It's cod news week - the lunacy of legislation!

"Always happy to see fish but the harsh reality is these cod we are taken in to port will give me and my crew absolutely ZERO pay for our efforts and that is fac...t with no exaggeration, it costs us £1800 to rent a tonne and that is what the cost of them are in the market so we are doing this for free as we dont want to discard fish., how long can this madness go on? theres alot of people who will make money off these but i can only tell my crew 'thanks'"

The lunancy that is the current quota system coupled with the inequity of the licence system - two wrongs have served to create this bizarre situation.

Cod is expected to become sustainable again in the coming years after decades of overfishing left populations in the North Sea on the brink of extinction. 

Consumers have been urged for many years to avoid eating the fish but a report by the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) last week found that numbers are recovering as a result of careful management. Although the survey found that British cod will not be classified as sustainable for at least a year, the signs suggest it could soon make a welcome return to menus. 

Richard Benyon, the Fisheries Minister, said: "We should not be complacent, there is still a long way to go, but this is really good news. "People can eat cod without feeling guilty because there are large quantities being caught further north, and our cod stocks in the North Sea are recovering.  "Much of the credit for this must rest with the fishermen who have introduced a vast number of [sustainable fishing] measures." 


Barrie Deas, chief executive of the National Federation of Fishermen's Organisations, said there had been evidence of cod populations rallying since 2000, due in large part to reducing of fleet sizes. He said: "This is part of a general trend right across the north eastern Atlantic. For all the main species groups, all of them have shown a dramatic reduction of about 50 per cent in fishing mortality, which is the percentage of a stock that you take out each year." 

Figures produced by the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (Ices) show that spawning stock of North Sea cod increased by 250 per cent between 2006 and 2012. Ices predicted last year that stocks could soon reach the minimum desired level of 70,000 tonnes for the first time since 1998, less than a decade after warning that the number of young cod in the North Sea was the lowest for 20 years. 

Chef Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall told The Guardian he was "more keen than anyone to see British cod back on the 'fish to eat' list" but said he would not do so until population levels are considered safe. The MSC report found that fisheries of North Sea herring and cockles from the Thames Estuary are now sustainable and well-managed against its official standards, while cod is recovering well. But other species such as red gurnard, which is often recommended to consumers as an alternative to the "big five" of cod, haddock, salmon, tuna and prawns, may themselves be at risk. 

The MSC said there is an "urgent case" for research into the sustainability of red gurnard after identifying a lack of data on fish stocks and "limited" management of catches. Red gurnard is often fished using "beam trawling", where fish are caught by dragging a metal beam with nets attached along the sea bed, with few restrictions on where it can be done. Other fisheries including brown crab, English Channel cuttlefish and sole caught with beam trawls also need further information before they can meet the criteria of the MSC's eco-label. 

Claire Pescod, who chairs the MSC advisory group for Project Inshore, said: "There's been a significant interest in underutilised species over the past few years. "When those fish suddenly become commercially popular, we need to put a lot more effort into providing the appropriate information for their management to make sure that they are managed sustainably. In many cases there are gaps in understanding of the fishery that will need to be filled."

Story courtesy of the Daily Telegraph.

EU ministers conclude marathon negotiating session on fisheries reform

Brussels – EU fisheries ministers have concluded a marathon session of negotiations on the reform of EU legislation on fisheries. The ministers have been meeting since Monday to revise their position on the main points of the reform before going into final negotiations with the European Parliament.

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More than 40 Galician fishing vessels joined Greenpeace's Arctic Sunrise on Monday in a protest aimed at Spanish minister Miguel Arias Canete. The banner reads 'Canete, don't sink EU fisheries'

Greenpeace EU fisheries policy director Saskia Richartz said: “Details of the agreement reached early this morning are still patchy and, as so often in politics, the devil is in the detail. What is clear, despite the efforts of the Irish EU presidency, is that there is still a significant gap between the reluctant stance of some countries and the progressive position of the European Parliament. When ministers speak of ‘real and practical solutions’ they often mean that they have settled for a low level of ambition. The parliament will need to decide whether to continue negotiations on the basis of this take-it-or-leave-it proposal from the Council. It must continue to represent the political and public support behind the recovery of our oceans for Europe to be able to safeguard its marine environment and keep its sustainable fishing sector alive.” 

