 million USD budget for a decommissioning programme.

    The EU is one of the planet’s strongest environmental leaders. The time has more than come for bold public action, and the Commission should fully embrace its stewardship role to steer our interactions with the natural world towards true ecosystem sustainability, in line with the EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030 and its aim to “reverse the degradation of ecosystems.” Delivering such ambition cannot be met without eliminating the devastating impacts of bottom-contact gears inside MPAs, as a starting point, in line with the European Parliament’s call to “prohibit all environmentally damaging extractive industrial activities”, including industrial fishing and thus bottom-trawling, in MPAs (2021/2188(INI)). Furthermore, banning bottom-trawling in MPAs is also the only long term economically viable option in line with the Commission’s Sustainable Blue Economy Strategy, to ensure positive long term net benefits to society, including through recovered fish stocks, enhanced tourism and increased ecosystem services[1]. It is an opportunity for the EU to inspire the world by setting a vision about the future of European fisheries in 2030 and beyond that reconciles environmental and socio-economic considerations by laying out a just transition to low impact fisheries.

    We would therefore like to request an urgent meeting with you concerning the upcoming EU Action Plan to conserve fisheries resources and protect marine ecosystems. Depending on the date you suggest, we will see which scientists are available to join us at this meeting, which we count on you to make a priority.

    We look forward to your quick response and to a fruitful discussion to make sure the adoption of this EU Action Plan responds to the urgency of the biodiversity and climate crises we face.

    Sincerely yours,

    Claire Nouvian, Founder, BLOOM

    Rebecca Hubbard, Program Director, Our Fish

    Pascale Moehrle, Executive Director, Oceana in Europe

    Monica Verbeek, Executive Director, Seas At Risk

    Ariel Brunner, Deputy Director and Head of Policy, BirdLife Europe and Central Asia

     

    Copy:

    Commissioner for the Environment, Oceans and Fisheries, Virginijus Sinkevičius

    Deputy Director General, Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, Kestutis Sadauskas

    Deputy Director General, Environment, Patrick Child

    [1] New Economics Foundation, Valuing the impact of a potential ban on bottom-contact fishing in EU marine protected areas, March 2021. See the summary of the study on https://seas-at-risk.org/press-releases/benefits-quickly-outweigh-costs-of-banning-bottom-trawling-from-marine-protected-areas-2/

    Download PDF: Letter: Urgent meeting request on the EU Action Plan to conserve fisheries resources and protect marine ecosystems