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Medmare

Crisis in the Mediterranean: Small Scale Fisheries must be included as part of the solution.

, ,

Medmare

Crisis in the Mediterranean: Small Scale Fisheries

must be included as part of the solution.

 

Brussels, 20 april 2016

By Brian O’Riordan, Deputy Director

Low Impact Fishers of Europe (LIFE)

 

“Our patient is ill, but still breathing. The diagnosis is serious, but there is still hope.” From Commissioner Vella’s Opening Speech in Catania 9 February 2016, High level seminar on the Status of the Stocks in the Mediterranean and on the CFP Approach.

“Concerted effort needed to ensure that best practice become standard practices in small scale fisheries” – conclusion of GFCM Regional Conference on Small Scale Fisheries.

—————————————–

The Low Impact Fishers of Europe (LIFE) contend that if Mediterranean fisheries are to recover from their current crisis, small scale fisheries have to be included as a central part of the remedy.

Any solution to the crisis in the Mediterranean must be built around small scale fisheries, as this sector provides the social and economic backbone of fishing communities.

Il- oversight of the Spanish Government to include representatives from the small scale sector in their recent consultation with the fisheries sector, environmentalists, scientists and regional authorities must be remedied. Meeting in Madrid on April 7 to lay out details of its draft plan for the recovery of Mediterranean fisheries, the Fisheries Secretariat of the Ministry for Agriculture, Food and the Environment failed either to acknowledge the strategic importance of small scale fisheries to the success of such a plan, they also failed to invite representatives from the sector.

The Spanish plan is in preparation for a Ministerial conference in Brussels, hosted by DG Mare, on April 27, to coincide with the European Seafood Show (now called Seafood Expo Global). The meeting is spurred by the fishery crisis in the Mediterranean, and is the next step following the two day “high level seminar” on the state of stocks in the Mediterranean that took place in Catania, Sicily earlier this year. It will include Fisheries Ministers from all the countries bordering the Mediterranean, with the aim of agreeing on the actions necessary to address the crisis in the Mediterranean. Proposals from this conference will be taken to the 40th Session of the General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean (GFCM), the Regional Fisheries Management Organization (RFMO) for the Mediterranean and Black Sea, on 30 May.

The importance of small scale coastal fisheries (SSCF) in the Mediterranean is highlighted by the 2014 Annual Economic Report on the EU Fishing Fleet by the Scientific and Technical Committee on Fisheries (STEFC). This finds that, according to the available data, for the Mediterranean & Black Sea fleet, the small scale fleet (SSF) possessed 69% of the fleet in number and accounted for 67% of the effort but provided jobs for only 51% of the total employed. In terms of production, the SSF landed only 13% in weight but 23% in value; overall generating 27% of the revenue.

Whilst emphasising the important social and economic weight of the sector, these figures also highlight the huge gap in the available data on landings. Any visitor to a Mediterranean fishing port will be impressed by the quantity of small boats, the quantities of fish they collectively land, and the availability of fresh locally caught fish in the nearby restaurants and retail outlets. Clearly their contribution to landings is higher than available data shows.

Mediterranean wide, according to the General Commission for Fisheries in the Mediterranean – the GFCM –  SSCF “constitute over 80 percent of the fishing fleet, employ at least 60 percent of total on-vessel fishing labour and account for approximately 25 percent of the total landing value from capture fisheries in the region. At their best, small-scale fisheries exemplify sustainable resource use: exploiting living marine resources in a way that minimizes environmental degradation while maximizing economic and social benefits. Concerted effort is needed to ensure that best practices become standard practice.”

Small scale low impact activities using passive gears applied in a non-intensive and seasonally polyvalent manner also provide a ready-made solution to the problems of overfishing and environmental degradation caused by larger scale intensive, industrial fishery activities. Of course, considerable environmental impact is also being caused by the unrestricted use of small-meshed monofilament gillnets, and the associated effects of ghost fishing. Such irresponsible practices must be halted, in the same way that irresponsible industrial practices must be halted.

LIFE also contends that Article 17 of the CFP (“Basic Regulation” (EU) No 1380/2013) has an important role to play in favouring more sustainable ways of fishing, based on smaller scale, low impact fishing methods. Article 17, designed to promote responsible and socially beneficial fishing, obliges States to use transparent and objective criteria including those of an environmental, social and economic nature when allocating the fishing opportunities available to them. It also encourages States 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.

At a meeting organized by LIFE in Athens on 28 November 2015, smaller scale fishers and their representative organisations from Greece, Croatia, Italy, Cyprus, France and Spain demanded a greater voice in the development of fisheries policy at national and European levels. The meeting highlighted the need for the creation of long term plans as an integral element of the more dynamic and effective management of Mediterranean fisheries. Fishers also highlighted the need to reduce and then eventually eliminate pollution in the Mediterranean due to its a very significant adverse effect on coastal fisheries and the wider marine environment

However, although fishery activities undoubtedly have a significant impact on fish stocks and on the marine habitats essential for fishery production, it would be incorrect to lay the entire blame for the fishery crisis in the Mediterranean on fishing alone. The Mediterranean is a semi-enclosed sea, and highly vulnerable to the impacts of human activities. Including Gibraltar and Monaco there are 23 countries bordering the Mediterranean, and the impacts of industrial and domestic sources of pollution are considerable, as are the impacts of port, shipping, and offshore oil and gas exploration and extraction, and the actual and potential impacts of climate change (including acidification, increases in extreme weather, sea level rise, warming of the sea etc.).

The Mediterranean also has a notorious reputation for illegal (IUU) fishing. Sometimes this is carried out under the guise of “sports fishing”, the impact of which is considerable. In addition, due to the complex nature of national maritime boundaries and inadequate monitoring, control and enforcement, much illegal, unregulated and unreported fishery activity takes place beyond national boundaries. In many cases these extend out to only 12 miles. There is also a lack of harmonized policies between EU Member States and other Mediterranean countries, hence the need for action at the RFMO level, in the GFCM.

The question also arises as to what extent fishery specific measures can be used to restore fish stocks and the marine environment, and to what extent a raft of much wider measures is needed. For example, MSY is unlikely to be achieved solely by applying such fishery specific measures as closed seasons, fleet capacity reductions, technical measures to reduce the impact of fishing gears, etc. Unless environmental degradation caused by pollutants, marine debris (including plastics), by acidification from increasing CO2 levels etc. is addressed, fish stocks will not be able to rebuild themselves to pre-crisis levels.

Except for professional fisheries, all traditional sectors of Mediterranean maritime economy such as tourism, shipping, aquaculture and offshore oil and gas are expected to keep growing during the coming 15 years. Comparatively new or emerging sectors such as renewable energy, seabed mining and biotechnology are expected to grow even faster, although there is greater uncertainty concerning these developments and their expected impacts on marine ecosystem.

For sure, the road to recovery will be paved with a complex array of difficulties. However, unless policy makers include small scale fisheries and the stakeholders from the sector in their plans and consultations, it will be a rocky road to nowhere.

Medmare

Crisis in the Mediterranean: Small Scale Fisheries must be included as part of the solution.

, ,

Medmare

Crisis in the Mediterranean: Small Scale Fisheries

must be included as part of the solution.

 

Brussels, 20 april 2016

By Brian O’Riordan, Deputy Director

Low Impact Fishers of Europe (LIFE)

 

“Our patient is ill, but still breathing. The diagnosis is serious, but there is still hope.” From Commissioner Vella’s Opening Speech in Catania 9 February 2016, High level seminar on the Status of the Stocks in the Mediterranean and on the CFP Approach.

“Concerted effort needed to ensure that best practice become standard practices in small scale fisheries” – conclusion of GFCM Regional Conference on Small Scale Fisheries.

—————————————–

The Low Impact Fishers of Europe (LIFE) contend that if Mediterranean fisheries are to recover from their current crisis, small scale fisheries have to be included as a central part of the remedy.