In a vote in February, the Parliament overwhelmingly supported an overhaul of the rules which have led to decades of overfishing and a decline of the European fishing industry [1]. On the other hand, EU ministers – in particular from large fishing nations – have resisted reforms [2].

Unless ministers are willing to compromise, negotiations will be thrown off course and threaten the chances of achieving a reform of fisheries rules before European Parliament elections in mid-2014. The Irish EU presidency, which negotiates with Parliament on behalf of EU ministers, has said it would aim secure a final agreement on the reform of the Common Fisheries Policy by June this year.

Greenpeace supports a target for fish stock recovery by 2020, a trimming of the fishing fleet to sustainable levels, financial penalties for countries that fail to implement the rules, and a strict ban on the wasteful practice of discarding unwanted fish.

Note to editors:

[1] According to the European Commission, around two thirds of European fish stocks are currently fished beyond sustainable levels (http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CELEX:52012DC0278:EN:NOT), while one third of European fishing jobs have been lost in the last decade (http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=SPLIT_SEC:2011:0891%2851%29:FIN:EN:PDF).

[2] Joint NGO statement, Fisheries Council: threat of collapse hangs over fisheries reform:http://www.greenpeace.org/eu-unit/en/News/2013/threat-of-collapse-hangs-over-fisheries-reform

Story courtesy of Greenpeace

Some comments and the early hours press re;lease from th Fisheries Council meeting in Brussles

Willie Mackenzie @williemackenzie

“@OCEAN2012UK: BBC News - UK claims breakthrough in fish dumping talks bbc.co.uk/news/uk-225360…” #CFPreform

MCSUK @mcsuk

With #cfpreform talks having continued into the small hours. The detail of the position will be key to ensure the future of our fisheries!

Council Press Release:

As regards agriculture, ministers were briefed on the state of play of the trilogues on the reform of 

the common agricultural policy (CAP) and debated more specifically the subjects of the active 

farmer requirements, the young farmers’ scheme and the small farmers’ scheme. 

In addition, a qualified majority in favour of a decision on the EU position in the framework of the

International Organisation of Vine and Wine (OIV) could not be reached. 

Concerning fisheries issues, the Council held a debate on the outcome of the trilogues on the 

reform of the common fisheries policy (CFP). Ministers agreed on adjustments of the negotiating 

mandate to the Presidency to finalise the discussions with the other EU institutions on the basic 

regulation of the CFP. These adjustments concerns maximum sustainable yield (MSY), landing 

obligation, regionalisation, multiannual plans and capacity management. The Presidency also 

informed the Council about a provisional agreement with the European Parliament reached at the 

end of the third trilogue on the market regulation of the CFP. 

Finally, the ministers were briefed on the consequences for agriculture of the proposal on tobacco 

products, the orth East Atlantic mackerel stock, and a global summit on oceans.

Richard Benyon vows to drive through 'ambitious' EU fishing reforms

UK fisheries minister says he will refuse any deal that goes against three key principles at key meeting in Brussels

Richard Benyon, the UK's fisheries minister, has vowed to drive "ambitious and radical reform" of the EU's common fisheries policy at a key meeting in Brussels this week.

In an interview with the Guardian, he listed three main goals for the UK – to ensure that a new proposal for fishing to be carried on strictly within a "maximum sustainable yield" that would be legally binding; a ban on the discarding of edible fish at sea, and a devolution of key aspects of managing fishing quota to member states, instead of being controlled entirely from Brussels.

This week's tense meeting, which follows more than two years of negotiations over the management of the EU's dwindling fish stocks, will not reach a conclusion until late on Tuesday night or some time on Wednesday morning, the European commission warned. Once a common position has been agreed, more talks will follow next week to finalise further details.

Benyon acknowledged that there were "forces [that want] to scupper this deal", but said the UK would refuse to do a deal "that goes against our principles".

