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It Ain’t Over ’til It’s Over

Everything has a beginning and an end, and Brian O’ Riordan’s circle as Executive Secretary of LIFE came to an end last December, clearing the way for the very talented Marta Cavalle to take on the not-so-easy task of running a platform to give a voice to small-scale fishers. However, early retirement is never a good idea for such strong collaborators as Brian, and he remains with LIFE in a new and important role as policy advisor. From Brussels, he will be able to follow closely all updates in the European Commission and advise SSF as necessary.

From a young age, Brian was fascinated by life under the water, and fishing. He considered a career in Marine Biology, but after taking a temporary job on a fishing boat, was inspired to focus on fisheries. His journey took him to Plymouth Poly (later University) and Grimsby College for further studies, and then to the Red Sea coast of Sudan. There he worked on a British Government aid project in fisheries. Convinced that aid could be provided a lot better, Brian took a job in Sri Lanka working directly with a fishing community on an NGO technical cooperation project. For the next decade and more, his work took him to Asia, Africa and Latin America, before bringing him to Brussels in 1989. This opened his eyes to the world of professional lobbying, and the absence of small-scale fisheries from most policy discussions. Something he wanted to put right.

He was recruited by the International Collective in Support of Fish workers (ICSF) in 1994 to run their Brussels Office, and took part in the formulation of the FAO Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries and Guidelines on Small-scale Fisheries. He engaged in the CFP reforms of 1992, 2002 and 2012, advocating for policies that properly take small-scale fishing into consideration.

Following the adoption of the new CFP in 2013 and the launch of LIFE’s Brussels Office in 2015, Brian was recruited as Deputy Director of LIFE. He navigated LIFE over the Brexit hurdles, and established LIFE as a European registered not for profit association in 2018 as “Executive Secretary”.

He will continue to be a part of LIFE’s staff team for the foreseeable future.

 

Brian’s technical cooperation work took him to Asia, Africa and Latin America.

A highly active figure in the industry, many of our readers have been familiar with Brian for years, while others have only recently become acquainted with him. We recently had the pleasure of sitting down with Brian for an engaging conversation in which he recounted the early days of his career in the Global South and his eventual arrival at LIFE. You may be surprised to learn just how varied his career path has been. Enjoy the read!

 

  • What prompted you to pursue a career with small scale fishers?

To cut a long story short, serendipity has played a big part in my life. Since an early age, I’ve been interested in life under the sea and in fishing. After University, I took a job on an inshore fishing boat, which opened up the world of fisheries for me. This prompted me to study fisheries management and led me into small-scale fisheries in the global South.Throughout my career, I’ve been blessed to be in the right place at the right time, meeting and working with inspiring people, under the guidance of some amazing mentors.

My motivation is summed up in the words of Humberto Chamorro, a fisherman from Chile, “as fishermen we are also beacons of the sea because we detect the dangers that threaten our various resources”. The traditional and experiential knowledge of those engaged in small-scale fisheries activities is a rich and precious resource, often poorly understood and undervalued. Building respect for and supporting small-scale fishers and their knowledge, to support them to come from the periphery to the centre of the decision-making processes that affect them, is what motivates me.

Working on an inshore boat in the UK, opened up the world of fisheries.
  • How did you join LIFE?

During the review and reform process of the last Common Fisheries Policy (CFP), I was approached by Oak Foundation. They were keen to support European small-scale fishers to establish a platform and a common voice to engage in the “Green Paper” process of consultations on CFP reform. This was in 2009. There were many such informal initiatives at that time, which came together under the umbrella of “Oceans 2012”. Many of the fishers I met felt that such an initiative was important, and wanted to establish a more permanent dedicated voice in Brussels. When LIFE opened an office in Brussels in 2015, I was approached to help get the initiative off the ground. The rest, as they say, is history.

LIFE’s first event in the Baltic, Poland 2015.
  • During the time you were LIFE’s Deputy Director what was the biggest political challenge you faced in the European SSF context?

LIFE has had to confront many challenges. First and foremost, as a newcomer on the scene, LIFE’s mandate as an organization dedicated to representing small-scale fishers, and its credibility were questioned by long established organizations. LIFE is often accused of creating conflict and dividing the sector on the one side, and on the other Producer Organisations and other bodies claim to represent all fishers, small and large scale, saying that there is no need for an organization like LIFE.

I think the past 10 years clearly show that there is a need for an organization like LIFE, and that we are doing a pretty good job of giving Europe’s “forgotten fleet” a voice in Europe as well as supporting them on the ground – at the waterface.

Rather than creating conflict, LIFE advocates a “differentiated approach” to managing small- and large-scale fisheries; from an economic, social and environmental perspective, they are vastly different fleet segments, with a different set of strengths, weaknesses and problems.

  • According to you, what is the biggest challenge LIFE faces in the future and how should we get prepared to meet that challenge?

Unlike the large fishing companies, small-scale fishing companies are micro or nano-enterprises, with relative low margins. This makes them vulnerable to economic and other external shocks, and so they are reluctant to invest in an association. LIFE therefore has to depend on grants to support its work. Fundraising requires specific skills, and time and resources must be allocated to this. To meet this challenge, at LIFE we are trying to include specialist fundraisers in our staff team, and to build synergies with philanthropic foundations interested in the ocean, marine conservation, and small-scale fisheries. Our mantra in this regard, is that small-scale low impact fisheries should be seen as part of the solution to environmental conservation, not part of the problem. All too often this is how they are seen: a problem to be got rid of. This is a huge challenge to overcome.

Another problem we face in LIFE is how to make a career in small-scale fisheries attractive to younger generations. Fishing, and rightly so, is often perceived as a difficult and dangerous occupation, with more pain than gain – long hours and harsh working conditions, with uncertain prospects. This makes it an unattractive proposition in our post-modern, tech-savvy world. But it doesn’t all have to be like that.

Brian’s first role in LIFE was as Deputy Director to Jerry Percy.

 

  • What is the biggest misconception people have about SSF and how can LIFE change it?

Small-scale fishing communities and small-scale fishers are very distant from most people’s everyday realities. Most people buy their fish in supermarkets, most often in frozen, oven ready form. Only when they go on seaside holidays might they notice the small colorful boats in the fishing harbours, boats going out and returning from the sea, bringing the fresh catch of the day.

So, the catch from the small fishers – only 5% from European fleets, but even less of the fish that ends up on our plates – may be something that people will only eat when they go on holidays, not all the year round. Through a project in the Mediterranean, in partnership with several organisations, LIFE launched the “Foodnected” project, designed to bring small food producers and local consumers together around a shared set of values, to establish a fair price for both parties.

Through this project, we would like to encourage people to learn about different fish species, their biology, when they are in season, how they are caught and by whom. In short, to become discerning consumers, respecting the knowledge, skills and traditions of small-scale low impact fishers.

Access to resources and access to markets are two sides of the same coin for small-scale fishers. People can support small-scale fishers by informing themselves about their products and favouring them in the market by paying a fair price.

  • What was the hardest part of your job over the years and what was the fun one?

Of course, it’s all fun and no hardship! I am blessed to work with great colleagues, and with inspiring fishers. What’s not to love?

  • What stands out as your biggest accomplishment in your years with LIFE?

There have been several milestones along my journey with LIFE, but most important is LIFE’s continuity – that it continues to be there for small-scale fishers, to provide them with a voice, to get their profession recognized as something of inestimable value, and to support them at the waterface.

  • Looking back at your career, knowing what you know now, is there anything that you would do differently?

