EU Proposes Radical Reforms on Fishing

After months of internal bargaining, the European Commission on Tuesday proposed the first major overhaul of Europe’s fisheries policy in decades. The changes, aimed at saving fish stocks near extinction and ensuring sustainable fisheries, would slash the EU fleet and cost thousands of jobs.

The bitterly disputed plan to reform the Common Fisheries Policy would cut the total time EU trawlers spend at sea by between 30 and 60 per cent, depending on the region and state of local fish stocks. It would mean the withdrawal of an estimated 8,600 vessels, representing 8.5 per cent of the EU fleet.

Tens of thousands of the bloc's 260,000 fishermen face an uncertain future – and critics say the plan could mean the loss of 28,000 jobs across Europe.

EU Fisheries Commissioner Franz Fischler said, however, that the changes are crucial. "It's make or break time for EU fisheries. If we want to give our fishermen a future, we need a new Common Fisheries Policy. Either we have the courage to make bold reforms now, or we watch the demise of our fisheries sectors in the years ahead."

The plans would free up some 460 million euros earmarked for vessel renewal and fleet moderization to help fishermen find jobs in other industries. And some 272 million euros would be available for emergency ship scrapping between 2003 and 2006.

Warning from environmentalists

Scientists have warned for years that some fish stocks have fallen to dangerously low levels. Emergency measures are already in place to save North Sea cod stocks. And earlier this year, the World Wildlife Fund launched a campaign for radical reform of Europe’s fisheries policy. "This year the European Union’s 15 Fisheries Ministers will determine the future of our oceans, Europe’s fishing communities and Europe’s fish. The ministers must stop the overfishing or fishing will be over," said Claude Martin, director general of WWF International.

Within the EU, support for the changes comes mainly from northern European countries, including Germany. "Like the commission, our central goal is to create a lasting and environmentally sensitive fishing industry," German state secretary Martin Wille said during past discussions about reforms. Germany, with a fleet of 2,300 boats, has a relatively small fishing industry.

Spain leads protest

Mediterranean countries led by Spain, the biggest beneficiary of the one billion euro a year EU policy, are the prime opposition. Spain, Portugal, France, Italy and Ireland have formed a group called the "Friends of Fishing" that blames industrial fishing by Nordic countries, mainly to produce fishmeal, for the crisis.

Spanish opposition came from the highest levels and has prompted allegations of illegal intervention into Commission matters. Last month, Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar called Commission President Romano Prodi about the issue. And Commission Vice President Loyola de Palacio, a former Spanish fisheries minister, wrote to Fischler that the reforms brutally ignore the "conditions of life and work of our fishermen."

On Tuesday, Prodi publicly endorsed the proposals in a statement stressing that their adoption "once again demonstrates that the Commission acts in the common European interest."

Provisions that excluded Spanish and Portuguese fishermen from Northern European waters will expire at the end of this year under the proposed reforms. However, fishing rights for sought-after cod and haddock from the North Sea and the Baltic are already allocated to other EU states, effectively limiting their catch to less desirable fish.

"Over-capacity is the enemy"

Fischler also proposed replacing the annual political haggling to set the year's catch quotas with multi-year programs, which scientists say will better protect stocks. The commissioner, who comes from Austria, said: "The desperate race for fish has to stop. Over-capacity is the enemy – not only of the fish stocks, but also of the future of our fishermen."

Fischler also called for the increased use of satellites for tracking boats and a European inspection agency to enforce the rules. And in an attempt to avoid entangling dolphins and seabirds, boats would have to invest in more tightly meshed nets.

The EU fisheries ministers will discuss the plan at a June meeting in Luxemburg. Danish minister for Food, Marian Fishir Boel, was hopeful that the proposals could be adopted under the Danish EU presidency, which begins in July.

British Fisheries Minister Elliot Morley agreed it was time for change but told BBC radio there would be tough talks ahead. "The Common Fisheries Policy has really failed to deliver in terms of conservation and it does need to be reformed," he said.

Meanwhile, the negotiation process leading up to the proposed reforms has brought uncertainty to the fishing industry. And this is taking a human toll, fisherman Alvaro Reis of Portugal told Reuters. "I have three sons," he said, "and none of them wants to fish."