While a discards ban is likely to come into force in some form, some member states want fishermen to have much more leeway in how much of their catch they are allowed to throw away as being unavoidable. The UK wants no more than 5% of any catch to be allowed to be discarded under any circumstances, but other countries have suggested as much as doubling this.

But Benyon warned that governments must work closely with fishermen in order to make the reforms work. "We are working closely with the fishing industry to do [the reforms] in a practical way," he said. "I do not want to transfer a problem that happens at sea to landfill."

He said that co-operation with fishing fleets was already bearing fruit. "Great work has been done on a dramatic reduction in discards of white fish," he said. "Much has come from incentivising, working with fishermen."

Although some large fishing interests, particularly in Spain and France, have been starkly opposed to any deal on discards and a legally binding maximum sustainable yield, Benyon emphasised that many fishermen had been supportive. "It would be entirely wrong if people thought the ban was in the teeth of opposition of the industry – though some are very concerned about the practicalities [such as] having to bring back fish having maybe been gone for days."

He said: "In fairness to them, they are raising concerns in a way that accepts this is going to happen and to make it work."

The minister has seen for himself what discarding means in practice – he went to sea with a trawler, and saw whiting being discarded in the North Sea.

He credits campaigners with helping to ensure there was support for a discards ban. "I would never have been able to get agreement on radical reform agenda without all the NGOs on this. [This is] a revolution on how to manage our seas."

Some countries are also reluctant to allow the "maximum sustainable yield" – a scientific measure that would ensure that quotas were set at a level where the stocks could restore themselves naturally – to be made legally binding, as the UK and most northern European countries want.

Scientific research will need to be brought to bear as fisheries management develops. Benyon noted the effects of climate change: "The seas are changing – cod are moving further north, other fish are in greater abundance, mackerel are moving."

On "regionalisation", which would allow some aspects of fisheries management – such as net size and the level of quota given to smaller and larger boats – to be decided by member states, there is broader agreement. Benyon described the current situation in which fishermen in Ullapool were having their net size decided in Brussels. "How bonkers is that?" he asked.

A key aspect would be ensuring that the regulations are applied fairly across the whole of the EU's fisheries. "[Previous] proposals would have had some trawlers fishing some waters but not having to abide by some of the rules. The ridiculous concept of the common fisheries policy is that [it] tries to manage waters from the Arctic to the southern Mediterranean. You can't have a system that applies to all ecosystems but you can have common principles you can make in law."

This week's meeting is the culmination of more than two years of wrangling. The decisive starting point came early in 2011 when the European fisheries commissioner, Maria Damanaki, publicly disclosed her key aim of ending the wasteful practice of discards. This proposal had itself followed years of work behind the scenes by the commission, but when the proposals began to be publicly debated there were strong voices of opposition from some quarters.

The commission's proposals were narrowly passed by member state fisheries ministers, though they were nearly scuppered at several points. Then they received strong support in a vote in the European parliament. Now, the final stages of the process will provide the last chance for opponents of the reforms to derail the proposals. It will then take further work to put the finishing touches on the reforms, before they can come into force.

Commissioner Damanaki said: "Substantial progress has been made in the negotiations between the European parliament and the council [of ministers] on the commission's proposal for a reformed common fisheries policy. The EU is on the doorstep of a historical deal that would put fish stocks on the road to recovery, eliminate the wasteful practice of discarding and ensure that decisions are taken as close as possible to fishermen.

"It is the responsibility of all institutions not to jeopardise a final deal because of disagreements over a few percentage points [in terms of amount of inadvertent catch that can be discarded]; one or two years [between the proposed introduction of a ban]; detailed technical rules or institutional power struggle. It is now time for both the European parliament and the council to make that extra final step towards each other that is necessary to come to a final agreement that will launch a new era of healthy fish stocks, viable fishing industries and more and better paid jobs for fishermen."

While green campaigners have warned that the battle is far from over, and that the opponents of the reforms could yet gain the upper hand in the final hours, Benyon said he was optimistic that the reforms would be successful. "I do not see this is some great giant gulf [among member states over the issues]," he said. "There could be blocking minority against reform … but I do not think they will find the opportunity to scupper the deal."