Of course, hindsight can bring regret and embarrassment. But I’m not a believer in crying over spilt milk. I’ve learned a great deal over the years, and I hope to learn more going forward, and to use this knowledge to support small-scale fishing, whether in Europe or elsewhere.

  • What advice do you have for Marta Cavallé?

Use your head and follow your heart. Carry on doing what you are doing, in the way you are doing it, and you will succeed. Remember, your heart is your compass – be guided by it; your head is the steady hand on the tiller – follow its direction.

  • What are your plans for retirement?

Retirement? You’re joking! Right?

You can reach out to Brian at deputy@lifeplatform.org

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Neix la “Comunitat de pràctica de Foodnected a l’Empordà” per unir complicitats de pescadors artesanals, restaurants, cooperatives de consum i altres actors clau cap a sistemes alimentaris més justos i sostenibles en el territori

Una vintena de persones de l’Empordà, entre pescadors artesanals, xefs, restauradors, cooperatives de consum, del moviment d’Economia Solidaria, o de ONGs locals com “El Projecte Sepia” s’han reunit per constituir la “Comunitat de Pràctica Foodnected a l’Empordà”, una iniciativa impulsada per Low Impact Fishers of Europe i els seus membres Arts Menors Costa Brava, en el marc del projecte Foodnected.

Foodnected és el fruit dels esforços col·lectius de varies organitzacions amb la intenció d’ajudar a transformar el sistema alimentari actual en el Mediterrani en un de més just i sostenible. Així, el projecte ha ajudat a facilitar l’aparició de sistemes alimentaris de cadena curta, tant a terra com a mar, que funcionin per a la natura i les persones, apropant productors i consumidors a través de Comunitats de Pràctica a nivell local i basats en valors compartits. El projecte ha englobat varis llocs pilot al Mediterrani, sent un d’ells l’Empordà, on concretament s’ha ajudat en la creació d’Empesca’t, un sistema de venta directa i una marca de qualitat, sostenibilitat i comerç just dels productes dels pescadors artesanals de l’Estartit i que funciona satisfactòriament des del passat mes de Juny. En paral·lel, s’ha anat aglutinant un grup d’actors clau dins de la cadena de valor local empordanesa, que comparteixen valors i visió de com han de ser aquests sistemes alimentaris del futur en el territori.

La reunió del dia 25 ha sigut la primera reunió constitutiva d’aquesta Comunitat, en la que es no només es va celebrar de manera més oficial el naixement d’Empesca’t, sinó que es va afavorir que els actors que fan possible aquest model es puguin conèixer i reflexionar plegats, ara ja com a grup, en els propers passos i full de ruta per aconseguir afavorir, a l’Empordà, un sistema alimentari més just i sostenible.

“Aquest estiu hem posat en marxa aquesta marca i ara necessitem la col·laboració de tots, per això diem que Empesca’t no busca clients que puguin servir el nostre producte sinó col·laboradors perquè siguin altaveu del que fem nosaltres en el mar”, diu Isaac Moya, pescador artesanal i com un dels fundadors d’Empesca’t.

“Des de LIFE hem ajudat a convertir Empesca’t en una realitat i estem molt orgullosos de la feina feta dels pescadors. Vèiem, però, que era necessari treballar en generar la complicitat d’una comunitat de gent al seu voltant (restaurants, cooperatives, etc.) que comprengués i valorés el valor afegit que porta el seu producte per assegurar-ne l’èxit i la seva viabilitat. Per això espais de reflexió com els d’avui i anar teixint voluntats i confiança de tots els actors en avançar plegats és molt important i esperançador”, diu Marta Cavallé, coordinadora mediterrània de LIFE.

“A través de recolzar Empesca’t ho protegim tot una mica des del consumidor fins al medi ambient, però especialment aquesta nova fornada de pescadors joves que volen fer les coses diferent i han interpretat l’escenari del mercat d’una manera meravellosa”, diu Jordi Jaques, xef del restaurant El Molí de l’Escala.

Per més informació:

Veure Video “Un mar de canvis”

Consultar a Marta Cavallé med@lifeplatform.eu

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The “Foodnected Community of Practice in l’Empordà” is born to join forces of small-scale fishers, restaurants, community supported schemes and other key players towards fairer and more sustainable food systems in the territory

November 25th, 2022, Sant Martí Empúries (Catalunya, Spain)

About twenty people of l’Empordà, including artisanal fishers, chefs, restaurateurs, community supported schemes, the Solidarity Economy movement, and local NGOs such as “The Sepia Project” have gathered together to form the “Foodnected Community of Practice in l’Empordà”, an initiative promoted by Low Impact Fishers of Europe and its members Arts Menors Costa Brava, as part of the Foodnected Project.

Foodnected is the result of the collective efforts of several organizations with the intention of helping to transform the current food system in the Mediterranean into a fairer and more sustainable one. Thus, the project has helped facilitate the emergence of short-chain food systems, both on land and at sea, that work for nature and people, bringing producers and consumers together through local Communities of Practice, grounded in shared values. The project has encompassed several pilot sites in the Mediterranean, one of them being in l’Empordà, where concretely it has helped in the creation of Empesca’t, a direct sales system and a brand of quality, sustainability and fair trade of the products of the small-scale fishers of l’Estartit and has been operating satisfactorily since last June. At the same time, a group of key actors within the local value chain of l’Empordà has been brought together.

The meeting on the 25th has been the first constitutive meeting of this Community of Practice, in which was not only celebrated the birth of Empesca’t in a more official way, but it was also a space for the actors who make this model possible to get to know each other and reflect together, now as a group, on the next steps and roadmap to achieve a fairer and more sustainable food system in the Empordà area.

“This summer we launched this brand and now we need everyone’s collaboration, that’s why we say that Empesca’t is not looking for customers only, who can serve our products, but collaborators so that they can be our voice to consumers of what we do at sea”, says Isaac Moya, small-scale fisher and one of the founders of Empesca’t.

“From LIFE we have helped make Empesca’t a reality and we are very proud of the work done by the fishers. We saw, however, that it was necessary to work on generating the complicity of a community of people around them who understood and valued the added value of their products to ensure its success and its viability. That’s why spaces for reflection like today’s and weaving the will and trust of all the actors to move forward together is very important and hopeful”, says Marta Cavallé, LIFE’s Mediterranean coordinator.

“By supporting Empesca’t we protect a little bit everything -from the consumer to the environment-, but most especially we protect this new generation of young fishers who want to do things differently and have interpreted the market scenario in a wonderful way”, says Jordi Jaques, chef of the El Molí de l’Escala restaurant.

For more information:

Watch Video “A sea of change”

Contact Barbara della Rovere
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Please Keep Eel Fisheries Open: save the European Eel and small-scale fishing communities

Open letter sent by e-mail to: Member states across the EU

CC: to Commissioner for Environment, Oceans and Fisheries, Virginijus Sinkevičius

Director General for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, Charlina Vitcheva

BALTFISH, and The Scheveningen Group

Dear Ministers

Please Keep Eel Fisheries Open: save the European Eel and small-scale fishing communities

We write to urge you not to adopt a new regulation, due to be voted on in the December AgriFish Council, to implement a 6-month closure on all European Eel fishing in marine and adjacent brackish waters, as set out in the Commission’s Proposal for fishing opportunities for 2023[1].

This proposal and the current 3-month closure period will shut down the marine eel fisheries for good. It will not save the eel[2], and it will undermine eel management, which is placed – rightfully – within the framework of the European Eel Regulation from 2009 (Council Regulation (EC) No 1100/2007). Furthermore, this proposal ignores many of the recommendations made by ICES in their response to the EU request for technical evaluation of the Eel Management Plans progress reports.[3]

We as representatives of small-scale low impact fishers from across the EU call for:

  • A more comprehensive approach, using both fisheries and non-fisheries related measures, to ensuring the recovery of the eel
  • A renewed focus and more effort on implementing the Eel Regulation, adopted in 2007.