Any solution to the crisis in the Mediterranean must be built around small scale fisheries, as this sector provides the social and economic backbone of fishing communities.

Il- oversight of the Spanish Government to include representatives from the small scale sector in their recent consultation with the fisheries sector, environmentalists, scientists and regional authorities must be remedied. Meeting in Madrid on April 7 to lay out details of its draft plan for the recovery of Mediterranean fisheries, the Fisheries Secretariat of the Ministry for Agriculture, Food and the Environment failed either to acknowledge the strategic importance of small scale fisheries to the success of such a plan, they also failed to invite representatives from the sector.

The Spanish plan is in preparation for a Ministerial conference in Brussels, hosted by DG Mare, on April 27, to coincide with the European Seafood Show (now called Seafood Expo Global). The meeting is spurred by the fishery crisis in the Mediterranean, and is the next step following the two day “high level seminar” on the state of stocks in the Mediterranean that took place in Catania, Sicily earlier this year. It will include Fisheries Ministers from all the countries bordering the Mediterranean, with the aim of agreeing on the actions necessary to address the crisis in the Mediterranean. Proposals from this conference will be taken to the 40th Session of the General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean (GFCM), the Regional Fisheries Management Organization (RFMO) for the Mediterranean and Black Sea, on 30 May.

The importance of small scale coastal fisheries (SSCF) in the Mediterranean is highlighted by the 2014 Annual Economic Report on the EU Fishing Fleet by the Scientific and Technical Committee on Fisheries (STEFC). This finds that, according to the available data, for the Mediterranean & Black Sea fleet, the small scale fleet (SSF) possessed 69% of the fleet in number and accounted for 67% of the effort but provided jobs for only 51% of the total employed. In terms of production, the SSF landed only 13% in weight but 23% in value; overall generating 27% of the revenue.

Whilst emphasising the important social and economic weight of the sector, these figures also highlight the huge gap in the available data on landings. Any visitor to a Mediterranean fishing port will be impressed by the quantity of small boats, the quantities of fish they collectively land, and the availability of fresh locally caught fish in the nearby restaurants and retail outlets. Clearly their contribution to landings is higher than available data shows.

Mediterranean wide, according to the General Commission for Fisheries in the Mediterranean – the GFCM –  SSCF “constitute over 80 percent of the fishing fleet, employ at least 60 percent of total on-vessel fishing labour and account for approximately 25 percent of the total landing value from capture fisheries in the region. At their best, small-scale fisheries exemplify sustainable resource use: exploiting living marine resources in a way that minimizes environmental degradation while maximizing economic and social benefits. Concerted effort is needed to ensure that best practices become standard practice.”

Small scale low impact activities using passive gears applied in a non-intensive and seasonally polyvalent manner also provide a ready-made solution to the problems of overfishing and environmental degradation caused by larger scale intensive, industrial fishery activities. Of course, considerable environmental impact is also being caused by the unrestricted use of small-meshed monofilament gillnets, and the associated effects of ghost fishing. Such irresponsible practices must be halted, in the same way that irresponsible industrial practices must be halted.

LIFE also contends that Article 17 of the CFP (“Basic Regulation” (EU) No 1380/2013) has an important role to play in favouring more sustainable ways of fishing, based on smaller scale, low impact fishing methods. Article 17, designed to promote responsible and socially beneficial fishing, obliges States to use transparent and objective criteria including those of an environmental, social and economic nature when allocating the fishing opportunities available to them. It also encourages States 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.

At a meeting organized by LIFE in Athens on 28 November 2015, smaller scale fishers and their representative organisations from Greece, Croatia, Italy, Cyprus, France and Spain demanded a greater voice in the development of fisheries policy at national and European levels. The meeting highlighted the need for the creation of long term plans as an integral element of the more dynamic and effective management of Mediterranean fisheries. Fishers also highlighted the need to reduce and then eventually eliminate pollution in the Mediterranean due to its a very significant adverse effect on coastal fisheries and the wider marine environment

However, although fishery activities undoubtedly have a significant impact on fish stocks and on the marine habitats essential for fishery production, it would be incorrect to lay the entire blame for the fishery crisis in the Mediterranean on fishing alone. The Mediterranean is a semi-enclosed sea, and highly vulnerable to the impacts of human activities. Including Gibraltar and Monaco there are 23 countries bordering the Mediterranean, and the impacts of industrial and domestic sources of pollution are considerable, as are the impacts of port, shipping, and offshore oil and gas exploration and extraction, and the actual and potential impacts of climate change (including acidification, increases in extreme weather, sea level rise, warming of the sea etc.).

The Mediterranean also has a notorious reputation for illegal (IUU) fishing. Sometimes this is carried out under the guise of “sports fishing”, the impact of which is considerable. In addition, due to the complex nature of national maritime boundaries and inadequate monitoring, control and enforcement, much illegal, unregulated and unreported fishery activity takes place beyond national boundaries. In many cases these extend out to only 12 miles. There is also a lack of harmonized policies between EU Member States and other Mediterranean countries, hence the need for action at the RFMO level, in the GFCM.

The question also arises as to what extent fishery specific measures can be used to restore fish stocks and the marine environment, and to what extent a raft of much wider measures is needed. For example, MSY is unlikely to be achieved solely by applying such fishery specific measures as closed seasons, fleet capacity reductions, technical measures to reduce the impact of fishing gears, etc. Unless environmental degradation caused by pollutants, marine debris (including plastics), by acidification from increasing CO2 levels etc. is addressed, fish stocks will not be able to rebuild themselves to pre-crisis levels.

Except for professional fisheries, all traditional sectors of Mediterranean maritime economy such as tourism, shipping, aquaculture and offshore oil and gas are expected to keep growing during the coming 15 years. Comparatively new or emerging sectors such as renewable energy, seabed mining and biotechnology are expected to grow even faster, although there is greater uncertainty concerning these developments and their expected impacts on marine ecosystem.

For sure, the road to recovery will be paved with a complex array of difficulties. However, unless policy makers include small scale fisheries and the stakeholders from the sector in their plans and consultations, it will be a rocky road to nowhere.

Medmare

Crisis in the Mediterranean: Small Scale Fisheries must be included as part of the solution.

, ,

Medmare

Crisis in the Mediterranean: Small Scale Fisheries

must be included as part of the solution.

 

Brussels, 20 april 2016

By Brian O’Riordan, Deputy Director

Low Impact Fishers of Europe (LIFE)

 

“Our patient is ill, but still breathing. The diagnosis is serious, but there is still hope.” From Commissioner Vella’s Opening Speech in Catania 9 February 2016, High level seminar on the Status of the Stocks in the Mediterranean and on the CFP Approach.

“Concerted effort needed to ensure that best practice become standard practices in small scale fisheries” – conclusion of GFCM Regional Conference on Small Scale Fisheries.

—————————————–

The Low Impact Fishers of Europe (LIFE) contend that if Mediterranean fisheries are to recover from their current crisis, small scale fisheries have to be included as a central part of the remedy.

Any solution to the crisis in the Mediterranean must be built around small scale fisheries, as this sector provides the social and economic backbone of fishing communities.

Il- oversight of the Spanish Government to include representatives from the small scale sector in their recent consultation with the fisheries sector, environmentalists, scientists and regional authorities must be remedied. Meeting in Madrid on April 7 to lay out details of its draft plan for the recovery of Mediterranean fisheries, the Fisheries Secretariat of the Ministry for Agriculture, Food and the Environment failed either to acknowledge the strategic importance of small scale fisheries to the success of such a plan, they also failed to invite representatives from the sector.

