European nations are slowly coming to terms with implementing new rules and legislation under the latest Common Fisheries Policy (CFP), as Adrian Tatum reports.
Never before have European waters been under so much pressure. As a result, the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) has been one of the most debated European policies over the last decade
European nations have spent the last two years implementing new changes, with the reformed CFP calling for a ‘radical transformation’ of fishing practices in Europe including a ban on discards, legally binding commitments to fish at sustainable levels as well as other measures such as achieving ‘maximum sustainable yield’ by 2015 where possible, and by 2020 at the latest. This will ensure that annual quotas will be underpinned by scientific advice, to achieve healthy fish stocks and a prosperous fishing industry. The new laws were also set out to allow countries to work together regionally to implement measures appropriate to their own fisheries, rather than be subject to detailed management from Europe.
Most European nations have begun to phase in discard bans and implement landing obligation rules.
Plans
The first plan under the new reforms is the Baltic Plan, which is a agreement between the European Parliament and the European Council for a multi-annual plan for cod, herring and sprat to be fished in Baltic waters.
While it addresses a number of issues, the plan has also been criticised for leaving a loop hole that could still allow fishing quotas to be set at too high levels, with the high risk of not allowing stocks to recover and be maintained above levels that could produce Maximum Sustainable Yields - one of the key parts of the new CFP.
Elsewhere, in the UK, measures have been put in place to implement a full discards ban among other key changes including the challenging new landing obligations expected of fishermen. As of 1 January 2015, all fishermen catching pelagic species must land all the fish they catch. But this year, whatever the challenge, UK fishermen will feel that they cannot fully focus on the tasks ahead as the nation considers whether to vote the exit the EU. According to the Scottish Fishermen’s Federation, most Scottish fishermen are likely to vote to leave the EU and that, despite recent increases in European fishing quotas, they are better without the CFP altogether.
The Guardian in the UK also reports that there are concerns that the Baltic Pan model could be applied to the North Sea, immediately putting cod stocks that have partially recovered over the last few years, under threat of collapse again.
“This proposal would annihilate the common fisheries policy goal of ending overfishing by 2020,” Markus Knigge, an advisor to the Pew Trust, told The Guardian. “It is a real breaking point. The commission has already requested similar ranges for fish in the North Sea and northwest waters and if this text is accepted for the Baltic, proposals will follow.
But according to Griffin Carpenter, an economic modeller at the New Economics Foundation, the CFP has helped the UK fisheries. “Many ports around the UK only have a small fraction of the vessels they once had, but blaming the EU here doesn’t make much sense. First, technological changes have led to a reduction in the number of fishing vessels in developed countries both inside and outside the EU. Second, vessel decommissioning schemes from the EU actually helped many fishers and coastal communities through a difficult transition as quotas lessened. Third, one of the most significant issues for small ports is how quota is allocated between different fishing fleets and this is a national decision,” he says.
“Fisheries in the EU under the CFP are far from perfect and should continue to be critiqued and improved. With that said, the UK managing fisheries would likely be worse for stock recovery, worse for following scientific advice, worse for implementing UK initiatives, and worse for the many UK vessels that move anywhere near our neighbours,” he adds.
In Spain the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Environment is getting tougher on illegal fishing as part of its commitment to the CFP. Operation Sparrow aims to tighten up on illegal fishing around Spanish ports as the country moves towards a more sustainable approach to fisheries. It recently imposed over €17m worth of fines against seven companies connected with illegal fishing in Spanish waters including bans on fishing and receiving EU funds.
Monitoring
Meanwhile, campaigning group WWF says its research has indicated that remote electronic monitoring, using a combination of onboard cameras and sensors, is by far the most efficient and cost effective way to monitor fishing activities at sea.
WWF’s report, Remote Electronic Monitoring (REM) in Fisheries Management, compares REM to traditional monitoring methods, such as aerial and boat surveillance, onboard observers, and dockside checks. It says that REM could offer a far more efficient and cost effective way of monitoring fishing activity and improving information on fish stocks. It also identifies where this technology has been trialled and how it is being used successfully elsewhere in the world. The cameras, which would be used in conjunction with GPS and electronic sensors, can record continuous video during fishing. While 100% of fishing activity is recorded, usually around 10% is looked at – providing a snap shot of what is happening onboard a vessel. The video data is brought ashore using portable hard drives and reviewed to quantify the catches which can be compared against the fishermen’s logbooks to confirm that the landing obligation is being implemented effectively.
It is estimated that installing the equipment, and reviewing 10% of data could cost as little as £4,697 per vessel. Moreover, to equip and install all 10m plus fishing vessels in the UK fleet with REM camera systems, and to undertake a review of 8% of the footage shot, could cost less than is currently spent on traditional monitoring options in the UK (which account for an estimated 0.1% of the hours fished by the fleet).
Member States have an obligation to demonstrate that they are effectively monitoring compliance with the landing obligation,” said Helen McLachlan, fisheries governance manager at WWF. “It is difficult to see how they can do this without having good knowledge of what is happening at sea. Cameras offer by far the most effective means of doing this 100% of the time for a fraction of the cost of traditional methods.”