We urge Member States to agree to an alternative to the current 3-month closure.

We request that member states implement measures other than a fishery closure. As specified in the text of the Fishing Opportunities for      2023 proposal, there should be an alternative to the closure period where Member States have the opportunity to implement their own measures to allow eel fishing to continue while still contributing to recovery of the eel.

We also call for improved data collection on the escapement of silver eels and      on glass eel recruitment. Small-scale fishermen across the EU have observed large increases in the abundance of eel at all life stages.

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BACKGROUND: In 2007 EU Member States agreed to establish a framework for the protection and sustainable use of the stock of European eel. EU member states agreed that the target should be achieved in “the long term” (Council Regulation (EC) 1100/2007).

According to the Evaluation of the Eel Regulation from 2020, there have been notable successes in terms of reducing fishing mortality across the EU, but there is still a need for a considerable improvement, especially when addressing non-fisheries related anthropogenic mortality[4].

Measures stipulated in the national eel management plans have been adopted since 2009, however, implementation can and should be improved. Fishers           have played their part. Furthermore, the decline in glass eel recruitment has been halted. The generation time of eel is around 13 years, and measures have been in place for 13 years.

It was never the goal – nor possible – to rebuild the eel stock in such a short timeframe. Eel recovery will take a long time. Today we are in a better situation than when the eel regulation was adopted. Things are going in the right direction.

Despite this, you – EU Ministers and the European Commission (EC) – have started to take measures outside of the agreed Eel Regulation.

Since 2018 the AgriFish Council of Ministers and the Commission have moved decisions on the management of the eel to the yearly TAC negotiations in December.

We see this as a very dangerous move, which we believe will jeopardize the implementation of the Eel Regulation, and thereby the possibility of the Union, to rebuild the eel stock and preserve the associated fisheries. The result will be complete failure in achieving the key objectives of the Eel Regulation.

Those engaged in the fisheries have done much. Closing fisheries will be counterproductive and,according to ICES, will be insufficient to ensure the targets are reached.

Fishermen across the EU have engaged in the rebuilding of eel stocks for the last 13 years. They have reduced their fishing effort in line with the agreed EU Eel Regulation, in the belief that Member States and the EC would also implement       other, non-fisheries measures, as well as establishing a fit for purpose data collection system.

Due to a failure by Member States and the European Commission to do so, fishermen will again pay the price. We      as fishers      can, and will, contribute to eel conservation, employment and food security. If we are allowed to.

We urge you to not to make small scale fishermen pay the highest price. Please don’t close our fisheries: give the Eel Regulation time to work, implement the other needed measures in the member states, and implement an improved data collection on glass eel recruitment and silver eel escapement.

With kind regards,

Brian O’Riordan

Executive Secretary, LIFE

[1] Press release from EU Commission, 22nd of October 2022, link here.

[2] Although reduction in marine catches is expected to have a positive impact on the potential spawning stock in the long term, none of the options suggested above would be sufficient to achieve the 40% escapement biomass target of the EC Eel Regulation for any sea basin by 2020”. ICES: EU request to provide advice on fisheries-related anthropogenic impacts on eels in EU marine waters, 2017.

[3] ICES (2022): EU request for technical evaluation of the Eel Management Plan progress reports. ICES Advice: Special Requests. Report. https://doi.org/10.17895/ices.advice.19902958.v2

[4] European Commission, Directorate-General for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, MacNab, S., Luchetta, G., Nimmo, F., et al., Evaluation of the Eel Regulation : final report, Publications Office, 2020, https://data.europa.eu/doi/10.2771/679816

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Call to Action: Better Implementation of the Common Fisheries Policy through a Differentiated Approach

,

In Europe, fishing provides an important source of food, social cohesion, livelihoods and economic activity in coastal areas. Fishing thus provides a socio-economic and cultural anchor for communities with few alternative options. Fishing and fishing communities also contribute to our collective cultural maritime heritage, to biocultural diversity and to our knowledge of the seas and natural phenomena.

There are two very different approaches to fishing, based on very different social, economic and environmental logics. Larger scale industrial operations using towed gears, catch tonnes of fish per day, spend several days at sea, provide fish for mass markets, and generate hundreds of thousands or millions of Euros per year. However, these operations cause significant damage to seabed ecosystems and through their use of non-selective gears impact negatively on the reproductive capacity of fish stocks.  Smaller scale, low impact artisanal operations use passive gears, catch tens of kilograms of fish per day, providing a high-quality value-added product to a different market segment, generating on average a few tens of thousands of Euros per year. Their use of selective gears results in significantly fewer discards.

Through targeted support and a favourable regulatory framework, successive Common Fisheries Policies have incentivised larger scale fishing at the expense of the smaller-scale sector. This has created distorted seas across Europe, with most of the fishing opportunities concentrated in few hands, with markets dominated by relatively few high-volume commodity species.

9 years after the adoption of the reformed Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) in 2013 and its implementation in 2014, the intended improvement in sustainability outcomes for the small-scale low impact fleets across the EU are not being delivered; the opportunity to harness their potential to achieve wider social, environmental and economic sustainability goals is being squandered. Measures intended to support small-scale fisheries in Regulations (EU) 1380/2013 (notably Article 17), 1379/2013 (notably Producer Organisations), and 508/2014 (notably under Article 18 concerning the elaboration and implementation of action plans for the development, competitiveness and sustainability of small-scale coastal fishing) are not being applied.

Small-scale coastal fisheries represent 76% of the fishing fleet by vessel numbers, and provide 50% of the jobs at sea. Small-scale low impact fishers fish in the least environmentally damaging ways to provide the greatest benefits to society. Yet they are restricted to landing 5.8% of the catch[1].

Evidence indicates that if small scale fishers were provided with the enabling policy environment intended by the CFP and the political will to implement it[2], small scale low impact fisheries could make all the difference between success and failure in the implementation of the 2014 CFP and the Marine Spatial Planning Framework Directive; achieving the targets set by the Marine Strategy Framework Directive for Good Environmental Status by 2020, meeting the goals of the European Green Deal, associated Biodiversity Strategy (including the Nature Restoration Law); and its international obligations adopted as part of the Rio + 20 (UNCED) process, including the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) – notably SDG target 14b).

We therefore call on the European Commission and EU Member States to adopt a differentiated approach to fisheries management based on:

