Oceana urges member states to follow scientific advice

Oceana has submitted a report to Member States urging them to use a precautionary approach in adjusting total allowable catches (TACs), thereby shifting from short-term economic interests towards long-term sustainable goals.

The organisation emphasises that catches should never go above the scientific advice.

Oceana says that to date European fisheries management has failed to manage resources sustainably, with more than half of fish stocks overfished, and some including stocks of highly consumed species like herring, haddock, whiting, sole or cod, in a situation so poor they are in some cases considered to be depleted. The organisation believes that this is due to a consistent disregard of scientific advice - such that over the past 10 years, ministers have set TACs that were on average 41% higher that recommended.

Oceana has condemned the overall mishandling of EU resources over the years and recommended in its own proposals that TACs be reduced for most of the stocks so as to encourage recovery to healthy levels.

“Although the management of fisheries in the EU has somewhat improved in recent years, further efforts are urgently needed to firmly recover the stocks,” stated Xavier Pastor, executive director at Oceana. “Only healthy fish populations can ensure the sustainability and profitability of the fishing industry, and the path to achieving this objective passes directly through setting catch limits strictly in accordance with scientific advice”.

Despite an EU commitment to manage fish stocks at Maximum Sustainable Yield (MSY) by 2015, only a minority of the managed stocks is currently exploited at MSY levels. Ocenana says that the MSY approach should be the basis on which stocks are managed as it will lead to a significant improvement in the state of the resources, the profitability of the sector and the viability of the communities dependent on the resources.