The new mandate for the reform of the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) announced this week has not fallen short of the mark for all.
Fresh from the meeting, Barrie Deas, Chief Executive of the National Federation of Fishermen’s Organisations (NFFO), said to World Fishing & Aquaculture that the agreement reached by the Council of Ministers in Brussels represents an “important staging post on the tortuous passage to CFP reform.”
Whilst the meeting was not received in an entirely positive light by WWF, Oceana and Greenpeace in relation to discard bans, Mr Deas said that the much more important issue for fishermen working at sea on a daily basis is the “now achievable goal of decentralising decision making from Brussels to a regional level.”
“Until now, there hasn’t been significant recognition of the importance of regionalisation but we welcome the council’s acknowledgement that the current system of prescriptive micromanagement has failed”, he said.
NFFO says it sees the meeting as a vital first step towards promoting decision making which is fairer and more flexible for each member state on a regional level whilst still ensuring seafood remains a sustainable, traceable food source.