But he admitted compromises might be needed: "I might have to make a decision that will not particularly please me or many people who write to me or campaign to me … [but] I am determined that any agreement will not go against our principles."

Story courtesy of the Guardian



And this article posted by the Shadow Environment Minister, Tom Harris last night

‘UK should be leading on fishing reform, not taking a back seat’

On the eve of the crucial EU vote on reform of the Common Fisheries Policy, Shadow Environment Minister Tom Harris said:

“Tomorrow night member states will vote to reform the EU’s Common Fisheries Policy (CFP). After years of negotiation, the end is in sight.

“But longstanding divides on what reform should look like continue to polarise member states and threaten much needed change. France, along with its southern European counterpart, Spain, are fiercely resisting measures designed to end the immoral practice of discards and return fish stocks to sustainable levels by 2020. There is a real possibility that if no consensus is reached this week, then the entire process will go into protracted EU discussions.

“In June, the Irish presidency – which has been crucial to driving forward reform – will end, and with European Parliamentary elections looming in 2014, failure at this late stage cannot be permitted. For too long the CFP has been failing our fisheries, forcing fisherman to dump over a million tons of discarded fish into our seas.
“This is an intolerable waste that will no longer be accepted by the UK public. It is wasteful, it affects the sustainability of fish stocks, it distorts scientific evidence and it frustrates our fishermen. Steps have already been taken by the UK fishing fleet to address discards but If legislators fail to meet their side of the bargain they will be given short shrift by the electorate, and deservedly so. Healthy seas and productive fish stocks are a prerequisite for a profitable fishing sector and thriving fishing communities.

“Labour will always support policy that has a strong scientific basis and we support moves towards the application of Maximum Sustainable Yield – the highest catch that can be taken consistently while maintaining the fish population at maximum productivity – where possible, by 2020. The government’s reluctance to commit to a biomass figure, even one that is aspirational and non-legally binding, is troubling. Plans to decentralise power and move away from a one-size-fits-all, top-down management programme are also under threat.

“Fisheries must be dealt with at the most appropriate level. A sea-basin approach which promotes greater participation and flexibility by empowering local stakeholders to identify tailored measures for their own regional seas is not only right, but crucial to achieve workable, sustainable management in the future.

“The current Fisheries Minister, Richard Benyon, is in a tight spot. For years he has said the right words, but tomorrow he must finally deliver. The government must stick to its promises and deliver an economically and ecologically sustainable package of reforms. As one of the world’s great maritime nations Britain should be leading the agenda for reform, not taking a back seat. The government must build alliances with the other 26 member states to enact change. If he fails, then a historic opportunity will have been squandered. With more than 60 per cent of fish stocks overfished and many fishermen struggle to make ends meet, we cannot go on as we are.”

Agriculture Council - Press conference, Agriculture and Fisheries, 13 May 2013 (video)

Reliance III - running away from North Sea cod - part II

Not the most comfortable ridfe to work - imagine steaming for 62 hours in this weather - even sleeping is hard work!


Making the decision to fish at Rockall in order to avoid catching cod is not taken lightly. For starters just getting there involves a steam of over 60 hours - a round trip of nearly 6 days without a fish being caught - so the return in terms of the value of fish has to justify the long steam and the fuel consumed. Haddock, monk and squid are the three main species available to the boats who fish at the Rock.

Weather is a real issue fishing Rockall - with the prevailing winds from the west - if the weather is extreme it is to far to risk running home in huge following seas - and dodging requires heading for deeperwater off the bank - going west! - next stop Newfoundland or Iceland!

A reminder of just how bad it can get can be seen here with these two Spanish longliners.

Latest animation seeks to explain the discard debacle

Every year in the EU, 1.7 million tonnes of fish are thrown back into the sea after being caught. This wasteful practice is widely criticised and negotiations between the Council and the European Parliament over the reform of the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) are seeking to address the problem. This video explores the reasons for discards in the EU, their implications and the current efforts to end the practice.

This video can be viewed on the IIEA website:http://www.iiea.com/blogosphere/video...

