The European Parliament environment committee has been praised for its strong stand on EU fisheries reform.
In a vote on the reform of the EU’s Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) on 8 May, the members of the Parliament overwhelmingly supported measures to recover fish stocks, promote environmental protection of the marine environment and reduce fishing pressure while supporting sustainable fishing.
Some of the measure include: Commitment to restore fish populations above MSY by 2015 and to improve the environmental standards of fishing to achieve healthy seas by 2020; support for preferential access to fishing for the most sustainable operations; rejection of the proposed mandatory transferable fishing concessions (TFCs); support for a requirement for EU Member States to assess their fishing capacity and adjust it to sustainable fishing limits; and support for the principle of granting EU subsidies only if recipients comply with EU fishing rules.