  • Inclusive Blue Economy. Place small-scale fisheries at the heart of Blue Economy and protect it from displacement and spatial squeezing by competing or incompatible activities. Do not allow or support any new ocean use that may negatively impact marine ecosystems and the communities that depend on them for their livelihoods; and invest in long-term fisheries management, resource conservation,  ecosystems restoration and innovations introduced by women and men from fishing communities.
  • Fair access to fishery resources. An equitable allocation of fishing opportunities to small-scale low impact fishers, using Article 17 to reallocate fishing rights to smaller scale, environmentally compatible, economically viable and socially responsible fishery activities, rewarding a positive history of compliance and ending the sole use of track records as the tool for allocating fishing opportunities by member states, and putting an end to the privatisation of fishery resource access.
  • Fair access to restored and co-managed fishing grounds. Secure wider inshore fishing areas reserved for small-scale low impact fishing, effectively managed through adaptive local co-management regimes in which small-scale fishers are supported to participate effectively;
  • Reduce environmental impacts of fishing and end discards. Legislate for more diversified, polyvalent, seasonally sound and selective fishing (right gear, right time, right place) to end discards; phase out those high impact gears that have unacceptably high by-catch rates of uneconomic and vulnerable species and of fish below minimum size, and which cause the most damage to seabed, habitats and marine ecology.
  • Fair access to markets and sustainable food systems. Differentiation of small-scale fishery products in the market through traceability, Community Supported Fisheries and direct, short chain, marketing schemes, empowering fishing organisations to become price makers. Establish an enabling policy framework for establishing small-scale Producer Organisations, based on value not on volume.
  • Invest in appropriate infrastructure and climate change resilience. Provide for specific small scale fisher infrastructure investment to improve facilities in landing areas, strengthen short supply chains and food security, and prioritise decarbonisation of the small-scale fleet. Fastrack research and investment into fossil fuel alternatives for the small-scale fleet and associated supply chains; and support fishing communities to mitigate impacts of, and adapt to climate change.
  • Public monies for the common good. Develop a code of practice for financing sustainable small-scale low impact fisheries. Establish a level playing field by ending inequitable subsidies and other incentives which disadvantage the small-scale sector. Public monies should be used for public good not individual gain, to promote fishing better (quality) not more (quantity), through collective projects.
  • Improved EU Governance. Full implementation of the CFP regulation objectives. End ambiguity between the responsibilities of the European Commission and those of member states in the implementation of the CFP to ensure accountability. Full transparency must be adopted in the implementation of the CFP to ensure that public fishery resources are being used for the public good. Ensure coherence between fishery and environmental regulations so they work in harmony to achieve their respective objectives while maintaining biocultural diversity, cultural heritage, equity and social cohesion.
  • Inclusive policies for present and future fishing communities. Recognise and respect the role of women and support fishers of the future through affirmative action initiatives to promote gender equity and inclusion of youth towards equitable generational renewal.
  • Dedicated Research. Specific small scale fisheries research and development to be promoted and resourced through EU and national research programmes, prioritising good cooperation with the SSF sector and the incorporation of Traditional Ecological Knowledge.
  • Align CFP with global frameworks and international obligations. Ensure that the CFP, the CMO and associated fishery and environmental regulations fully comply with the letter and spirit of the FAO Voluntary Guidelines for Securing Sustainable Small Scale Fisheries and contribute to the Sustainable Development Goals.

[1] Data from the 2022 Annual Economic Report on the EU Fishing Fleet (STECF 22-06), STECF https://stecf.jrc.ec.europa.eu/documents/43805/35330729/STECF+22-06+-+AER+2022.pdf/e9f061e5-cd7e-4f20-9bba-afc67dea695f?version=1.1&download=true

[2] European Parliament Resolution of 7 June 2022 on the Implementation of Article 17 of the CFP Regulation (2021/2168 INI) https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/TA-9-2022-0226_EN.html

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INTERVIEW WITH EMPESCA’T : A QUALITY BRAND AND DIRECT SALES SYSTEM TO OBTAIN A FAIR PRICE DRIVEN BY THE FISHERMEN OF L’ESCALA I L’ESTARTIT 

In a port on the Costa Brava, north of Barcelona, the association Arts Menors Costa Brava, members of LIFE, understands that the sustainability of their profession does not lie in taking more catches from the sea, but in seeking a greater economic return on the existing ones, giving value to their work and their products. To this end, they decided to change the way they sell their catches, moving away from the current model of fish markets and auctions to sell directly without intermediaries, establishing contracts with end customers at a fixed price per season. On the other hand, Empesca’t is a brand that guarantees the added value of their products, regulated, managed and certified by themselves.

There have been several years of joint work through projects such as Synepesca and now Foodnected, internal discussions among fishermen, exchanges of experiences to visit inspiring models in other countries such as Golion (led by the Syndicat Petit Metier d’Occitanie), meetings with the administration, paperwork and various efforts… in addition to going out fishing! In the last few months work has been done to involve restaurants and agriculture community schemes in the area, who are not considered clients but collaborators because they share the same values and a transforming vision of the current food system.

Marta Cavalle, Mediterranean coordinator of LIFE, recently interviewed one of the fishers behind this project, Isaac Moya, so other LIFE members learn more about him and on Empesca’t.

Isaac, you are a young fisher with a particular background. Please, tell us a little about yourself, your career and how you became a fisher.

I am 37 years old. I ended up being a fisher because of the interest I have always had for the sea. My grandfather had a good relationship with fishermen, he had a boat and he used to go out fishing to bring fish for home. I always went with him and I liked it very much. One day I thought to myself, “If you like the sea, the animals and being in contact with the environment… become a fisherman!”

So I started to ask how one can become one, I quit my job and went to study for two years in l’Ametlla de Mar in 2007. When you leave the school, you still need to be on board for two years to validate the title and become a skipper, so I had to embark on three different boats: one in San Feliu de Guixols, fishing tuna and swordfish with surface longline, and two others with bottom longline. It was very hard, it had nothing to do with going fishing with my grandfather’s little boat.

After two years, I had the title of skipper but I didn’t have a penny, and I needed to buy a boat, which is worth between 30 and 40,000 euros, so I worked as a skipper on a charter yacht, as my title allowed me to do so, until I had enough money to buy a first boat for fishing. It was a very old boat, I left it out of the water at a relative’s house and I would fix it up during winters. Then I started fishing in winter and maybe 7 years later I saw that I was capable and I had some money, and I decided to dedicate myself to fishing 100%.

Fishing brought me more interest and I started working with other projects like the Sepia Project, then we started working with LIFE, we created the association of Arts Menors Costa Brava and in projects like Synepesca or now Foodnected.  And from there… you know… I’ve been growing personally and as a fisherman.

Do you believe that fishing in your area is sustainable and environmentally friendly? What actions are in place to support this sustainability?

It is a difficult question to answer, what I know is that we are a small collective of fishers in this port. The important thing for me is that there has been a change of mentality in recent years, people in the past thought that the sea was inexhaustible, but reality has put us in place, we know that resources are limited. This has opened our minds to change the fishing effort and brought us to implement projects and measures to improve fishing and the state of the resource, such as the Sepia project and others.

It is also true that there are other factors that we do not control, such as climate change, pollution… that also affect the state of the sea. The rivers no longer bring as much water and nutrients as they used to. Shell fishing has disappeared from this area, there are many changes that cannot be explained only by overexploitation. The elders are the ones who notice it the most, we don’t catch a tenth of what they used to catch. If we continue at this rate, no one will retire from fishing.

A few times you have told me that there are different ways to become a fisherman….

When I started, I didn’t know how to approach the business project. One possible way would have been to invest in more nets, more hooks, more fishing effort, because, otherwise it is difficult to make ends meet. There are weeks that you can invoice 3000 € but it is not normal, and sometimes we cannot go fishing for weeks. For me, if I earn 1000€ net per month I am happy. There are people who will earn more, but I can’t be sure that they follow the rules to the letter. I don’t want to be illegal, so, as I see that the extractive system cannot go any further, what I am looking for now is to achieve more yield per catch and that is why we have set up Empescat’, in the hope of being able to obtain a 15 to 20% higher economic yield.

Explain to us what is Empesca’t?

“Empesca’t” is a quality brand for our products, regulated, managed and certified by our association Arts Menors Costa Brava. We made this brand to give a name to what we do every day with our way of fishing, using different passive gears seasonally, respecting closures, minimum sizes or effort limits, and promoting good fishing practices and project involvement. The fundamental axis is quality and sustainability, we know the state of the sea and we wanted to bring this added value to the hands of the consumer who appreciates it.
On the other hand, we serve fish without intermediaries, directly at a fair price for us and with greater transparency for consumers.