The Spanish plan is in preparation for a Ministerial conference in Brussels, hosted by DG Mare, on April 27, to coincide with the European Seafood Show (now called Seafood Expo Global). The meeting is spurred by the fishery crisis in the Mediterranean, and is the next step following the two day “high level seminar” on the state of stocks in the Mediterranean that took place in Catania, Sicily earlier this year. It will include Fisheries Ministers from all the countries bordering the Mediterranean, with the aim of agreeing on the actions necessary to address the crisis in the Mediterranean. Proposals from this conference will be taken to the 40th Session of the General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean (GFCM), the Regional Fisheries Management Organization (RFMO) for the Mediterranean and Black Sea, on 30 May.

The importance of small scale coastal fisheries (SSCF) in the Mediterranean is highlighted by the 2014 Annual Economic Report on the EU Fishing Fleet by the Scientific and Technical Committee on Fisheries (STEFC). This finds that, according to the available data, for the Mediterranean & Black Sea fleet, the small scale fleet (SSF) possessed 69% of the fleet in number and accounted for 67% of the effort but provided jobs for only 51% of the total employed. In terms of production, the SSF landed only 13% in weight but 23% in value; overall generating 27% of the revenue.

Whilst emphasising the important social and economic weight of the sector, these figures also highlight the huge gap in the available data on landings. Any visitor to a Mediterranean fishing port will be impressed by the quantity of small boats, the quantities of fish they collectively land, and the availability of fresh locally caught fish in the nearby restaurants and retail outlets. Clearly their contribution to landings is higher than available data shows.

Mediterranean wide, according to the General Commission for Fisheries in the Mediterranean – the GFCM –  SSCF “constitute over 80 percent of the fishing fleet, employ at least 60 percent of total on-vessel fishing labour and account for approximately 25 percent of the total landing value from capture fisheries in the region. At their best, small-scale fisheries exemplify sustainable resource use: exploiting living marine resources in a way that minimizes environmental degradation while maximizing economic and social benefits. Concerted effort is needed to ensure that best practices become standard practice.”

Small scale low impact activities using passive gears applied in a non-intensive and seasonally polyvalent manner also provide a ready-made solution to the problems of overfishing and environmental degradation caused by larger scale intensive, industrial fishery activities. Of course, considerable environmental impact is also being caused by the unrestricted use of small-meshed monofilament gillnets, and the associated effects of ghost fishing. Such irresponsible practices must be halted, in the same way that irresponsible industrial practices must be halted.

LIFE also contends that Article 17 of the CFP (“Basic Regulation” (EU) No 1380/2013) has an important role to play in favouring more sustainable ways of fishing, based on smaller scale, low impact fishing methods. Article 17, designed to promote responsible and socially beneficial fishing, obliges States to use transparent and objective criteria including those of an environmental, social and economic nature when allocating the fishing opportunities available to them. It also encourages States 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.

At a meeting organized by LIFE in Athens on 28 November 2015, smaller scale fishers and their representative organisations from Greece, Croatia, Italy, Cyprus, France and Spain demanded a greater voice in the development of fisheries policy at national and European levels. The meeting highlighted the need for the creation of long term plans as an integral element of the more dynamic and effective management of Mediterranean fisheries. Fishers also highlighted the need to reduce and then eventually eliminate pollution in the Mediterranean due to its a very significant adverse effect on coastal fisheries and the wider marine environment

However, although fishery activities undoubtedly have a significant impact on fish stocks and on the marine habitats essential for fishery production, it would be incorrect to lay the entire blame for the fishery crisis in the Mediterranean on fishing alone. The Mediterranean is a semi-enclosed sea, and highly vulnerable to the impacts of human activities. Including Gibraltar and Monaco there are 23 countries bordering the Mediterranean, and the impacts of industrial and domestic sources of pollution are considerable, as are the impacts of port, shipping, and offshore oil and gas exploration and extraction, and the actual and potential impacts of climate change (including acidification, increases in extreme weather, sea level rise, warming of the sea etc.).

The Mediterranean also has a notorious reputation for illegal (IUU) fishing. Sometimes this is carried out under the guise of “sports fishing”, the impact of which is considerable. In addition, due to the complex nature of national maritime boundaries and inadequate monitoring, control and enforcement, much illegal, unregulated and unreported fishery activity takes place beyond national boundaries. In many cases these extend out to only 12 miles. There is also a lack of harmonized policies between EU Member States and other Mediterranean countries, hence the need for action at the RFMO level, in the GFCM.

The question also arises as to what extent fishery specific measures can be used to restore fish stocks and the marine environment, and to what extent a raft of much wider measures is needed. For example, MSY is unlikely to be achieved solely by applying such fishery specific measures as closed seasons, fleet capacity reductions, technical measures to reduce the impact of fishing gears, etc. Unless environmental degradation caused by pollutants, marine debris (including plastics), by acidification from increasing CO2 levels etc. is addressed, fish stocks will not be able to rebuild themselves to pre-crisis levels.

Except for professional fisheries, all traditional sectors of Mediterranean maritime economy such as tourism, shipping, aquaculture and offshore oil and gas are expected to keep growing during the coming 15 years. Comparatively new or emerging sectors such as renewable energy, seabed mining and biotechnology are expected to grow even faster, although there is greater uncertainty concerning these developments and their expected impacts on marine ecosystem.

For sure, the road to recovery will be paved with a complex array of difficulties. However, unless policy makers include small scale fisheries and the stakeholders from the sector in their plans and consultations, it will be a rocky road to nowhere.

Parlement_2

European Parliament Calls for a Regional Approach to Small Scale Fisheries

, ,

Parlement_2

European Parliament Calls for a Regional Approach to Small Scale Fisheries, for the fair allocation and gradual increase of quotas to small‑scale fishing

 

Brussels, 18 April 2016

LIFE Platform

On Tuesday 12 April, at their plenary session in Strasbourg, the European Parliament adopted a resolution on “innovation and diversification of small-scale coastal fishing in fisheries-dependent regions (2015/2090(INI))”. http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?pubRef=-//EP//TEXT+TA+P8-TA-2016-0109+0+DOC+XML+V0//EN

The Rapporteur, Croatian Euro-deputy Ruža Tomašić, highlighted that a new regionalized framework was needed for small scale coastal fisheries in order to take account of the specificities of different fisheries regions. Citing the example of the Mediterranean, Tomašić emphasised the need to abandon the one size fits all approach that has characterized the CFP to date.

LIFE completely agrees with, and has been calling for such an approach since it was founded in 2012. Such a differentiated approach is the only way to halt the erosion of fishing rights and the demise of small scale fisheries. We take on board Mr Vella’s comment that a “regionalised approach to the definition could have some merit but would also risk creating an uneven playing field.”

However, a regionalised approach to defining small scale fisheries need not alter the EMFF definition. Rather, for example, Regional MAPs and the technical measures adopted by them would take greater account of different craft gear combinations in the smaller scale non-towed gear categories. This could be in the form of derogations, or specific technical measures to be applied to the passive gear fleet segments.

In LIFE’s view the implementation of Tomasic’s report would go a long way to righting many of the wrongs dealt out to the small scale fisheries sector, and create a fairer and more level playing field.

Responding to the initiative, Commissioner Vella observed that “it is a fact that small-scale coastal fishing vessels are fundamental for the viability and resilience of coastal communities dependent on them, and I fully agree with that view.”

Il- Low Impact Fishers of Europe (LIFE) congratulates Madame Tomašić for her report, and the European Parliament for adopting it. The report endorses LIFE’s contention that the specificities of small scale coastal fisheries require a differentiated approach, and that such fisheries are best defined at local level, within a regional framework.

Commissioner Vella rightly highlighted that in the European Union at least 3 out of 4 vessels (75%) are characterized as being small in scale, i.e. under 12 metres using non towed gears.

Unlike larger scale, more industrial kinds of fishing operations, these small-scale activities generally have a low impact on the environment, whilst having a high social and economic value providing fresh fish, jobs, and supporting economic and cultural activities locally.

