The European Transport Federation and its fisheries affiliates are protesting to draw attention to perceived risks to the sector from an EU action plan to protect the marine environment.
From 2 May for a week, fishers from around Europe will be staging a series of action to protest the recently adopted ‘Protecting and restoring marine ecosystems for sustainable and resilient fisheries’ arguing that measures to, in particular, outlaw bottom trawling will leave the sector reliant on imports, putting jobs at risk and making the industry less attractive to younger generations.
“Considering the fisheries sector’s crucial role for local coastal economies by providing jobs and ensuring quality food to all European citizens, we want to make the EU and national authorities, key actors within the sector and European citizens aware of the dramatic socio-economic consequences these measures will have - once implemented - especially in the regions where bottom trawling represents a major part of the fisheries operations,” said Juan Manuel Trujillo Castillo, chair of ETF Fisheries Section.
The EU should put aside its ‘drastic measures’ as ETF calls the action plan, and instead focus on innovating trawling and reducing its impact on the seabed and fuel consumption rather than insisting on an outright ban.
It points out that the Common Fisheries Policy is based on three pillars – environmental, economic and social sustainability – but that the latter two are being sidelined under the Commission’s ‘unbalanced approach’.
Not everyone is opposed to the new plan, however, with Brussels-based NGO, Seas at Risk, welcoming an outright ban on bottom trawling, calling it a ‘technique belonging to the past’.