Tell us about this direct and dignified sale, how does the Empesca’t model differ from the current model in Catalonia?

The model established here in Catalonia is that of the fish market and downward auction. Direct marketing is forbidden. Until now we usually brought the fish from the port to the fish market, 40 km from our house, where an auction sale was generated where wholesalers were buying at a price that was going down. The prices we got were very low and unstable. With Empesca’t we wanted to give a decent price to the boats of the association, we buy our own fish through a company of fishermen that we have set up and through a food contract. It is a contract between the boat and our fishermen’s company where fixed prices are stipulated by species and size per season. The prices have been fixed by the whole association. From the administration they have allowed us to carry out a pilot test in this sense and we can make a 1st sale in our port in a contractual way in a legal way.

In the end, is the way forward for the artisanal fishermen themselves to market their own fish and be price-makers?

I understand that industrial fishing, which takes many kilos to the port daily, needs structure, centralized sales, trucks that go everywhere, etc and the system may work for them. But artisanal fishing, at the end of the day, are small boats with only one person that carry 10-15 kilos of fish per day. It loses all sense to make the same circuit as the one that is carrying a minimum of 200 or 300 kilos, and not be able to differentiate ourselves from them.
Hopefully this initiative will serve to show to other fishing communities with the same difficulties a possible alternative way forward. And this pilot test will become something that all the small-scale fishing communities in Catalonia that need it can take advantage of.

You are fishermen from L’Escala and Estartit, two places where there is no fish market. This is one of the key factors that led you to build this model, isn’t it?

Exactly, it did not make much sense that a fish that is fished in l’Estartit at 11h went to Palamos, with 40 km to get there and 40 km to get back; and the restaurant, which is 100 m from the boat also travels the same 80 km to get it. At least this fish carried 160km on its back when it could have 100 m and could be distributed by bicycle.

Is it the usual fish that we will find in Empesca’t or will you also sell other species of fish maybe not as known for the general public?

Yes, there we have a very important challenge. The best-known species are taken out of our hands (sea bass, dentex, sea bream, monkfish, etc), but then there are many fish species that we catch and there is no demand for them. Taking them to the auction result in selling them with very low prices or  even withdrawn because no one has bought them. Therefore, last week we served 6 kilos of moray eels to the restaurant “Celler de Can Roca”, we explained the problem to them, that it is a specie that we believe that with climate change is rising but, however, we have no price in the market. They took the challenge and they are developing some recipes for us to learn to eat the moray eel and consume it. Other species can be starry ray, mullets, greater weever, Atlantic stargazer, etc. All of them if they are well cooked they are very good!

Building a community of collaborators who understand and share the philosophy is key to the success of the model, isn’t it?

The idea behind it is to give value to the local product, fished in an artisanal and sustainable way. We have looked for restaurants or community supported agricultural schemes that understand our philosophy, share it and value the quality of the product that we can bring to them. We have not only looked for buyers, but we want these people to own the project and to transmit our values and way we fish to the consumers.
We are very happy with the response we have had so far. For the moment we have not made or wanted to make too much noise because we are in a pilot test, and if we have too much demand and not enough supply it could be counterproductive. But we are very happy and proud, especially seeing the bond that is established with customers, both in restaurants and in the families of the community supported schemes. We didn’t have this relationship before and now they ask us how we caught that fish and we have an open dialogue with them. It is very enriching for both sides, I think!

You have started just now, what is the vision for the future?

Our idea is to be able to go fishing “upon request” because we believe that every fish that has not been ordered, which means that nobody wants it, is better if it is in the sea than in a bucket around the country. This is the dream, although it will be difficult to achieve it. We have started and we are very happy because the prospects are good, we have started better than we thought. The project is alive and we will adapt to whatever comes up.

Anything else you would like to share?

Just a big thank you to LIFE. We need more people to support us like you do. We need organizations like you to accompany us in the way with these projects and make our ideas a reality so that we can dream of a better future.

Any message to the consumers?

The consumer has to be genuine and relay on themselves when it comes to buying. People who are concerned about the environment should not wait for the politician to tell them that they have to do things this or the other way. They can be changemakers themselves. Change can come from the bottom up!

brian

The Hidden Costs of Business as Usual

 

The Low Impact Fishers of Europe (LIFE) responds to a recent report on subsidized trawling in the Mediterranean.

This article was commissioned by Fishing News, and appeared in Fishing News (https://fishingnews.co.uk/) on August 4 2022.

Producing food from the sea comes at a cost. In Europe, as in the rest of the world, the men and women who dedicate their lives to fishing pursue one of the most dangerous professions in the world. Daily, they put their lives on the line to put food on the table for the rest of us.

With fuel costs going up at about the same rate as temperatures, reaching an all-time high for the commercial fishing fleet across Europe, any further cost increase, by the removal of the current fuel subsidy for instance would undoubtedly spell the end for the majority of operators, big and small. It is already the case that most fishing trips make little profit for owners or crew after operating costs are accounted for and it would take the smallest of economic pushes to finally send them over the edge and into bankruptcy.

Not only are their lives at risk, but as the cost of living crisis becomes more acute, fishing communities’ livelihoods are getting dangerously close to the edge.

The Low Impact Fishers of Europe Platform [LIFE] represents the interests of smaller scale, low impact fishermen in Europe and has long called for a differentiated approach to the management of this sector of the fleet. This call has been given extra impetus with the recent publication of a report [ https://medreact.org/2022/06/21/a-new-study-exposes-the-true-costs-of-trawling/ ][1] highlighting the hidden costs, both environmental and economic, of larger scale mobile gear operations in the western Mediterranean.

Landing a few kilos of fresh fish daily means that smaller scale fishing activities must operate on very tight margins and benefit directly from the intrinsic value of their high-quality fresh fish “catch of the day”. In short, they must be price makers not price takers. By contrast, larger scale activities, spending several days at sea and catching several tonnes per day, are able to operate on lower margins, and can afford to take the price the market offers them. Smaller-scale and larger scale activities operate on two very different business models, with two very different rationales, facing two very different kinds of economic challenges.  Yet the current system of fuel subsidies discriminates unfairly against smaller operators.

For both, fuel costs have become an Achilles heel. However, in many cases smaller-scale operations do not qualify for either fuel subsidies or the emergency post aid currently on offer to the fishing sector. This is because they use petrol outboard engines, and/ or because of the way their businesses are registered, or because they do not belong to Producer Organisations.

The report states at the outset:  “Bottom trawling activities in the western Mediterranean are economically viable only because of governmental financial transfers and  the lack of  internalisation of their negative externalities, climate costs, biodiversity costs, hidden labour costs and overfishing costs among others entail that bottom trawling sector is currently uneconomic”.

LIFE considers that there is an increasingly urgent need to transition away from fishing methods that have such reportedly grave environmental and economic impacts. Whilst we recognize that the larger scale fleets employ 45% of the workforce and are responsible for 80% of the catch, we are concerned that the smaller scale sector, that provides over 50% of catching related employment and is over 70% of the fleet by number, will suffer further harm in light of any knee jerk reaction to the report by administrators.

LIFE has made clear that the implementation of the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) has been anything but fair to our members interests across Europe. This discrimination includes access to resources increasingly restricted [access to quotas], fishing rights increasingly concentrated in fewer, and wealthier hands, a lack of protection for fishing areas, a lack of support for enterprise or association development, massive subsidies for industrial fishing [as the report shows] and market rules that favour industrial operations.