However, LIFE fully agrees with Commissioner Vella that the fleet needs regulating, and that further relaxing regulatory requirements on small-scale coastal fishing risks encouraging fishing by additional vessels and could worsen crowding in the coastal band, especially in areas where there is already a lot of pressure on regulated and unregulated stocks.

LIFE notes with concern that there are significant regulatory loopholes through which illegal, unregulated and unreported fishing passes in the guise of sports fishing. These loopholes need closing.

Since the Common Fisheries Policy was launched in 1983, the small scale sector has been neglected, marginalised and treated unfairly. For this reason, this fleet segment of often referred to as Europe’s “Forgotten Fleet”. Over the last 20 years, this segment of the fleet has declined the most, in some instances by as much as 40 to 50% since 1995.

Successive CFPs dating back to 1983 have tended to focus on larger scale fisheries, leaving national authorities to deal with smaller scale fisheries. With notable exceptions, national authorities have also tended to neglect smaller scale fisheries, and this has resulted in unfair treatment compared to larger scale fisheries (in terms of fishing access rights, access to markets, access to decision taking etc.).

Until the most recent review and reform of the European Union’s Common Fisheries Policy (CFP), the management of small scale fisheries was considered to be a national issue. The “Green Paper” consultation initiated in 2009 questioned whether or not the CFP should adopt a differentiated approach to the management of fisheries: one approach for small scale fleets in coastal communities with a focus on social objectives, and another for large-scale fleets, with capacity adjustment and economic efficiency at the core.

Although this suggestion was not incorporated into the new CFP, it was endorsed by the European Parliament, which proposed a comprehensive range of measures to defend and promote the small-scale sector.

LIFE welcomes the fact that the financial instrument for implementing the CFP, the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF  – (EU) No 508/2014), as well as the Market Regulation ((EU) No 1379/2013 ), and the Regulation for the Advisory Councils (Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2015/242) all contain provisions which positively discriminate in favour of small scale fisheries.

However, as noted by Commissioner Vella, the implementation of these measures depends on Member States; that it is their responsibility to decide, under the respective operational programmes approved in late 2015, how to translate their strategic preferences into concrete support to their small-scale coastal fishing fleet.

LIFE calls on Member States to recognize the importance of small scale coastal fleets through specific plans for the modernization of the fleet. LIFE also fully endorses the call of the European Parliament for the quotas allocated to non-industrial fisheries to be increased, in order to boost this socially and ecologically sustainable form of fishing.

In our view the implementation of Article 17 is vital in this regard. Article 17 calls on Member States to “use transparent and objective criteria including those of an environmental, social and economic nature”, when allocating the fishing opportunities available to them. “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.”

Such measures, if applied in the spirit of the Article, would undoubtedly go a long way to providing the affirmative action necessary for small scale fisheries to regain their prominence in European fisheries.

Although many of Mrs Tomasic’s proposals are already contained in the new CFP, her report highlights the inertia in Member States to take the affirmative actions on small scale fisheries proposed, and the need for its full implementation.

 

Parlement_2

European Parliament Calls for a Regional Approach to Small Scale Fisheries

, ,

Parlement_2

European Parliament Calls for a Regional Approach to Small Scale Fisheries, for the fair allocation and gradual increase of quotas to small‑scale fishing

 

Brussels, 18 April 2016

LIFE Platform

On Tuesday 12 April, at their plenary session in Strasbourg, the European Parliament adopted a resolution on “innovation and diversification of small-scale coastal fishing in fisheries-dependent regions (2015/2090(INI))”. http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?pubRef=-//EP//TEXT+TA+P8-TA-2016-0109+0+DOC+XML+V0//EN

The Rapporteur, Croatian Euro-deputy Ruža Tomašić, highlighted that a new regionalized framework was needed for small scale coastal fisheries in order to take account of the specificities of different fisheries regions. Citing the example of the Mediterranean, Tomašić emphasised the need to abandon the one size fits all approach that has characterized the CFP to date.

LIFE completely agrees with, and has been calling for such an approach since it was founded in 2012. Such a differentiated approach is the only way to halt the erosion of fishing rights and the demise of small scale fisheries. We take on board Mr Vella’s comment that a “regionalised approach to the definition could have some merit but would also risk creating an uneven playing field.”

However, a regionalised approach to defining small scale fisheries need not alter the EMFF definition. Rather, for example, Regional MAPs and the technical measures adopted by them would take greater account of different craft gear combinations in the smaller scale non-towed gear categories. This could be in the form of derogations, or specific technical measures to be applied to the passive gear fleet segments.

In LIFE’s view the implementation of Tomasic’s report would go a long way to righting many of the wrongs dealt out to the small scale fisheries sector, and create a fairer and more level playing field.

Responding to the initiative, Commissioner Vella observed that “it is a fact that small-scale coastal fishing vessels are fundamental for the viability and resilience of coastal communities dependent on them, and I fully agree with that view.”

Il- Low Impact Fishers of Europe (LIFE) congratulates Madame Tomašić for her report, and the European Parliament for adopting it. The report endorses LIFE’s contention that the specificities of small scale coastal fisheries require a differentiated approach, and that such fisheries are best defined at local level, within a regional framework.

Commissioner Vella rightly highlighted that in the European Union at least 3 out of 4 vessels (75%) are characterized as being small in scale, i.e. under 12 metres using non towed gears.

Unlike larger scale, more industrial kinds of fishing operations, these small-scale activities generally have a low impact on the environment, whilst having a high social and economic value providing fresh fish, jobs, and supporting economic and cultural activities locally.

However, LIFE fully agrees with Commissioner Vella that the fleet needs regulating, and that further relaxing regulatory requirements on small-scale coastal fishing risks encouraging fishing by additional vessels and could worsen crowding in the coastal band, especially in areas where there is already a lot of pressure on regulated and unregulated stocks.

LIFE notes with concern that there are significant regulatory loopholes through which illegal, unregulated and unreported fishing passes in the guise of sports fishing. These loopholes need closing.

Since the Common Fisheries Policy was launched in 1983, the small scale sector has been neglected, marginalised and treated unfairly. For this reason, this fleet segment of often referred to as Europe’s “Forgotten Fleet”. Over the last 20 years, this segment of the fleet has declined the most, in some instances by as much as 40 to 50% since 1995.

Successive CFPs dating back to 1983 have tended to focus on larger scale fisheries, leaving national authorities to deal with smaller scale fisheries. With notable exceptions, national authorities have also tended to neglect smaller scale fisheries, and this has resulted in unfair treatment compared to larger scale fisheries (in terms of fishing access rights, access to markets, access to decision taking etc.).

Until the most recent review and reform of the European Union’s Common Fisheries Policy (CFP), the management of small scale fisheries was considered to be a national issue. The “Green Paper” consultation initiated in 2009 questioned whether or not the CFP should adopt a differentiated approach to the management of fisheries: one approach for small scale fleets in coastal communities with a focus on social objectives, and another for large-scale fleets, with capacity adjustment and economic efficiency at the core.

Although this suggestion was not incorporated into the new CFP, it was endorsed by the European Parliament, which proposed a comprehensive range of measures to defend and promote the small-scale sector.

LIFE welcomes the fact that the financial instrument for implementing the CFP, the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF  – (EU) No 508/2014), as well as the Market Regulation ((EU) No 1379/2013 ), and the Regulation for the Advisory Councils (Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2015/242) all contain provisions which positively discriminate in favour of small scale fisheries.

However, as noted by Commissioner Vella, the implementation of these measures depends on Member States; that it is their responsibility to decide, under the respective operational programmes approved in late 2015, how to translate their strategic preferences into concrete support to their small-scale coastal fishing fleet.

LIFE calls on Member States to recognize the importance of small scale coastal fleets through specific plans for the modernization of the fleet. LIFE also fully endorses the call of the European Parliament for the quotas allocated to non-industrial fisheries to be increased, in order to boost this socially and ecologically sustainable form of fishing.

