WWF and the leading associations for European seafood processors and retailers are to work together to push for solutions to the crisis of European seas and fisheries.
AIPCE, the EU fish processors’ association, and Eurocommerce, which represents retail, wholesale and international trade interests to the EU, are joining WWF in seeking reforms to the troubled European Common Fisheries Policy. The current policy has failed to secure the health of EU fisheries, and has put most of them under severe strain, compromising the availability of sustainably harvested seafood.
Sally Bailey, Head of Fisheries and Seafood, at WWF-UK says: “In the last decade, we have seen huge steps by the seafood industry towards sustainability. We are united in a desire to bring European fisheries back to wide scale health and prosperity, and to do this we must change the current, ineffectual way our fisheries are managed. Today’s alliance already represents a very significant portion of the supply chain from the processing and trading sector and the retail sector, and from the North Sea to the Mediterranean. Sustainability is a conservation necessity and a business necessity today.”
In the UK, WWF-UK is already working with leading retailer M&S to address the problem of overfishing and increase demand for sustainably sourced seafood.
In the next months WWF and its allies will present their shared position to members of the European Commission and the Parliament involved in the reform of European fisheries and actively engage more and more national offices and companies to move towards sustainable and well-managed fisheries inside and outside Europe.
The alliance is seeking the replacement of “political quotas” for fish with mandatory long term management plans firmly based on science for all EU fisheries by 2015.
The alliance is also seeking to have all regional stakeholders play effective roles in developing fisheries plans and a culture of compliance for fisheries.
Strong EU standards should also apply wherever the EU fishes and this should be reflected in EU fishery and trade polices and fishing agreements and partnerships.
Fisheries policy should also seek to maximise value from catch to consumer, avoiding waste and ensuring stable supplies of seafood and added value at each stage of supply chain.
