The Pew Charitable Trusts has written a Letter to the Editor in response to the article ‘Europeche rejects claims that EC plan will lead to overfishing’ published on 16 March.
“In the article ‘Europeche rejects claims that EC plan will lead to overfishing’, statements attributed to Michael Andersen of Europêche misrepresented The Pew Charitable Trusts’ work to end overfishing in the EU.
“The aim of the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) is to restore and maintain fish populations above levels that can produce the maximum sustainable yield, which is the largest average catch that can be taken from a stock without significantly affecting reproduction.
“Multi-annual plans (MAPs) such as the one for the Baltic Sea are a critical tool for delivering the objectives of the CFP. These plans are intended to minimize decision-making based on short-term interests and maximize the likelihood of sustainable fishing practices.
“The figures for western Baltic cod that Mr Andersen attributes to Pew come from the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) advice on 2016 catches for this stock, and they illustrate how much fishing beyond CFP limits the Baltic MAP proposal could potentially allow. For 2016, fishing at the upper end of the range in the Baltic MAP proposal for this stock would have led to a level of catches 60 per cent higher than the level allowed in the CFP. This advice prompted the European Parliament to express concern about potential overfishing.
“It is critically important that future MAPs reflect the objectives set out in the CFP and provide the tools needed to achieve them. This can only happen with better proposals for future MAPs, including the upcoming plan for the North Sea.”
Andrew Clayton
Director of the Ending Overfishing in North-Western Europe campaign
The Pew Charitable Trusts
London