In our view the implementation of Article 17 is vital in this regard. Article 17 calls on Member States to “use transparent and objective criteria including those of an environmental, social and economic nature”, when allocating the fishing opportunities available to them. “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.”

Such measures, if applied in the spirit of the Article, would undoubtedly go a long way to providing the affirmative action necessary for small scale fisheries to regain their prominence in European fisheries.

Although many of Mrs Tomasic’s proposals are already contained in the new CFP, her report highlights the inertia in Member States to take the affirmative actions on small scale fisheries proposed, and the need for its full implementation.

 

Parlement_2

European Parliament Calls for a Regional Approach to Small Scale Fisheries

, ,

Parlement_2

European Parliament Calls for a Regional Approach to Small Scale Fisheries, for the fair allocation and gradual increase of quotas to small‑scale fishing

 

Brussels, 18 April 2016

LIFE Platform

 

On Tuesday 12 April, at their plenary session in Strasbourg, the European Parliament adopted a resolution on “innovation and diversification of small-scale coastal fishing in fisheries-dependent regions (2015/2090(INI))”. http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?pubRef=-//EP//TEXT+TA+P8-TA-2016-0109+0+DOC+XML+V0//EN

The Rapporteur, Croatian Euro-deputy Ruža Tomašić, highlighted that a new regionalized framework was needed for small scale coastal fisheries in order to take account of the specificities of different fisheries regions. Citing the example of the Mediterranean, Tomašić emphasised the need to abandon the one size fits all approach that has characterized the CFP to date.

LIFE completely agrees with, and has been calling for such an approach since it was founded in 2012. Such a differentiated approach is the only way to halt the erosion of fishing rights and the demise of small scale fisheries. We take on board Mr Vella’s comment that a “regionalised approach to the definition could have some merit but would also risk creating an uneven playing field.”

However, a regionalised approach to defining small scale fisheries need not alter the EMFF definition. Rather, for example, Regional MAPs and the technical measures adopted by them would take greater account of different craft gear combinations in the smaller scale non-towed gear categories. This could be in the form of derogations, or specific technical measures to be applied to the passive gear fleet segments.

In LIFE’s view the implementation of Tomasic’s report would go a long way to righting many of the wrongs dealt out to the small scale fisheries sector, and create a fairer and more level playing field.

Responding to the initiative, Commissioner Vella observed that “it is a fact that small-scale coastal fishing vessels are fundamental for the viability and resilience of coastal communities dependent on them, and I fully agree with that view.”

Il- Low Impact Fishers of Europe (LIFE) congratulates Madame Tomašić for her report, and the European Parliament for adopting it. The report endorses LIFE’s contention that the specificities of small scale coastal fisheries require a differentiated approach, and that such fisheries are best defined at local level, within a regional framework.

Commissioner Vella rightly highlighted that in the European Union at least 3 out of 4 vessels (75%) are characterized as being small in scale, i.e. under 12 metres using non towed gears.

Unlike larger scale, more industrial kinds of fishing operations, these small-scale activities generally have a low impact on the environment, whilst having a high social and economic value providing fresh fish, jobs, and supporting economic and cultural activities locally.

However, LIFE fully agrees with Commissioner Vella that the fleet needs regulating, and that further relaxing regulatory requirements on small-scale coastal fishing risks encouraging fishing by additional vessels and could worsen crowding in the coastal band, especially in areas where there is already a lot of pressure on regulated and unregulated stocks.

LIFE notes with concern that there are significant regulatory loopholes through which illegal, unregulated and unreported fishing passes in the guise of sports fishing. These loopholes need closing.

Since the Common Fisheries Policy was launched in 1983, the small scale sector has been neglected, marginalised and treated unfairly. For this reason, this fleet segment of often referred to as Europe’s “Forgotten Fleet”. Over the last 20 years, this segment of the fleet has declined the most, in some instances by as much as 40 to 50% since 1995.

Successive CFPs dating back to 1983 have tended to focus on larger scale fisheries, leaving national authorities to deal with smaller scale fisheries. With notable exceptions, national authorities have also tended to neglect smaller scale fisheries, and this has resulted in unfair treatment compared to larger scale fisheries (in terms of fishing access rights, access to markets, access to decision taking etc.).

Until the most recent review and reform of the European Union’s Common Fisheries Policy (CFP), the management of small scale fisheries was considered to be a national issue. The “Green Paper” consultation initiated in 2009 questioned whether or not the CFP should adopt a differentiated approach to the management of fisheries: one approach for small scale fleets in coastal communities with a focus on social objectives, and another for large-scale fleets, with capacity adjustment and economic efficiency at the core.

Although this suggestion was not incorporated into the new CFP, it was endorsed by the European Parliament, which proposed a comprehensive range of measures to defend and promote the small-scale sector.

LIFE welcomes the fact that the financial instrument for implementing the CFP, the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF  – (EU) No 508/2014), as well as the Market Regulation ((EU) No 1379/2013 ), and the Regulation for the Advisory Councils (Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2015/242) all contain provisions which positively discriminate in favour of small scale fisheries.

However, as noted by Commissioner Vella, the implementation of these measures depends on Member States; that it is their responsibility to decide, under the respective operational programmes approved in late 2015, how to translate their strategic preferences into concrete support to their small-scale coastal fishing fleet.

LIFE calls on Member States to recognize the importance of small scale coastal fleets through specific plans for the modernization of the fleet. LIFE also fully endorses the call of the European Parliament for the quotas allocated to non-industrial fisheries to be increased, in order to boost this socially and ecologically sustainable form of fishing.

In our view the implementation of Article 17 is vital in this regard. Article 17 calls on Member States to “use transparent and objective criteria including those of an environmental, social and economic nature”, when allocating the fishing opportunities available to them. “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.”

Such measures, if applied in the spirit of the Article, would undoubtedly go a long way to providing the affirmative action necessary for small scale fisheries to regain their prominence in European fisheries.

Although many of Mrs Tomasic’s proposals are already contained in the new CFP, her report highlights the inertia in Member States to take the affirmative actions on small scale fisheries proposed, and the need for its full implementation.

 

Parlement_2

European Parliament Calls for a Regional Approach to Small Scale Fisheries

, ,

Parlement_2

European Parliament Calls for a Regional Approach to Small Scale Fisheries, for the fair allocation and gradual increase of quotas to small‑scale fishing 

 

Brussels, 18 April 2016

LIFE Platform

 

On Tuesday 12 April, at their plenary session in Strasbourg, the European Parliament adopted a resolution on “innovation and diversification of small-scale coastal fishing in fisheries-dependent regions (2015/2090(INI))”. http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?pubRef=-//EP//TEXT+TA+P8-TA-2016-0109+0+DOC+XML+V0//EN

The Rapporteur, Croatian Euro-deputy Ruža Tomašić, highlighted that a new regionalized framework was needed for small scale coastal fisheries in order to take account of the specificities of different fisheries regions. Citing the example of the Mediterranean, Tomašić emphasised the need to abandon the one size fits all approach that has characterized the CFP to date.

LIFE completely agrees with, and has been calling for such an approach since it was founded in 2012. Such a differentiated approach is the only way to halt the erosion of fishing rights and the demise of small scale fisheries. We take on board Mr Vella’s comment that a “regionalised approach to the definition could have some merit but would also risk creating an uneven playing field.”

However, a regionalised approach to defining small scale fisheries need not alter the EMFF definition. Rather, for example, Regional MAPs and the technical measures adopted by them would take greater account of different craft gear combinations in the smaller scale non-towed gear categories. This could be in the form of derogations, or specific technical measures to be applied to the passive gear fleet segments.

In LIFE’s view the implementation of Tomasic’s report would go a long way to righting many of the wrongs dealt out to the small scale fisheries sector, and create a fairer and more level playing field.