It forms part of The Environment Nexus -- your digital ecosystem.
http://www.iiea.com/environmentnexus

Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall praised North Sea fishermen after The Real Fish Fight was launched

Celebrity chef Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall says he is listening to Peterhead skippers angered that his TV show misrepresented them and the UK fishing industry.

Hugh’s Fish Fight dumped the reality of discards right into the living rooms of the public; highlighting the merits of sustainable fishing and calling for action to be taken to ‘save our seas’.

His methods however, angered a group of trawlermen who fought back with The Real Fish Fight campaign.

The campaigners voiced concerns that the series did not differentiate between the healthy North East sector and troubled markets elsewhere in the country.

They also argued that "there are plenty of fish in the sea".

Now Hugh says he has been listening to the campaigners' arguments and says he recognises how healthy the north-east industry is.

And he has heaped praise on campaign leader Peter Bruce, calling him a "top skipper" and someone who could "lead the UK fishing industry".

Speaking to STV, Hugh said: "I know that Peter Bruce of the Real Fish Fight is one of the top skippers in Scotland and catches great quality fish. He is on the innovative catch-quota system and so doesn’t discard any cod and has an MSC certificate of sustainability for his haddock.

"He’s the sort of fisherman to lead the UK fishing industry in the right direction. I think we’ve got a lot in common and I am listening to what the Real Fish Fight has to say.

"I do acknowledge that cod stocks are doing well in the North Sea from their all-time low point in 2006 and applaud fishermen and fishery managers for their hard work to make that happen. But looking at all stocks, across the whole UK, it’s a complicated situation.

"Our latest series of Fish Fight focused on Marine Protected Areas, and did not discuss fish stocks in the North Sea. We filmed on the Isle of Man – in the Irish Sea – where cod stocks are still in dire straits, and scientists advise that we shouldn’t catch any cod if we can help it. It’s the same in coastal areas of West Scotland."

A recent haul of cod from Peter Bruce's boat - the Budding Rose

The fishing industry was dealt a heavily blow when, earlier this year, the Marine Conservation Society demoted mackerel on its list of ethical fish to eat, causing Hugh to ditch his campaign to get "mac baps" into Britain’s chippys.

North Sea fishermen met with green groups, WWF, Marine Scotland and fisheries scientists, to find a solution to the depleting stocks and have swapped their nets for different mesh sizes to allow younger fish to escape.

Campaign founder and skipper, Peter Bruce, said: "We’re not happy with the way that we have been portrayed. What the programme called facts were just lies. We thought there was such a misrepresentation of the situation; we had to set up on our own.

"There are plenty of fish in our seas. His campaign is all about scaremongering and I know that to be true because every time we take the boat out we can see for ourselves on our equipment just how many fish there are out there.

"Fishermen haven't been given any credit for their efforts, and there is no evidence to suggest that by banning fishing in certain areas that fish numbers will increase, or that this will be the best way to conserve."

The fishing fleet at Petehead has fallen from 120 vessels in the 1990s to only 30. Two weeks ago, Peter’s boat, The Budding Rose, hauled her largest ever catch of cod - 30 tonnes in a single net.

The Budding Rose recently landed 30 tonnes of of cod in a single net in Peterhead

Peter added: "I had never seen a catch like that in all my 30 years at sea. The boat’s ram was completely bent out of shape by the weight of the catch - so much so it has had to be removed for repairs to be carried out.

"It was taken around 20 miles from closed cod spawning grounds; I had been fishing for haddock. I was in contact with a fellow skipper who was 75 miles away and he was having a similar experience."

Peterhead is the UK’s largest white fish and pelagic (mackerel and herring) port and runs an on-site fish market from Monday to Friday.

The fishermen claim that cod stocks in the North Atlantic have reached their highest levels for almost 20 years and ships such as the Budding Rose require only a relatively short time at sea to fill their holds.

Peter Bruce shows off some of his prized cod to promote The Real Fish Fight

Peter added: "Some people want the North Sea left as an aquarium and we just can't have that. We would like the scientists to come out with us and see what we are seeing on the grounds.

