The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) has presented a petition containing 150,000 signatures to the European Parliament demanding more sustainable fishing practices.
WWF says that for decades, Europe’s Fisheries Ministers have made poor decisions that have sent Europe’s fish stocks and fishing industry into decline. Presently two out of three fish stocks in the EU are depleted and jobs as well as income and profits are decreasing.
Roberto Ferrigno, common fisheries policy project coordinator, WWF European policy office, said: “This 150,000 strong petition, together with a further 30,000 citizens who wrote to MEPs last month, shows how much people want to see a change in fisheries management in the EU. Fisheries Ministers have failed to deliver and it’s now up to the Parliament to make it happen.”
He added: “Faced with fierce lobbying from industrial fishing, Fisheries Ministers have already significantly watered down EU fisheries policy reform proposals - the danger is that MEPs may cave in too.”
WWF is calling on the European Parliament to lead the delivery of an ambitious reform. The petition urges MEPs to ensure fisheries are managed regionally, under long-term plans that result in the recovery of marine ecosystems and fish stocks. It also calls for waste to be stopped by implementing a coherent set of rules and overfishing to be stopped overseas by applying the same principles to all European boats wherever they operate in the world.
On 28 November the European Parliament’s Fisheries Committee will decide and vote on the future of the world’s oceans.