Responding to the initiative, Commissioner Vella observed that “it is a fact that small-scale coastal fishing vessels are fundamental for the viability and resilience of coastal communities dependent on them, and I fully agree with that view.”

Il- Low Impact Fishers of Europe (LIFE) congratulates Madame Tomašić for her report, and the European Parliament for adopting it. The report endorses LIFE’s contention that the specificities of small scale coastal fisheries require a differentiated approach, and that such fisheries are best defined at local level, within a regional framework.

Commissioner Vella rightly highlighted that in the European Union at least 3 out of 4 vessels (75%) are characterized as being small in scale, i.e. under 12 metres using non towed gears.

Unlike larger scale, more industrial kinds of fishing operations, these small-scale activities generally have a low impact on the environment, whilst having a high social and economic value providing fresh fish, jobs, and supporting economic and cultural activities locally.

However, LIFE fully agrees with Commissioner Vella that the fleet needs regulating, and that further relaxing regulatory requirements on small-scale coastal fishing risks encouraging fishing by additional vessels and could worsen crowding in the coastal band, especially in areas where there is already a lot of pressure on regulated and unregulated stocks.

LIFE notes with concern that there are significant regulatory loopholes through which illegal, unregulated and unreported fishing passes in the guise of sports fishing. These loopholes need closing.

Since the Common Fisheries Policy was launched in 1983, the small scale sector has been neglected, marginalised and treated unfairly. For this reason, this fleet segment of often referred to as Europe’s “Forgotten Fleet”. Over the last 20 years, this segment of the fleet has declined the most, in some instances by as much as 40 to 50% since 1995.

Successive CFPs dating back to 1983 have tended to focus on larger scale fisheries, leaving national authorities to deal with smaller scale fisheries. With notable exceptions, national authorities have also tended to neglect smaller scale fisheries, and this has resulted in unfair treatment compared to larger scale fisheries (in terms of fishing access rights, access to markets, access to decision taking etc.).

Until the most recent review and reform of the European Union’s Common Fisheries Policy (CFP), the management of small scale fisheries was considered to be a national issue. The “Green Paper” consultation initiated in 2009 questioned whether or not the CFP should adopt a differentiated approach to the management of fisheries: one approach for small scale fleets in coastal communities with a focus on social objectives, and another for large-scale fleets, with capacity adjustment and economic efficiency at the core.

Although this suggestion was not incorporated into the new CFP, it was endorsed by the European Parliament, which proposed a comprehensive range of measures to defend and promote the small-scale sector.

LIFE welcomes the fact that the financial instrument for implementing the CFP, the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF  – (EU) No 508/2014), as well as the Market Regulation ((EU) No 1379/2013 ), and the Regulation for the Advisory Councils (Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2015/242) all contain provisions which positively discriminate in favour of small scale fisheries.

However, as noted by Commissioner Vella, the implementation of these measures depends on Member States; that it is their responsibility to decide, under the respective operational programmes approved in late 2015, how to translate their strategic preferences into concrete support to their small-scale coastal fishing fleet.

LIFE calls on Member States to recognize the importance of small scale coastal fleets through specific plans for the modernization of the fleet. LIFE also fully endorses the call of the European Parliament for the quotas allocated to non-industrial fisheries to be increased, in order to boost this socially and ecologically sustainable form of fishing.

In our view the implementation of Article 17 is vital in this regard. Article 17 calls on Member States to “use transparent and objective criteria including those of an environmental, social and economic nature”, when allocating the fishing opportunities available to them. “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.”

Such measures, if applied in the spirit of the Article, would undoubtedly go a long way to providing the affirmative action necessary for small scale fisheries to regain their prominence in European fisheries.

Although many of Mrs Tomasic’s proposals are already contained in the new CFP, her report highlights the inertia in Member States to take the affirmative actions on small scale fisheries proposed, and the need for its full implementation.

 

 

 

 

Parlement_2

European Parliament Calls for a Regional Approach to Small Scale Fisheries

, ,

Parlement_2

European Parliament Calls for a Regional Approach to Small Scale Fisheries, for the fair allocation and gradual increase of quotas to small‑scale fishing 

 

Brussels, 18 April 2016

LIFE Platform

 

On Tuesday 12 April, at their plenary session in Strasbourg, the European Parliament adopted a resolution on “innovation and diversification of small-scale coastal fishing in fisheries-dependent regions (2015/2090(INI))”. http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?pubRef=-//EP//TEXT+TA+P8-TA-2016-0109+0+DOC+XML+V0//EN

The Rapporteur, Croatian Euro-deputy Ruža Tomašić, highlighted that a new regionalized framework was needed for small scale coastal fisheries in order to take account of the specificities of different fisheries regions. Citing the example of the Mediterranean, Tomašić emphasised the need to abandon the one size fits all approach that has characterized the CFP to date.

LIFE completely agrees with, and has been calling for such an approach since it was founded in 2012. Such a differentiated approach is the only way to halt the erosion of fishing rights and the demise of small scale fisheries. We take on board Mr Vella’s comment that a “regionalised approach to the definition could have some merit but would also risk creating an uneven playing field.”

However, a regionalised approach to defining small scale fisheries need not alter the EMFF definition. Rather, for example, Regional MAPs and the technical measures adopted by them would take greater account of different craft gear combinations in the smaller scale non-towed gear categories. This could be in the form of derogations, or specific technical measures to be applied to the passive gear fleet segments.

In LIFE’s view the implementation of Tomasic’s report would go a long way to righting many of the wrongs dealt out to the small scale fisheries sector, and create a fairer and more level playing field.

Responding to the initiative, Commissioner Vella observed that “it is a fact that small-scale coastal fishing vessels are fundamental for the viability and resilience of coastal communities dependent on them, and I fully agree with that view.”

Il- Low Impact Fishers of Europe (LIFE) congratulates Madame Tomašić for her report, and the European Parliament for adopting it. The report endorses LIFE’s contention that the specificities of small scale coastal fisheries require a differentiated approach, and that such fisheries are best defined at local level, within a regional framework.

Commissioner Vella rightly highlighted that in the European Union at least 3 out of 4 vessels (75%) are characterized as being small in scale, i.e. under 12 metres using non towed gears.

Unlike larger scale, more industrial kinds of fishing operations, these small-scale activities generally have a low impact on the environment, whilst having a high social and economic value providing fresh fish, jobs, and supporting economic and cultural activities locally.

However, LIFE fully agrees with Commissioner Vella that the fleet needs regulating, and that further relaxing regulatory requirements on small-scale coastal fishing risks encouraging fishing by additional vessels and could worsen crowding in the coastal band, especially in areas where there is already a lot of pressure on regulated and unregulated stocks.

LIFE notes with concern that there are significant regulatory loopholes through which illegal, unregulated and unreported fishing passes in the guise of sports fishing. These loopholes need closing.

Since the Common Fisheries Policy was launched in 1983, the small scale sector has been neglected, marginalised and treated unfairly. For this reason, this fleet segment of often referred to as Europe’s “Forgotten Fleet”. Over the last 20 years, this segment of the fleet has declined the most, in some instances by as much as 40 to 50% since 1995.

Successive CFPs dating back to 1983 have tended to focus on larger scale fisheries, leaving national authorities to deal with smaller scale fisheries. With notable exceptions, national authorities have also tended to neglect smaller scale fisheries, and this has resulted in unfair treatment compared to larger scale fisheries (in terms of fishing access rights, access to markets, access to decision taking etc.).

Until the most recent review and reform of the European Union’s Common Fisheries Policy (CFP), the management of small scale fisheries was considered to be a national issue. The “Green Paper” consultation initiated in 2009 questioned whether or not the CFP should adopt a differentiated approach to the management of fisheries: one approach for small scale fleets in coastal communities with a focus on social objectives, and another for large-scale fleets, with capacity adjustment and economic efficiency at the core.