Without seeking to inflame the bottom trawling controversy further, surely it makes simple common sense that support, including subsidies, should be targeted at those fishing sectors and methods that have the least environmental impacts and generate the greatest social and economic benefits to the coastal communities of the Mediterranean, and elsewhere rather than propping up apparently unsustainable catching methods?

The challenge for Mediterranean managers will be just how they can move away from more damaging fishing activities whilst ensuring the continuity of food supplies and fishing related jobs. LIFE has always been clear that a management approach based on ‘right gear, right place, right time’ would be a good first step in terms of overall management.

The Report regurgitates the well-known criticisms of larger scale bottom trawling but importantly, states: “The study comes at a critical time as the European Union looks to embed a sustainable future for the ocean into its new Green Deal. With severe pressures affecting the ecological balance of the Mediterranean – overfishing, pollution and climate change are all having serious impacts – it has never been more important for leaders and decision-makers to recognise that healthy marine ecosystems are fundamental to its resilience, and to act accordingly”.

The argument that larger scale fisheries somehow have a ‘get out of jail free’ card on the basis that they are food producers can no longer be sustained in light of the recognition that food production comes at a cost in both environmental and socio-economic terms. It also seems clear that the EU is taking an ever more aggressive approach towards this aspect and is likely to take note of the reports call: “With the release of this report we’re calling for an urgent and radical shift to low-impact fisheries. Whether you look at it from an economic or an environmental point of view, the true costs of trawling are too high to bear. We must act now: we cannot afford to delay any further the recovery of the Mediterranean Sea.”

Fishing is under pressure as never before, both politically and financially. Under Europe’s Green Deal, offshore energy targets for 2050, targets for conserved areas, targets for decarbonisation, and increasing support for aquaculture production are squeezing fishing’s traditional dominance in having relatively unrestricted access to European seas.

The authorities have a massive challenge to square the circles outlined in the report. LIFE simply suggests that those operators who have a proven track record in low impact fisheries allied with the provision of significant social and economic benefits to coastal communities should be finally recognized and rewarded rather than stigmatized by tarring all fishermen and fisheries with the same brush. Provisions for achieving this exist within the 2014 CFP within Article 17, which rules that states must use a transparent and objective system to allocate fishing opportunities, applying criteria of an environmental, social and economic nature.

This would favour those who fish more sustainably over those who fish most, if applied in the spirit of the law. Instead, states have chosen to prioritise catch history over sustainability. This must change.

In Europe, only 3 out of every 10 fish consumed come from European fishing areas. The Mediterranean provides only 10% of European catches, but with nearly 50% of the EU fishing fleet. Europe’s Green Deal and Blue Economy strategy envision a radical change in the way seafood – or Blue Food as it is now termed – is produced. The fishing sector must adapt to these new realities or perish.

[1] Exposing the Hidden Costs of Trawling in the Western Mediterranean by Fundació ENT and MedReAct.

Outlook-rlsqsnrn

LIFE on tour to southern Sweden

By Christian Tsangarides

Since beginning in my role at the start of the year as Baltic and North Sea Coordinator for LIFE it has been my pleasure to get to know our members. With support from the Velux Foundation I went fishing in Ronneby with Bengt Larsson, a director at LIFE and active fishermen, and to the Baltic Sea festival in southern Sweden.

 

Bengt took me out from Ronneby harbour in his 5 metre vessel for some summer perch fishing in the local waters that stretch into the nearby archipelago and eventually southward to Bornholm. He had laid out some nets the night before, at different depths and with different mesh sizes, and we went out early to bring them up.

While the perch catch was ok there were big differences in the catch depending on depth and the largest mesh was by far the biggest winner. We also brought in a handful of roach that were reserved for a local family he knew would want them. Then it was time to fillet the perch, which were for a restaurant order, and the offcuts were pickled with vinegar and onion. Nothing wasted and a range of markets served.

 

This short trip showed the entrepreneurial craft and adaptability that small-scale fishermen need to be successful. In the Baltic where Bengt works there is, for example, a summer closure in place until 1 August for species like cod and turbot. This means that the selective cod pots and pontoon traps he has invested in have to wait. Non-quota species like perch offer an alternative as well as innovations like smoked pike.

 

 

Like small-scale fishermen across Europe the increases in fuel costs present an immediate problem but the biggest issue remains securing access to fisheries. Bengt fishes a range of species in different locations across the year and he serves consumers directly with both fresh and value-added products, but access is still the key issue and has been magnified by the impact of the very large pelagic trawling segment.

 

Finally, Bengt took me out to look at a side project he is involved in with the administration of the Blekinge archipelago to combat eutrophication. The mussel farming project is building a mesh of mussels underwater across the netting marked out by the buoys. This is primarily aimed at filtering the Baltic, with the mussels consuming plankton and reducing the amount of phosphorous in the Sea, and has the added bonus that the mussels will later be part of a circular economy and provide a feed source for farming.

 

IMG_3987 (1)

Nothing about Us Without Us

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art by: Iris Maertens

At UNOC 2022 small-scale fishers and fishing community representatives from 6 continents made a Call to Action for inclusive ocean governance reform.

Small-scale fishers: the most numerous ocean users

The second UN Ocean Conference (UNOC 2022) hosted in Lisbon from 27 June to 1 July was all about the need to conserve and sustainably use the world’s oceans, seas and marine resources.

The ambition of UNOC 2022 is set out in the Lisbon (Political) Declaration on Our Ocean, Our Future, Our Responsibility.

The focus of UNOC 2022 was to take stock about how Sustainable Development Goal 14 (SDG 14), which concerns preserving life under the water and includes 10 targets, is being implemented. Launched in 2015, and intended to be achieved by 2030, the 17 SDGs are interlinked global goals designed to be a “blueprint to achieve a better and more sustainable for all”.

Small-scale fishers (SSF) and coastal communities are the most numerous ocean users. Their small-scale fishery activities provide a vital source of food, livelihoods, socio-economic and cultural benefits locally and equitably to millions of people around the world – notably in the global South.

SSF’s close relationships with the sea and the coastal environment over centuries provide them with a rich reserve of traditional knowledge – Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK). Through their daily activities at sea and on the coast, small-scale fishers garner insights into how the seas function, about the seasonal changes in fishery and other marine resources, weather patterns and associated phenomena. This experiential knowledge enhances their skills as seafarers, as food producers and as guardians of the seas. This represents a massively underutilised but potentially game changing knowledge base. Together, their TEK and experiential knowledge form part of a rich biocultural diversity, contributing to diverse cultural landscapes and seascapes. Defending and promoting biocultural diversity is key to the sustainable use of the natural resources in the oceans, seas and coastal areas.

It is therefore highly appropriate that small-scale fisheries should have a special place in the targets set for SDG 14. Target SDG 14b aims to provide access to marine resources and markets for small-scale fishers.

Human life above water depends on sustaining healthy life under water

Conserving life under the water and sustainably using the oceans, seas and marine resources are vital to sustaining human life and wellbeing above the water. In the main, UNOC 2022 in Lisbon brought together 2 main protagonists: those clamouring for reforms in ocean governance to Save Our Ocean (i.e. save human life on our planet), and those clamouring for reforms to open up the Blue Economy and pave the way for giant steps in investment, industrial development and wealth creation, notably in energy generation, mineral and living resource extraction, food production, bioprospecting and shipping.

A Call to Action

All too often, small-scale fishers (SSF) are absent from the decision-making process. All too often others, who are remote from the daily realities of the small-scale fishers, albeit perhaps with the best of intentions, speak on their behalf. These interlocutors invariably do more harm than good by misrepresenting SSF, making them invisible, disempowering them, and by not consulting with them on what they say, or how what they have said has been received.

