Members of the European Parliament Committee on Fisheries were guests of honour at the Europêche General Assembly meeting, discussing matters such as illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing, legislation and recent improvements in the sector.
The newly elected chair of the European Parliament Committee on Fisheries, Chris Davies (Renew Europe, UK), the Director-General for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries (DG MARE), João Aguiar Machado, and DG MARE Director, Veronika Veits, attended the meeting held in Brussels.
The managing director of Europêche, Daniel Voces, welcomed the constructive nature of the meeting. “I am very pleased that Mr Davies is actively engaging with the fishing sector and has shown a great willingness to continue an open door policy in the future,” he said.
Achievements
The industry welcomed the EU tough stance against IUU fishing, emphasising the need for coherence between different European policies and there was consensus on the achievements in the North East Atlantic with many thriving fish stocks. However, all parties agreed on the need to put more efforts in the Mediterranean Sea whose situation is expected to improve thanks to the recently adopted policy and legislative tools.
Both Europêche and the chair of the PECH Committee shared the objective to continue reducing discards as much as possible in Europe. However they agree that the EU landing obligation as established in the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) is not working as intended owing to administrative difficulties and the clash with national rules.
Revise Article 15
Europêche called for the revision of Article 15 of the CFP as a matter of priority for the legislators, arguing that onboard cameras are not required to enforce landing obligations and pointing out that countries with discard bans such as Norway and New Zealand do not use them.
All parties wish to reach agreement on the European Maritime and Fisheries Regulation in the shortest timeframe possible and there were unanimous views on improving safety, working and living conditions and better energy efficiency.
Sea provides food not power
Finally, Europêche encouraged DG MARE to prioritise the fishing sector and help prevent the shift from the sea as a source of food to a source of energy.