Although this suggestion was not incorporated into the new CFP, it was endorsed by the European Parliament, which proposed a comprehensive range of measures to defend and promote the small-scale sector.

LIFE welcomes the fact that the financial instrument for implementing the CFP, the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF  – (EU) No 508/2014), as well as the Market Regulation ((EU) No 1379/2013 ), and the Regulation for the Advisory Councils (Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2015/242) all contain provisions which positively discriminate in favour of small scale fisheries.

However, as noted by Commissioner Vella, the implementation of these measures depends on Member States; that it is their responsibility to decide, under the respective operational programmes approved in late 2015, how to translate their strategic preferences into concrete support to their small-scale coastal fishing fleet.

LIFE calls on Member States to recognize the importance of small scale coastal fleets through specific plans for the modernization of the fleet. LIFE also fully endorses the call of the European Parliament for the quotas allocated to non-industrial fisheries to be increased, in order to boost this socially and ecologically sustainable form of fishing.

In our view the implementation of Article 17 is vital in this regard. Article 17 calls on Member States to “use transparent and objective criteria including those of an environmental, social and economic nature”, when allocating the fishing opportunities available to them. “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.”

Such measures, if applied in the spirit of the Article, would undoubtedly go a long way to providing the affirmative action necessary for small scale fisheries to regain their prominence in European fisheries.

Although many of Mrs Tomasic’s proposals are already contained in the new CFP, her report highlights the inertia in Member States to take the affirmative actions on small scale fisheries proposed, and the need for its full implementation.

 

 

 

 

Parlement_2

European Parliament Calls for a Regional Approach to Small Scale Fisheries

, ,

Parlement_2

European Parliament Calls for a Regional Approach to Small Scale Fisheries, for the fair allocation and gradual increase of quotas to small‑scale fishing 

 

Brussels, 18 April 2016

LIFE Platform

 

On Tuesday 12 April, at their plenary session in Strasbourg, the European Parliament adopted a resolution on “innovation and diversification of small-scale coastal fishing in fisheries-dependent regions (2015/2090(INI))”. http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?pubRef=-//EP//TEXT+TA+P8-TA-2016-0109+0+DOC+XML+V0//EN

The Rapporteur, Croatian Euro-deputy Ruža Tomašić, highlighted that a new regionalized framework was needed for small scale coastal fisheries in order to take account of the specificities of different fisheries regions. Citing the example of the Mediterranean, Tomašić emphasised the need to abandon the one size fits all approach that has characterized the CFP to date.

LIFE completely agrees with, and has been calling for such an approach since it was founded in 2012. Such a differentiated approach is the only way to halt the erosion of fishing rights and the demise of small scale fisheries. We take on board Mr Vella’s comment that a “regionalised approach to the definition could have some merit but would also risk creating an uneven playing field.”

However, a regionalised approach to defining small scale fisheries need not alter the EMFF definition. Rather, for example, Regional MAPs and the technical measures adopted by them would take greater account of different craft gear combinations in the smaller scale non-towed gear categories. This could be in the form of derogations, or specific technical measures to be applied to the passive gear fleet segments.

In LIFE’s view the implementation of Tomasic’s report would go a long way to righting many of the wrongs dealt out to the small scale fisheries sector, and create a fairer and more level playing field.

Responding to the initiative, Commissioner Vella observed that “it is a fact that small-scale coastal fishing vessels are fundamental for the viability and resilience of coastal communities dependent on them, and I fully agree with that view.”

Il- Low Impact Fishers of Europe (LIFE) congratulates Madame Tomašić for her report, and the European Parliament for adopting it. The report endorses LIFE’s contention that the specificities of small scale coastal fisheries require a differentiated approach, and that such fisheries are best defined at local level, within a regional framework.

Commissioner Vella rightly highlighted that in the European Union at least 3 out of 4 vessels (75%) are characterized as being small in scale, i.e. under 12 metres using non towed gears.

Unlike larger scale, more industrial kinds of fishing operations, these small-scale activities generally have a low impact on the environment, whilst having a high social and economic value providing fresh fish, jobs, and supporting economic and cultural activities locally.

However, LIFE fully agrees with Commissioner Vella that the fleet needs regulating, and that further relaxing regulatory requirements on small-scale coastal fishing risks encouraging fishing by additional vessels and could worsen crowding in the coastal band, especially in areas where there is already a lot of pressure on regulated and unregulated stocks.

LIFE notes with concern that there are significant regulatory loopholes through which illegal, unregulated and unreported fishing passes in the guise of sports fishing. These loopholes need closing.

Since the Common Fisheries Policy was launched in 1983, the small scale sector has been neglected, marginalised and treated unfairly. For this reason, this fleet segment of often referred to as Europe’s “Forgotten Fleet”. Over the last 20 years, this segment of the fleet has declined the most, in some instances by as much as 40 to 50% since 1995.

Successive CFPs dating back to 1983 have tended to focus on larger scale fisheries, leaving national authorities to deal with smaller scale fisheries. With notable exceptions, national authorities have also tended to neglect smaller scale fisheries, and this has resulted in unfair treatment compared to larger scale fisheries (in terms of fishing access rights, access to markets, access to decision taking etc.).

Until the most recent review and reform of the European Union’s Common Fisheries Policy (CFP), the management of small scale fisheries was considered to be a national issue. The “Green Paper” consultation initiated in 2009 questioned whether or not the CFP should adopt a differentiated approach to the management of fisheries: one approach for small scale fleets in coastal communities with a focus on social objectives, and another for large-scale fleets, with capacity adjustment and economic efficiency at the core.

Although this suggestion was not incorporated into the new CFP, it was endorsed by the European Parliament, which proposed a comprehensive range of measures to defend and promote the small-scale sector.

LIFE welcomes the fact that the financial instrument for implementing the CFP, the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF  – (EU) No 508/2014), as well as the Market Regulation ((EU) No 1379/2013 ), and the Regulation for the Advisory Councils (Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2015/242) all contain provisions which positively discriminate in favour of small scale fisheries.

However, as noted by Commissioner Vella, the implementation of these measures depends on Member States; that it is their responsibility to decide, under the respective operational programmes approved in late 2015, how to translate their strategic preferences into concrete support to their small-scale coastal fishing fleet.

LIFE calls on Member States to recognize the importance of small scale coastal fleets through specific plans for the modernization of the fleet. LIFE also fully endorses the call of the European Parliament for the quotas allocated to non-industrial fisheries to be increased, in order to boost this socially and ecologically sustainable form of fishing.

In our view the implementation of Article 17 is vital in this regard. Article 17 calls on Member States to “use transparent and objective criteria including those of an environmental, social and economic nature”, when allocating the fishing opportunities available to them. “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.”

Such measures, if applied in the spirit of the Article, would undoubtedly go a long way to providing the affirmative action necessary for small scale fisheries to regain their prominence in European fisheries.

Although many of Mrs Tomasic’s proposals are already contained in the new CFP, her report highlights the inertia in Member States to take the affirmative actions on small scale fisheries proposed, and the need for its full implementation.

 

 

 

 

foto1

Mike Warner: Back to the Future

Ferry

Back to the Future

By Mike Warner,

Eastcoastavocet.com

By my reckoning, it’s 34 years since I last crunched my way down the little shingle beach, beyond the boatyard at Felixstowe Ferry, in my trusty “Bullseye” thigh boots and clambered aboard the dinghy which was tender to Dougie Goodall’s fishing boat “Swallow II”. Little did I realise, as we rowed to the mooring, that this glorious, early summer’s morning back in 1982, would be my last trip made for many, many, years. The closing scene of a boyhood that had borne witness to the travails of our local inshore fishermen and that had come to forge and represent the passion for the industry and its participants, that I now feel so keenly.

