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MEPs back fishing policy reform MEPs vote to ban discards in historic reform of fishing policy
(about 3 hours later)
MEPs have backed the biggest reform plan in the history of the EU's fisheries policy – vowing to restore fish stocks after years of failed conservation measures and return profitability to fishing communities. Europe's parliament voted on Wednesday to ban the wasteful practice of throwing away healthy fish at sea, in a landmark victory for campaigners and green groups that has followed more than two years of procedural wrangling.
Measures approved in a vote in Strasbourg include banning within three years the current practice of dumping dead fish back in the sea - a consequence of current common fisheries policy (CFP) rules restricting the size of landed catches under a complex system of quotas. Campaigners gathered in Strasbourg for the "historic" vote on the reform of the EU common fisheries policy (CFP) were jubilant. After significant opposition to the reforms from the powerful industrial fishing lobby, and multiple attempts to scupper the process, the final vote was won by an emphatic margin of 502 votes to 137.
Today's deal also offers more control over managing the CFP to regional fishing organisations - although some UK politicians have been demanding nothing less than the scrapping of the CFP altogether and the "repatriation" of fisheries policy. "This is really excellent news," said Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, the chef and food writer who spearheaded the FishFight campaign that mobilised hundreds of thousands of people to oppose discards. "It was a nerve-wracking morning – there was still a faction who wanted to derail the process – but well done to the MEPs, and well done to the FishFighters."
But no final deal is done until a last stage - a three-way negotiation involving MEPs, EU fisheries ministers and the European commission. Discarding – where fishermen toss back hundreds of tonnes of edible fish, usually dead, because they have exceeded their fishing quota or have caught species for which they have no quota – has been the most striking example of the failures of a common fisheries policy that green groups have said is "broken" and encourages overfishing instead of protecting dwindling stocks. Between one-quarter and one-third of the total catch quota is estimated to be discarded, and this may rise as high as 90% of the catch in some circumstances for some species, according to FishFight.
But the fact that the European parliament now has "co-decision" powers over fishing policy means more clout for the measures MEPs and the Commission have put on the table. The vote makes it highly likely that the biggest shake-up of the common fisheries policy for decades will pass into law, perhaps as soon as next year. It is still not quite final, as there must be some further negotiations with member states, but campaigners said the reform proposals were now over the biggest hurdles to their adoption.
EU fisheries ministers have been accused for years of ignoring the science about the need for reduced fishing to deliver long-term stock recovery. The priority of national governments, complain critics, has been to win the biggest catch allowances regardless of conservation. "The MEPs have sent a really strong, clear message – it would be very difficult for member states' ministers to try to go against that," said Fearnley-Whittingstall.
And the commission has warned that failure to police agreed catch limits has also played a hand in failure to deliver the long-promised recovery of key stocks and halt the decline of fishing communities. Maria Damanaki, the EU fisheries chief, who brought forward the proposals, welcomed the vote. "[This policy] introduces a discard ban with clear dates to put an end to wasteful practices that we can no longer afford. I am looking forward to the work that the council and the Parliament will soon start to ensure the adoption of the reform of the CFP."
As the vote went through, CFP reform campaigners outside the European parliament building were still calling for clear measures to end the practice of "discards" - dumping surplus fish back into the sea to avoid breaching quotas. Sections of the EU's powerful fishing lobby, particularly in Spain and France, have opposed the reforms. Many operators of large industrial-size vessels would prefer to continue to be allowed to discard healthy fish– if they are forced to land all the fish they net, they could end up with catches of lower value species, or lower quality specimens, so being able to select the highest value fish can help them maximise their profits.
Ahead of the vote EU fisheries commissioner, Maria Damanaki - who once admitted the CFP was "broken" - said almost one quarter of all fish caught were currently being dumped at sea. Last year, member state ministers passed the reforms after an all-night negotiating session, but it is possible that the fishing lobby will make a last-ditch attempt to have member states derail or water them down in the final stages of the process. But Saskia Richartz, EU fisheries policy director at Greenpeace, said: "This vote signals a momentous shift away from overfishing and is a testament to parliament's resolve to defend the general interest. National governments that stand in the way of reform, like Spain and France, will find it increasingly hard to act as proxies for a handful of powerful companies, with no concern for the long-term wellbeing of the oceans or the majority of fishermen."
She said today's deal, if finally confirmed as planned by the end of June, would boost fish stocks by 15m tonnes by 2020, and increase fish landings for fleets by half a million tonnes. Fishing incomes would rise by 25%, with one-third more jobs created. The reforms would also put an end to the annual round of wrangling over fishing quotas, which campaigners say leads to overfishing rather than protecting stocks. Instead, in the future quotas would be based on longer term "maximum sustainable yield", set taking scientific advice into consideration.
Greenpeace welcomed a pledge to set a target of 2015 to return fish stocks to "sustainable" levels, as well as promoting small-scale and low-impact fishing methods and banning discards. Barrie Deas, chief executive of the UK's National Federation of Fishermen's Organisations (NFFO), said he welcomed the vote, but said the reforms could be hard to put into practice. "The history of the CFP has been littered with well-intentioned pieces of legislation that have failed because insufficient attention had been paid to how the measures could be implemented. There is good and bad in the compromise text. [On discards] the real issue concerns the practical issues of applying such a policy at the level of each individual fishery."
Greenpeace oceans campaigner Willie Mackenzie said: "This vote marks a crucial turning point in the battle to save Europe's seas from overfishing and protect the livelihoods of coastal fishermen, but if Britain is to benefit from this reform there's a lot more we need to do at home. Unless we change the way fishing quotas are allocated, the future of the UK's sector will remain hostage to big fishing interests that seek short-term profits whilst creating long-term damage. Greenpeace has accused NFFO of being dominated by the interests of large industrial fishing companies, many from overseas.
"What we need now is firm and swift action from our fisheries minister to ensure UK policies reward sustainable, selective, and responsible fishermen, who are the lifeblood and the best hope for the future of their coastal communities."
Scottish Conservative MEP Struan Stevenson said the accord amounted to a deal to "wrest control away from the micro-managers in Brussels who have made such an absolute mess of fisheries policy for the past 30 years".