A legal briefing published by environmental lawyers ClientEarth has said that the European Union should permit fishing vessels to operate in the Arctic only if they meet the same requirements as those operating inside EU waters.
The lawyers say that, currently, EU vessels can fish in international waters or in the waters of another country without respecting the environmental rules that govern fishing inside EU waters under the Common Fisheries Policy.
The European Commission released a proposal last December for a new regulation on the sustainable management of external fishing fleets. The 2013 Common Fisheries Policy includes a legal requirement to limit fishing to sustainable levels by 2020 but ClientEarth says that the new proposal fails to incorporate this key requirement.
It believes that whilst the proposal is generally a big improvement over the current regulation, it does not explicitly say that fishing vessels should respect the sustainability requirements of the CFP before being authorised to fish outside EU waters.
Elisabeth Druel, fisheries expert at environmental lawyers ClientEarth, says, “If the new regulation is to help protect fragile ecosystems such as the Barents Sea from unsustainable and unregulated fishing, it must ensure that the EU only authorises vessels which meet the same environmental standards that protect EU waters from over-exploitation."
ClientEarth’s legal briefing shows how it believes the current proposal should be strengthened and brought in line with existing EU law.
