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Borg talks to European Parliament Fisheries Committee about CFP Reform


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#1 Barry McCrindle

Barry McCrindle

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Posted 03 September 2009 - 06:55 PM

Originally posted in www.fishnewseu.com

Quote

THE member of the European Commission responsible for fisheries and maritime affairs, Joe Borg, took the opportunity of the first meeting of a new European Parliament Fisheries Committee to present his thoughts on the review process for the Common Fisheries Policy.

In a wide ranging address yesterday to the MEPs titled "A new era of co-operation" he said that reform of the Common Fisheries Policy was the biggest item on the agenda for the new committee adding: “We all know too well that the present system is still failing to deliver, despite substantial progress in certain key areas over recent years. What we need now are real solutions to the underlying systemic problems. Our goal must be a profitable fishing industry that provides nutritious food for our citizens taken from a healthy marine environment.
He then outlined three 'pillars' that must be put in place.
1. Re-order the priorities on which the CFP is based.
2. End to the chronic overcapacity of the European fishing fleet.
3. Redistribute responsibility to make sure that we deliver on our goals.
He went on to explain his views on these saying: “Ecological sustainability must be our core principle which must not be compromised for short-term gain. Without ecological sustainability, there can be no future for the fishing industry, or for the coastal communities that depend upon it. The ecosystem is not a luxury; it is the bedrock on which all maritime activities, including fishing, depend.
“We cannot but acknowledge the need to finally tackle overcapacity,” he continued. “And overcapacity is not just an ecological problem: it is an economic nightmare too. It is overcapacity that is destroying the profitability of our fleets, and it is overcapacity that is pushing vulnerable communities to the wall. We need to find tools that will really be able to address this issue. Earlier reforms of the CFP tried to reduce the fleet by using taxpayers' money to pay for ships to be scrapped, but all evidence points to the fact that this approach is both expensive and ineffective. That is why I believe we now need to explore more imaginative solutions. Could a market-based approach, based on transferrable fishing rights, be the way to introduce a greater dose of economic sanity? It works in other places in the world such as New Zealand, so maybe it can also work for us. But this would require a radical shift in attitudes. The Commission will only be able to venture down this avenue if we have a strong mandate, not only from stakeholders, but also from their political representatives -- including the members of this Committee.
“If we were to take this more market-based direction, we would need to look closely at what this means for small-scale fisheries, and we may need a differentiated approach in their regard. This would allow us to better protect the small-scale sector thereby ensuring its vital role in maintaining employment and the social fabric in coastal areas, and thus strengthening remote coastal communities. I know that there are objections in some quarters to such a differentiated approach, but if we are going to think outside the box, then this is an option that needs to be seriously considered.
“Such a system of individually transferable rights can be used for TACs and quotas or alternatively for effort. Another possibility could therefore be to manage stocks with effort only, replacing the traditional TACs and quotas. Every vessel would receive an allowance in days at sea, which the vessel owners would manage throughout the year. The idea here is that the skipper can land all catches. This would be interesting for mixed fisheries since it would greatly reduce discards. It would also take away any reason to under declare or falsely declare catches and would be easier to control.
“I am sure that what I am saying may sound somewhat alarming, as some of you may ask "But what about relative stability? How on earth am I going to explain to my constituents that the quota rights they have built up over the past decades will simply be wiped out?". In fact these are fears that we need to address. Therefore a possible way forward is to take today's relative stability and transform it into effort. In doing so, the rights as apportioned between Member States would not be affected in any way. Furthermore, a vessel owner could decide to either use his effort rights himself or to rent them or sell them to another vessel owner. This could in turn help us to achieve the objective of having a smaller fleet commensurate to our resource base. For some this, too, may be radical thinking: but we need to explore every option we have available in our toolbox if we are to make our fisheries policy truly 'fit for purpose' in the 21 st century. Of course this would not be a 'one size fits all' solution and we would have to assess carefully for which fisheries such a change would provide benefits.
“Replacing TACs and quotas by effort can be a very effective way of reducing the environmental impact of fisheries, and in particular of discards. As you know, progressively reducing discards in EU fisheries is a priority for the Commission. We already have a high grading ban in place for 2009 for the North Sea and the Skagerrak and we are looking at ways of extending it to a Community-wide high-grading ban. Personally I would be in favour of also covering EU vessels fishing outside Community waters, under such a high grading ban - at least for species where large quantities of fish are thrown back overboard and the survival rates are low. I feel strongly about eliminating discards and I know that many among you share my view.
Addressing the third ‘pillar’ redistributing responsibility he said that the CFP needs to be brought closer to those whom it actually affects. He continued: “In doing so, we should also be able to make the policy simpler to administer and thus relieve our institutions of much of the micro-management in which they have become embroiled of late. One way we might approach this is by developing the regional dimension of the CFP. Parliament and Council will continue to decide the general framework of fisheries policy at Community level, but it would then be up to the Member States to co-operate within each regional sea-basin and to agree on how those principles should be implemented in detail. The result would be a policy which is more responsive to regional and local needs and realities, and which could benefit more from local expertise.
“We also need to involve the industry more closely in implementing policy, moving away from the past top-down approach. By empowering the industry to "self-manage", we could unleash its creativity to develop much-needed solutions to a range of problems, while making it more directly responsible for the results of its choices and actions.
The market is also a powerful ally for sustainability – if it has the right framework to operate in. The recent external evaluation of the Common Market Organisation, and the Commission's ongoing dialogue with Member States, have highlighted the need for a substantial reform of the Common Market Organisation in order to take account of recent changes in the environment, to simplify and rationalise the existing instruments, and to enhance consistency with the other pillars of the CFP. To ensure this latter objective the Commission has rescheduled the Common Market Organisation reform to run in parallel with the CFP reform. The more we can improve the economics of the sector, the better are our chances of achieving the sustainability we seek.
He also went on to discuss the need to integrate fisheries into wider policy frameworks, such as the Marine Strategy Framework Directive and outlined immediate issues that need to be addressed by the Fisheries Committee, such as multi-annual plans for Western horse mackerel and for anchovy in the Bay of Biscay, the NEAFC control scheme and the NAFO recovery plan for Greenland halibut, a Fisheries Partnership Agreement with Guinea, the long-term plan for northern Hake is also an important one for our fishermen and the Lisbon Treaty.
Read the text of the full speech here.

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