"Hugh’s Fish Fight seems to be motivated by raising his profile and bank balance. In the first series, he did a great job of highlighting the issue and we were all for it but we are not happy at his more recent claims about fish stocks."

"The money spent on his campaign should have been spent on scientific research; his measures will not provide a solution, it will only flood the market with products from overseas which have a high carbon footprint."

Hugh’s Fish Fight production company, KEO Films, are currently reviewing their options for a follow-up episode of the series, but have not ruled out a meeting between the two fish crusaders.

The EU is at risk of violating its international obligations if efforts to reform the Common Fisheries Policy prove unsuccessful.

Recent months have seen renewed efforts to reform the EU’s Common Fisheries Policy. Alexander Proelss assesses the EU’s track record, noting that 81 per cent of European fish stocks are currently overfished by the EU’s own estimates, and that this figure may be even higher depending on the measurement used. A number of different obstacles will need to be overcome if the reform efforts are to be successful, not least finding a way around the significant political opposition within Member States to any reduction in fishing quotas.

According to the European Union’s 2009 green paper on the reform of the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP), 81 per cent of European fish stocks are overfished. Some scientists argue that even this prediction is clearly underestimating the actual state of European fish stocks. Based on the notion that a fish stock is overfished if its biomass is too small to produce maximum sustainable yield (MSY), it has been argued that under a “business as usual” scenario, 91 per cent of European fish stocks will fail to meet the goal of the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation – according to which fish stocks are to be maintained at or restored to “levels that can produce the maximum sustainable yield with the aim of achieving these goals for depleted stocks on an urgent basis and where possible not later than 2015”. While these figures are subject to a certain degree of controversy, as no sufficiently specific legal definitions exist of what MSY and “overfished” mean quantitatively, they demonstrate that little progress has been made in achieving the fundamental reforms necessary for a sustainable fisheries sector in Europe.

There are several reasons for the failure of the CFP, which range from biological, economical and legal factors, to political shortcomings. An ideal fisheries policy would foster the sustainable use of fish stocks, provide for coherent laws and regulations that yield adequate economic incentives, and guarantee consistent enforcement of the legal framework. Even though it is undeniable that some progress has been achieved concerning the restoration of certain fish stocks, none of these requirements has been fully met by the CFP as it stands today. Against this background, current attempts to reform the CFP will not only determine whether Europe will be capable of preserving and sustainably managing a finite natural resource, but will also affect the economic survival of the European fisheries industry.

From a governance perspective, the political challenges involved in the matter are particularly relevant due to the fact that the conservation of marine biological resources under the CFP is one of the very few areas with regard to which the European Union (EU) exercises exclusive competence. The public disgrace attached to the potential failure to implement the necessary reforms will hopefully provide an incentive for the EU’s institutions to agree on the required measures.

Full article on the LSE blog here:

Europe’s Rift on Overfishing and Subsidies

Good to see the New York Times covering what goes on over this side of the pond with this well crafted piece by David Jolly:

Two weeks ago, the European Parliament voted overwhelmingly to require that the 27-nation bloc’s fisheries be managed on a sustainable basis within a few years.

That vote, the first step toward overhauling Europe’s Common Fisheries Policy, was hailed by conservationists as a major victory. It was made possible by the Lisbon Treaty, an agreement that put the Parliament on an equal footing with the European Fisheries Council – a body made up of ministers from member nations – in setting policy.
This week the Parliament began to debate the second half of the so-called Common Fisheries Policy reform, addressing the thorny question of how to ensure that the subsidies that Europe pays out to the fishing industry don’t wind up encouraging the same practices that it wants to end.

One thing quickly became clear: despite the margin of victory – 502 to 137 — in the previous vote, victory for the pro-conservation camp is far from guaranteed in a decision on a proposed European Maritime and Fisheries Fund.

“We won a huge victory for sustainability two weeks ago with a huge majority,” Isabella Lovin, a Green party legislator from Sweden and a longtime critic of European fisheries subsidies, said by telephone. “You would expect the subsidies vote to go the same way. But I’m not sure we’ll have such a big victory when it comes to money.”

