Nyheter
New head of PECH: EU fisheries regulation to be simplified, yellow card punishment strengthened
The newly elected chair of the European parliament committee on fisheries (PECH), Pierre Karleskind, said the sectory is currently "overregulated".
Karleskind was guest of honor at last week's industry association Europeche's general assembly meeting to discuss the many pressing issues faced by the fishing sector.
“I don’t think there is a sector that has to face as many regulations as fishermen do. Professionals almost need a PhD to become a fisherman," he said.
In this regard and in order to reduce red tape, Karleskind stressed the window of opportunity to make the new European maritime and fisheries regulation simpler and reduce the administrative burden created previously.
He agreed on the need to rethink certain criteria that make it difficult to take into account on-board living conditions or to adapt to engine changes, such as hydrogen engines, which are known to take up more space.
Both the new chair and Europeche agreed that fisheries management should better account for species interactions, and effects of climate change and pollution, even though existing exploitation targets based on fishing mortality should not be changed.
In this sense, as part of the EU’s farm to fork strategy, Karleskind stressed that good management of fish stocks has to go hand in hand with sustainable seafood and food security needs.
Yellow card
Europeche also concurred with Karleskind on the need to include in future trade agreements with third countries safeguard clauses by which the EU can stop or suspend preferential tariffs on seafood imports in case of a yellow card.
Some third countries have had a yellow card for more than four years and yet things are not getting better, Karleskind said, pointing out that it doesn’t look like a warning in these cases. "The EU cannot be naive and try to be clean and environmentally perfect at home while increasing seafood imports from countries connected with illegal fishing and serious labor abuses like Vietnam," Karleskind stated.
More controls
Europeche representatives referred to the European Commission initiative to revise the fisheries control system. The sector sees it as a perfect opportunity to modernize and simplify the current regulation. However, the commission has introduced new mandatory control tools such as cameras and engine power monitoring devices, strengthened sanctions and centralized weighing systems.
Europeche argues that the Commission is in a quest to cast a shadow of doubt over the compliance and enforcement of fisheries rules by the sector. However, the latest figures from the European Fisheries Control Agency show that despite the increase of inspections at sea, the actual number of infringements has been reduced to an extremely low 3%. The industry therefore wonders on the need for the introduction of costly and burdensome control tools.
Ocean governance
Europeche stressed the importance of 2020 as the “super year for the ocean”. A series of major events will take place this year to set new binding targets for international ocean governance, with important implications for the fishing industry. One of the main sources of concern is the revision of the United Nations' convention on biological diversity may include a proposal for governments to close by 2030 at least 30% of the world’s ocean to extractive activities through a network of marine protected areas (MPAs).
The sector challenges the need to close more areas since in the last 20 years the populations of assessed fish stocks have increased globally, and in the case of European waters by 36% if compared to 2003. Furthermore, the sector recommends increasing efforts on better implementing existing environmental instruments since the already achieved 10% MPA-coverage in EU waters is not as successful as expected as many of them are simply ‘paper parks’.
“If all you have is a hammer to solve every ocean issue, everything will look like a nail. For instance, Palau’s marine sanctuary located in the Pacific and ‘protecting’ 500,000 km2 has backfired since shops and restaurants in the archipelago are serving vulnerable reef fish instead of sustainable pelagic fish like tuna. This demonstrates that both biodiversity and food security are better served by expanding effective fisheries management and not by establishing more no-take areas," said Europeche's managing director, Daniel Voces.
Industry representatives voiced that the combined effect of Brexit, the expansion of offshore wind farms, 30% non-extractive MPAs plus environmental EU regulations such as Natura2000 could restrict access to fishing grounds to the point that fishermen would have nowhere to fish.
Brexit
Concerning Brexit, Karleskind reiterated he will dedicate all his efforts to ensure that fishing will not be singled out from any political package agreement with the UK and stated that negotiations on fisheries should be inextricably linked to trade and market access.
Furthermore, Europeche showed great concern over the possible introduction of fuel taxes for fishing activities. The sector recalls the low greenhouse gas emissions of this industry thanks to the low number of fishing vessels (just 65.000 active fishing vessels), reduction of fuel consumption, and the introduction of new fuel-efficient engines.
Besides, the environmental carbon footprint is even lower considering that wild-caught fish does not require being artificially fed, use of water supply, antibiotics or pesticides, nor locking up in cages. Bearing in mind that fuel costs for fishing vessels may exceed 40% of the total operating costs, the taxation of fuel would thus bring about low environmental benefits compared with the high economic damage to the industry with hundreds of companies forced to shut down, according to the industry association.
Europeche's president, Javier Garat, welcomed the positive attitude and constructive nature of the meeting.
Källa: Undercurrent News
Ovan artikel sammanfattas och kommenteras av Njord / Anders Svensson i "Ny ordförande för EU:s fiskeutskott tycker att fisket är överreglerat"