BirdLife International has welcomed the European Commission''s Green Paper on the Reform of the Common Fisheries Policy as an encouraging start for urgently needed radical changes.
Dr Euan Dunn, RSPB’s (BirdLife in the UK) Head of Marine Policy, said that: "The Green Paper is the last opportunity for turning round a discredited policy which has failed fishing communities and fish stocks, and in the process has inflicted far too much collateral damage on the wider marine environment".
He added: “It’s scandalous that, by the Commission’s own admission, catch limits decided by the Fisheries Council have exceeded scientific advice by about 48% in recent years. Total Allowable Catches in the reformed CFP must be set at or below the levels recommended by the scientists”.
Tatiana Nemcova, BirdLife’s Senior EU Advocacy Officer, said: "The Green Paper offers some radical solutions for putting European fisheries back on the road to recovery. It’s high time to put a healthy marine environment at the very top of the CFP’s objectives, and to have binding targets for reducing the size of the fleet”.