“My worry is that there is an unholy alliance of between the conservatives and the left,” she added, “one that wants to continue giving subsidies.”

The fight to change the basic rules two weeks ago was led by Ulrike Rodust, a German Socialist who served as the rapporteur, or parliamentary leader, with responsibility for representing Parliament in final negotiations with fisheries ministers in Brussels. On Monday, Ms. Rodust articulated the position of many subsidy foes when she said there that no money should be provided to build new boats when there was already an excess of capacity.

While Ms. Rodust is firmly in the conservationist camp, the rapporteur on subsidies is Alain Cadec, a Frenchman from Brittany who opposed the fisheries regulation vote on the ground that it was “dogmatic and populist.”

Mr. Cadec, a member of the Union for a Popular Movement, the party of the former president Nicolas Sarkozy, said in a telephone interview on Tuesday that he was seeking “a major evolution” in the way that Europe aids the fishing industry but that he did not want to end subsidies, especially for for building new boats. “The average age of the European fleet is 27 years,’ he said.

Fishermen should get funds to build new vessels, he added, but with controls to “ensure that fishing capacity isn’t augmented.”

“My objective is to have a sustainable fishery and maintain the European model of fishing,” Mr. Cadec said. “It’s an important activity, socially and economically.”

The bloc’s fisheries policy has long been the target of wrath for conservationists and taxpayer advocates. In the conservationists’ case, it is because the policy has contributed to a system in which 68 percent of European fish stocks are overexploited, according to the Parliament’s Fisheries Committee. From the taxpayer advocates’ view, it is simply economically inefficient.

Fishing is a hard, dangerous and uncertain business, and subsidies can make the difference between success or failure for the operators, not to mention the communities that depend on them. But that is another way of saying that the money keeps unprofitable boats going out after fewer fish.

The European Court of Auditors, an independent agency that monitors European Union spending, found in a 2011 study that the subsidy policy was so poorly planned that from 1992 to 2008, despite an official policy of reducing the fleet to match capacity with shrinking stocks, capacity actually rose by about 14 percent.

Bloom Association, a French nongovermental organization, said last week that it had examined the finances of France’s largest fishing company, Scapêche, for the period from 2004 to 2011 and had learned that the company had 19 million euros, or $25 million, of recurring losses in those years, despite receiving about 10 million euros of subsidies and millions of euros in debt relief and other aid from its parent.

Scapêche, a unit of the Intermarché supermarket group, did not reply to requests for comment.

But in a statement carried by Le Marin, a French magazine, Intermarché contested that characterization, saying that Scapêche “has had positive results since 2009.” Aid given to European fishing “aims at improving the sector” with best fishing practices, best product quality and safety for fishermen, and all such aid “is accorded in complete transparency,” it said.

A 2011 report from the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists found that Spanish boats alone had received more than 5.8 billion euros, or $7.7 billion, in subsidies over the previous decade – nearly one-third of the industry’s total value.

“Simply put, nearly one in three fish caught on a Spanish hook or raised in a Spanish farm is paid for with public money,” the authors said.

Maria Damanaki, the European fisheries commissioner, pointed out one of the seemingly irrational elements of the policy in a speech last October, noting that by 2015 fishermen will have received nearly 1.3 billion euros in so-called scrapping subsidies, under which vessel owners were paid to decommission boats that were used to catch overfished stocks.

But in many cases, she said, the goal was defeated as they used the money to buy new boats, meaning the payout “was a hidden investment aid in many cases.”

The money doesn’t all come from the European Union kitty. Oceana, a conservation group, reckons that European fishermen also get about 1.4 billion euros a year ($1.86 billion) in fuel tax subsidies from their home country taxpayers.

Still, when push comes to shove, fishermen, like farmers, hold significant political power, and pork-barrel politics creates a sort of inertia. Members of the European Parliament have added 2,800 amendments to the body’s subsidies proposal, and Mr. Cadec will have his hands full whittling those down to a manageable number in the next few weeks in preparation for an April vote.

Subsidies are necessary “to allow fishers to live in dignity,” Maria do Céu Patrão Neves, a European People’s Party legislator from Portugal, said in Parliament.