Hence for the Lisbon UNOC 2022, small-scale fishers wanted to be there in person. “Talk with us, not for us”, and “there is nothing about us without us”, summarise how SSF feel about such interlocutors. If enabled to participate by such interlocutors, SSF are very well able to express their own demands, hopes and fears.

This is how a group of around 20 small-scale fishing representatives (SSF representatives) from 6 continents – Oceania, Asia, Africa, North and South America and Europe found themselves amongst the 6.000 or so official delegates who had registered to attend the UNOC 2022. With support and coordination provided by a network of regional civil society organisations (CSOs), these representatives were able to make an early start on their road to Lisbon.

The organisations engaged in this process included the Locally Managed Marine Area Network (LMMA) from the Pacific, Kesatuan Nelayan Tradisional Indonesia (KNTI) from Indonesia, the Federation of Indian Ocean Artisanal Fishers (FPAOI), the African Confederation of Professional Organizations of Artisanal Fishers (CAOPA), and a Mesoamerican network bringing together indigenous communities from Costa Rica, Panama, Honduras (Garifuna) and Mexico.

They were supported in this endeavour by the Coalition for Fair Fisheries Arrangements (CFFA), CoopeSoliDar R.L, and Blue Ventures.

Joining their voices to the Call for Action were other SSF groups from Europe, Africa and Latin America.

The initial work involved meeting and sharing experiences of their daily lives, their working conditions, and their hopes and their fears. This was made possible by specialists in communications, interpretation, facilitation and coordination working alongside these frontline workers to enable them to express themselves clearly and be understood. Step by step they began to build an alliance, based on empathy, trust, and mutual respect, and to understand the boundaries of their common cause. This is expressed in their Call to Action, which calls on governments to:

  • Provide secure and preferential access to healthy oceans and ecosystems for small-scale fishers
  • Develop science based, transparent, inclusive and participative fisheries management;
  • Address threats posed by pollution and competition from blue economy industries;
  • Invest in long-term resource management, ecosystem restoration and innovations, building on local initiatives of men and women from fishing communities.
  • Develop national strategic plans to implement 5 key areas of action by 2030, with adequate funding and guided by the FAO Guidelines to Secure Sustainable Small-scale Fisheries and other relevant regional policies.

The 5 key areas of the call are to:

  • Urgently secure preferential SSF access to, and co-manage 100% of coastal areas.
  • Guarantee the participation of women, support their empowerment and foster recognition and respect for the roles they play.
  • Protect small-scale fisheries from competing Blue Economy sectors
  • Establish transparency and accountability in fisheries management
  • Build the resilience of communities to face the threats of climate change and enhance the prospects for youth.

Breakfast meetings and an Ocean’s Base Camp

In preparation for day 3 of the UNOC 2022 and the plenary session on fisheries – the “Interactive Dialogue on Making Fisheries Sustainable and Providing Access for Small-scale Artisanal Fishers to Marine Resources and Markets” – the SSF representatives met daily. The preparation work included agreeing on the division of roles and responsibilities for getting their Call to Action known about, meeting with their national and regional delegations to solicit their support and reaching out to the wider civil society representatives to support their call.

Il- breakfast meetings  were made possible thanks to support from the ICCA Consortium who provided interpretation into 4 languages, and from the Oceana Azul Foundation who reserved the use of the Tejo Restaurant in the Lisbon Oceanarium for the breakfast meetings.

In addition, the Portuguese NGO coalition Sciaena, together with the Oceana Azul Foundation and Seas at Risk, had established an Ocean Base Camp – https://oceanbasecamp.org/ – as a “safe haven” for CSOs during the UNOC 2022. The Base Camp provided space to drop in, chill out, meet up, engage in discussions, and participate in a series of events over the week.

A visual, real-time record of the events and issues discussed was provided in summary form by Iris Maertens of Irisistible Design who gave her amazing skills for free.

Aptly, one of the first events at the Base Camp was on the “Power of Partnerships”, in which the author participated. The power of partnerships is to build synergies and to create alliances whose combined strengths are much greater than the sum of the individual organisational components. The weaknesses lie in potentially conflicting objectives between the various partners. All too often, conflicting priorities and objectives disrupt building synergies and powerful alliances. Careful planning, building trust and full transparency are essential.

The Ocean Base Camp also hosted the SSF representatives from 6 continents, who presented their Call to Action.

Making Fisheries Sustainable

The week in Lisbon was abuzz with frenetic activity, with many informal events, workshops and meetings going on around the formal UNOC sessions. However, a lack of interpretation made these difficult for the SSF delegations to engage in meaningfully.

In one such event discussing the “Future of the Ocean: finding cooperative pathways towards 2030”, the Moderator of the meeting and architect of the 2014 European Common Fisheries Policy, Mr Ernesto Penas Lado, proposed that ocean activities needed to be “legitimate and compatible” in order to qualify for space in the emerging ocean governance framework. Competing interests would have to engage in meaningful dialogue to secure ever diminishing slices of access, with non-traditional users of ocean space encroaching on traditional fishing grounds, for example. There would be winners and losers. Vivienne Sollis (CoopeSoliDar R.L Costa Rica) speaking for CSOs, said that such a framework also had to be equitable. Currently seats at the table go to those with the most power and influence. This has to change.

Dawda Saine, the General Secretary of CAOPA, observed that there is no consensual view on what the Blue Economy actually is. This has led to many SSF referring to it as the “Blue Fear”. Summing up, the Moderator observed that we need to transition from blue fear to blue trust, with dialogue and inclusion being essential to that objective.

On behalf of the LMMA Network Lavenia Naivalu from Fiji, and as a traditional leader of her community, highlighted how communities like hers are entirely dependent on fisheries resources, and work cooperatively to manage and sustain them. She called for greater transparency and accountability, especially to ensure that gender sensitive data is collected and that the information about women’s role is made available, particularly as concerns to food security, livelihoods and conservation

Javier Garat, President of the International Coalition of Fishing Associations (ICFA) and the European fishing vessel owners’ association Europech, said it was essential for artisanal and industrial fishers to work together to reach food security through sustainable use of marine resources.  This is rather like the chair of agribusiness associations calling for small-holders practicing agro-ecology and industrial farming companies to work together.

The Low Impact Fishers of Europe (LIFE) responded that it is prepared to work with anyone in a constructive dialogue, so long as the historic injustices suffered by smaller scale fishers are recognised, and their rights to fair access to resources and markets are reflected in practical support and management measures, with adequate protection from the encroachment of larger scale fishing and other competing activities.

Interactive Dialogue

Several SSF representatives were granted permission to speak in the plenary session on “Making fisheries sustainable”. Josefina Mata from Mexico, a member of the delegation of indigenous communities from Mesoamerica, spoke powerfully about the role of women, often heads of single parent households, who struggle to put food on the table and educate their children, whilst carrying out their livelihoods. From Guinea Conakry, and representing CAOPA, Antonia Adama Djalo presented the 5 priorities of the Call to Action and asked for a paragraph to be added in final declaration, highlighting the fundamental role small-scale fisheries play to eradicate hunger and poverty and to secure sustainable livelihoods and conserve marine ecosystems; she further called for the Lisbon declaration to list the priority actions that need to be taken by governments to ensure they continue contributing to economies, health, culture and well-being.