During the summers I spent potting for crab and lobster and the winters longlining for cod and skate, I would willingly while away the precious hours of my holidays and weekends at sea in an open clinker-built motorboat, with no VHF, no life jacket, EPIRB, GPS, mobile phone, or indeed quota, meaning we fished for what we wanted where we wanted. For me, a perfectly idyllic (albeit often impoverished) existence that only the demise of my school days marked the end of, having instilled an innate love of seafood in me and moreover, a profound and deep-seated respect for those who endure not only the daily vagaries of weather, tide and season, but also the complex and often errant doings of the Common Fisheries Policy, etched out by officialdom with rigorous and determined enforcement.

But I’m here again, oilskin-donned and with the biggest of grins across my face as I’m rowed to the Valerie Ann (IH322) at the invitation of Under 10m skipper Ed Butters, to steam once more from this diminutive but much-loved, weatherboarded and weatherbeaten gem of Suffolk’s heritage coast, on the hunt for the first of the new season’s lobsters.

A southerly and sometimes overlooked cousin to the much vaunted holiday destinations of Aldeburgh and Southwold, Felixstowe Ferry with its rich maritime history, exudes an eclectic and individual charm that beckons thousands of visitors in a year-round pilgrimage from both sea and land. Situated two miles North of its expansive and dominating commercial neighbour, the Port of Felixstowe, that currently boasts one of the largest container terminals in the world, its underlying allure, undoubtedly stems from its timeless and unadulterated simplicity and the fact that development over the years has been tempered. An individual and indeed very autonomous community exists here with the inhabitants benefiting from a church, (St Nicholas) a pub (The Ferry Boat) and two cafés.

John White, fisherman, boat-builder and now Harbourmaster tells me exactly what 70 years as a Ferry resident and fisherman has meant to him and how times have changed. “My parents moved here after the war when my father left the Merchant Navy,” he recalls. “He started fishing here and I’ve always been part of that scene”

A mainstay of the community, the fishing fleet back then, numbered many more skippers and crew, but still a significant number operate from the mouth of the Deben today, with currently nine full-time registered craft. “Of course”, continues John, “nowadays we actually have more boats fishing out of here commercially than Lowestoft.” A galling fact, when you consider the historical status and importance of the East coast’s most famous trademark, but now erstwhile fishing port.
Yachting and the services it demands, plays an increasingly important part too in the economy here. Visiting UK sailors and from nearby Belgium (only 80 miles), Holland and France, drop in regularly for supplies and fuel or just to appreciate the stunning scenery of the surrounding Suffolk coastline and countryside with views up river to further moorings at Ramsholt, Waldringfield and Woodbridge. Centrepiece is the well-known and much photographed jetty, where the Ferry has run for generations, latterly skippered by John and before that, his father in law and well-respected local figure Charlie Brinkley, providing travellers with a crucial, time-saving crossing to Bawdsey on the northerly bank and still hugely popular with walkers and cyclists.

“We get hundreds of vessels visit over the course of a year” enthuses John. Being Harbourmaster he also acts as a pilot for those visitors requiring assistance in bringing their vessels safely into the Deben. Facilities abound here too, for boating enthusiasts under either motor or sail. The sailing club is well established with a thriving membership and the Ferry Boatyard affords repairs, haul-outs, chandlery and moorings, as well as still building a number of boats from basic shell-like dinghies to the beautiful lines of modern 26ft fishing boats, one of which currently resides in the workshop, for completion this year and destined to remain fishing here, carrying on a worthy tradition of manufacturing quality sea boats, of which Andrew Moore and his team at the Felixstowe Ferry yard are justifiably proud.

As we leave the mooring and motor steadily against the young flood tide out to the lobster grounds, where Ed’s pots lie fishing, I notice the shingle bars and spits that mark the river entrance have shifted considerably since my days afloat here. Ed points out the depth of water we have to negotiate, on the sounder and indicates the position of the channel buoys which John monitors constantly to ensure they always mark the most safely navigable route.
“At High Water we can still nip over the bar with our draft,” Ed explains, “but you don’t want to be caught short coming home with a boat full of fish and not much freeboard, so it pays to be careful.”

 

Earlier, John reminded me that in summer, the submerged shingle bar with its confused waters, harbours schools of wily bass, eager to swallow tempting lures, although now recreationally restricted since the enforcement of their new catch regulations in January.

Steaming now into the northerly inshore sea area, locally known as East Lane, the familiar landmark of Bawdsey Manor looms up to port, it’s turrets and wings once playing host to the team headed by Robert Watson-Watt and his critical wartime invention of radar, which seems oddly symbolic as we cruise past, toward the first dahn (marker buoy).

With lobsters our main quarry, Ed is anxious to know what his pots might yield, having not hauled since Easter – a constant blow keeping him ashore since then. “We may find some of them have moved” he tuts. “I shoot them in lines and each end pot is a heavier one to act as a marker.” The dahns hove into view and I’m reminded that with a strong tide running now, quite often the gear will “run under” only popping back into sight as it slackens towards High Water.
Lobsters have been plentiful, in recent years, although not in such numbers as John White and his father saw immediately after World War II, when a lack of fishing meant massive recruitment and low mortality for that species. Now the pressure is back on though, as restricted areas for the nearby wind farm developments and associated cabling work, have meant that fishermen have been forced into ever decreasing spots, with individual gear often shot in close proximity on the more productive patches. As Ed hauls the first pot, I’m told that at present the gear is being fished as “singles” whereas later in the season with more fish on the ground then they’re made up into “shanks” and fished eight pots in line, as a string.
  

Nothing on the first haul but the second pot yields a keeper, just exceeding the gauge on its carapace, another one on the third and a selection of cock and hen crabs appear too as we haul, mainly on the muddier ground, with the lobsters dominating the cleaner rock.
With several lobsters in the box, I set to work banding the claws as Ed hauls, making sure I at least contribute something to the morning. I’m encouraged to see the number of smaller, undersized fish (or “Nancies” as my father used to call them) that we return unharmed to the water. One more “shed” or moult for those specimens and they themselves will be going ashore.

Ed and his brother Rob (out too this morning, fishing for cod and skate over the horizon) sell most of their catch locally. Dave Hicks of SpringTide Fish, right by the jetty, buys as much local fish and shellfish as he can from the Butters’ and the other Ferry fishermen with most of the residue travelling the 50 miles by road to the auctions at Lowestoft. Dave’s business at the Ferry is another rung on the sustainability ladder of this vibrant little community, as customers flock year round to his hut to purchase a range of fresh, top quality seafood, keeping money and value within the locality.

The wind freshens now as the sun gets up and Ed skilfully re-shoots all the pots back in their correct rows rebaiting each one with the standard salted herring, caught in the same waters months before. The inshore seas of this coast are alive with herring at present, although they currently attract little premium, being now “spent” after spawning, sustaining only hungry cod and bass before they once more, move off to deeper water.
The final pot disappears over the gunwales and we make for home on the last of the flood. An exciting morning with a fascinating and hugely nostalgic insight into low-impact and selective fishing carried out in time-honoured fashion using techniques which the years have failed to erode.

As we tie up and decant the catch into the “keep pot” on the mooring, I reflect on the emotions and feelings that have drawn me back here after so long. Saltwater is definitely in my blood and it runs stronger with each trip I make to harbours, markets, auctions and of course to sea. Fishing out of Felixstowe Ferry again, has crystallised this for me. I feel such a strong affinity for the place and its inhabitants and it has only further cemented my feelings and passion to be involved in supporting this bastion of the last wild hunters, as much as I can.

Sitting later with a coffee in hand, on the decking of the “Winkle” cafe overlooking the jetty, whilst waiting for Rob to come ashore and watching the different elements of this community at work and play, it’s easy to see why Felixstowe Ferry still thrives. It is sustainable. Fishing and its support services, manufacturing, retail, food service, tourism and recreation all combine beautifully here in a microcosm, on a relatively small but critically defined scale.


It’s truly amazing to both witness and experience and now even more so for me – I’ve just applied for a mooring.

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