Environmental group, Oceana, has criticised the European Parliament’s recent vote to keep European fishing vessel''s tax exemption on fuel – which it says promotes overfishing.
A large majority of members in the European Parliament rejected amendment 40 to the Lulling Report (A7-0052/2012), which called for the removal of the exemption.
In a statement on Oceana’s website, Xavier Pastor, executive director of Oceana Europe, said: “Any real reform of the CFP and the EMFF cannot take place without tackling the fuel tax exemption for Europe’s fishing fleet.”
“The Commission, which recognises overcapacity as one of the biggest problems facing Europe’s sustainable fishing goals, nevertheless failed in its proposal to address the problem of fuel subsidies funding overfishing in our waters, the Parliament also failed, and missed this chance to send a strong signal against harmful subsidies.”
According to a 2009 report by Oceana, these subsidies amount to at least €1.4b. Oceana argues that fuel subsidies allow vessels to fish further out to sea and for longer periods of time increasing the pressure on EU fish stocks – of which 63% are overfished in the North Atlantic and 82% in the Mediterranean.