Fishers from Europe

The Low Impact Fishers of Europe (LIFE) had participated with counterparts from around the world to draft the Call to Action described above. In Europe we face a very different set of threats, challenges and opportunities compared to SSF in the South. Here we are citizen-consumers, with our needs provided for by the market. According to our spending power, the market provides us with a choice of food products in fresh, whole or in processed form. Our food security is dependent on our spending power and on what market supplies. This puts us in a very vulnerable situation, with a high dependency on long, complex, energy intensive, and waste generating supply chains and their just-in-time delivery systems. In Europe SSF could help improve and secure the situation by providing fresh, healthy, sustainable food in season at a fair price, locally as espoused by the Foodnected project.

Europe is the largest market in the world for fish. Around 7 out of every 10 fish we Europeans eat is imported, and nearly 50% of what we eat is from 5 species – salmon and shrimp (mainly from feed lot aquaculture), cod, tuna and Alaska pollack.

As in the South, SSF (passive gears, vessels below 12 metres) represent the majority of the sector in terms of fleet size, but in terms of employment and productivity its dominance is gradually being eroded. Today EU SSF provide around 50% of the jobs at sea but are restricted to only 5% of the catch by volume. This means that only around 15 grams out of every kilogram of fish we consume in Europe comes from European small-scale fishing activities.

In her speech to the Inter-Active dialogue on Making Fisheries Sustainable,  Charlina Vitcheva, Director General of the European Commission’s DG Mare, noted that artisanal fisheries in Europe pose particular challenges. “What we really mean by small-scale fishing is fishing from small-boats, which is not necessarily sustainable”, she said. “To make them sustainable we need a lot of data and controls to make sure they are abiding by the rules.”

Unfortunately, the European Commission and many national authorities still see SSF as part of the problem of fisheries management, rather than as part of the solution. Tarring all SSF as “fishing from small boats and not necessarily sustainable” fails to take into account that SSF is a seasonally diverse, polyvalent activity rooted in communities, providing social and economic benefits in areas with few alternatives. Blanket regulation is not the way forward. Such regulation through successive Common Fisheries Policies has led to the demise of SSF in Europe.

Rather LIFE espouses a “differentiated approach” to fisheries management, for artisanal fishing on the one hand, and for industrial fishing on the other. Such an approach would ring fence SSF fishing rights, establish comanaged exclusive fishing zones for SSF, provide support for organisational and infrastructure development, and empower fishers to become agents of change with co-responsibility for sustaining European seas.

However, the Blue Fear referred to by CAOPA is a very real and present danger. In Europe, the EU’s Green Deal offshore energy generating targets commit to increasing capacity from current levels of around 12GW to over 300 GW by 2050. Also, achieving a climate neutral decarbonized fishing sector will require radical changes in technology, economy and working practices. Blue food is also firmly on the menu. Although largely undefined, this could be the thin end of the wedge for boosting environmentally destructive feed lot aquaculture in our coastal waters and pave the way to industrial production and extraction of marine algae and seaweeds. The future may be Blue, but for SSF there is little optimism that this gives any grounds for Blue Hope.

UNOC 2022 was an inspiring and energising event. In particular it provided the possibility to build meaningful synergies with counterpart associations and build alliances with like-minded organisations from around the world. It helped us to gather strength, coordinate and prepare for the struggles ahead.

The final Lisbon declaration from the SSF group can be seen here.

 

The Struggles Continue: Milestones along the way

The UN system is not perfect. It is designed on democratic principles for states to engage in international decision-making processes. It is not designed for non-state actors and civil society organisations, but various mechanisms exist for these entities to access UN processes as observers, or as part of governmental delegations.

In 1984, the FAO World Conference on Fisheries Management and Development had no facility for allowing the participation of small-scale fishers, despite the best intentions. This spurred a movement that led to a parallel conference being organised – The International Conference of Fishworkers and their Supporters – where 100 participants from 34 nationalities came together to discuss their concerns. At least 50% were professionals in the small-scale fishing sector – the fishworkers. The other 50% were supporters – individuals or NGOs not directly engaged as professionals in fishing related activities. 

Building on the 1984 event in Rome, in 1986, the International Collective in Support of Fishworkers (ICSF) was launched by “fishworker supporters” in Trivandrum, India, to address issues at international level that affected SSF at national and local level. The ICSF would act to document and make information available on issues affecting SSF, and where appropriate launch campaigns and organise events to discuss such issues with SSF representatives.

In 1997 the World Forum of Fish Harvesters and Fishworkers (WFF) was launched in New Delhi, India. The Forum aimed to represent those directly engaged in fishing, processing, sale and transportation of fish in the subsistence, artisanal, aboriginal and traditional sectors. 

In 2000 the WFF decided to split into 2 groups – the WFF and the World Forum of Fisher People (WFFP), both with similar objectives to those defined in 1997.

The process of drafting of the FAO Voluntary Guidelines on Securing Sustainable Small-scale Fisheries in the context of Food Security and Poverty Eradication (VGSSF) engaged ICSF, WFF, and WFFP in intensive collaboration that resulted in their adoption in 2014. The process was facilitated by the International Planning Committee for Food Sovereignty (IPC), a Rome based entity that facilitates CSO engagement in FAO processes around food production issues.

4000 entities were involved in the VGSSF related processes. At the same time, numerous other national, regional and transnational structures relating to SSF have come up, some associated with the WFF, WFFP and the IPC, others forming different alliances.

The rich diversity of actors at international level reflects perhaps the rich diversity of SSF fishing communities around the world. It is hoped that this diverse group of actors can work to support the common cause of SSF.

 

 

 

 

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Un nuevo plan de gestión para apoyar el futuro de la pesca artesanal en La Pitiüses

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La cogestión ya es una realidad en un nuevo sitio del Mediterráneo.

El pasado lunes 16 de mayo de 2022 se aprobó finalmente un Decreto por el que se establece un “Plan de Gestión para la Pesca Profesional Artesanal en las Aguas Interiores de las islas Pitiusas” en las Islas Baleares, en el que LIFE y los demás actores implicados han trabajado en los últimos años.

El objetivo primordial del Plan de gestión es garantizar el mantenimiento y futuro de la actividad, del número de embarcaciones y de los puestos de trabajo y garantizando la sostenibilidad ambiental, económica y social de la pesca profesional de artes menores en las islas.

Si bien las medidas tomadas son importantes, el punto más destacado del Decreto és, sin embargo, la mejora del sistema de gobernanza de estas aguas, con la creación de un órgano de cogestión para su seguimiento y la toma de decisiones de manera conjunta entre administración, sector pesquero, ONGs y sector científico. Marta Cavallé, coordinadora Mediterránea de LIFE declara: “Estamos felices que la cogestión ya sea una realidad en un nuevo sitio del Mediterráneo. Poco a poco este nuevo modelo de gobernanza del mar va cogiendo fuerza y se visualiza como el modelo necesario para todas las comunidades de pesca del Mediterráneo y de Europa, al fomentar una co-responsabilidad, una gestión eficaz y adaptativa de las pesqueras gracias al fomento de la cohesión social y confianza entre los diferentes actores implicados”.

Entre las medidas técnicas más destacadas de dicho plan está la reducción de un 40% del número de días de pesca, la posibilidad de compaginar el uso de los trasmallos y nasas para la langosta con otros tipos de trasmallos, reduciendo el período de estada en el mar de las mismas a 24 horas y se autoriza el uso de aparejos tradicionales en las islas Pitiusas no previstos en el anterior Decreto y que aportan una diversificación de la actividad (solta de voladores, solta de espetones, moruna de calamares). Además se ha establecido un censo unificado de las embarcaciones autorizadas. El plan de gestión tendrá una vigencia inicial de seis años, que se podrá prorrogar por períodos de dos años.

Se puede consultar el detalle del Decreto aquí.
Para más información: communications@lifeplatform.eu

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