“The watchword ought to be fishing better,” she said. “By training fishermen to better handle their catches, “they won’t feel the need to fish more, to overfish.”
Story in courtesy of the New York Times.

Should the reformed Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) be primarily focussed upon environmental factors?

Should the reformed Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) be primarily focussed upon environmental factors? 

Click here to take cast your vote ahead of the official vote to be cast in June.

Policy ID number : A7-0008/2013 | EU Parliament date : 02.06.13

Today fishery is a sector in crisis. Since several years, European authorities note that the fishing stocks in the European seas are in bad conditions.\nThe reformed common fisheries policy, an agreement originated in 1983, has since undergone two big reforms. Now it needs to be reviewed to meet the workers’ demands better, but also the consumers’ needs. The European objectives are, according to the Irish minister of agriculture, to « maintain the sector, to enforce a better management of stocks whilst targeting jobs creation.\nVote at the EU parliament is due after the February, 5th debates at the commission. The final agreement is in turn scheduled for next june.\nIs the reformed common fisheries policy ready to take a drastic environmental shift?'

http://www.thebrusselsbusiness.eu/

No discards - a run down of today's conversations on Twitter

Did you know?

ENGOs invested more than 70 millions US$ in direct lobbying - in Europe!

On the surface, lobbying would appear to be a fair and necessary means to garner facts, data and opinion from the key players and stakeholders in any given arena. 

The tweets below are just a few of those relating to reactions from around Europe in the wake of the historic EU Fisheries Council ending discards following a huge media campaign in which the UK played a significant role - largely through the public interest/awareness of Hugh Fearnely-Whittingstall's TV Fish Fight campaign. 

How much weight has been given solely to environmental factors alone?

How can we be sure that the NGOs and other lobbyists - the bigger global ones funded to the tune of millions of pounds/dollars by 'blue charities' are acting in the interests of all?

Keep the question simple: Should the reformed Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) be primarily focussed upon environmental factors?

The fishmeal plants are happy it seems!

Yan Giron ‏@PecheFraiche

@OrfordFishermen Sorry, this is a rhetoric tool called#wildernesshasnosocialcost. combined to #DavidvsGoliath well known from strategists

1. OrfordFishermen ‏@OrfordFishermen

   @pechefraiche Hands on experience shows that short soak times & light gear results in better quality & lower mortality http://ow.ly/i/1vq5u 

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2. 45mOrfordFishermen ‏@OrfordFishermen

   @PecheFraiche Low mortality rates for discards in selective inshore fishing. Careful husbandry of the sea #supportsustainablefishing

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3. 3hOrfordFishermen ‏@OrfordFishermen

   Who cares more for the small fishers? #NFFO or #NUTFA@GreenpeaceUK investigation is worrying for sustainable fishing.

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4. 3hOrfordFishermen ‏@OrfordFishermen

   Why not publish details @NFFO_UK RT @josh__atkins: And more here from Fish News EU http://www.fishnewseu.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=9826:nffo-under-fire&catid=44:uk&Itemid=55 … #NFFO

Yan Giron ‏@PecheFraiche

get rid off lobbying !!! and do not forget latest vote on fishery in EPhttp://brusselsbusiness.arte.tv/fr/film 

Yan Giron ‏@PecheFraiche

@JorisLohman @capecffa and sorry, but 'asking my MEP' is a widely used tool as for equiv new media-bashing especially with social media ;-)

Yan Giron ‏@PecheFraiche

@JorisLohman @capecffa can you tell me who finances with only thishttp://ec.europa.eu/transparencyregister/public/consultation/displaylobbyist.do?id=90055486370-86 … lobbying needs real transparency

Joris Lohman ‏@JorisLohman

@capecffa @PecheFraiche if it's lobbying, it is a tool that is widely used in Brussels. Also, I do not promote my view points... 1/2

Yan Giron ‏@PecheFraiche

@capecffa @JorisLohman sorry Joris, I was talking about lobbying in fisheries funded by a little hand of US foundations read report in FR ;)

Yan Giron ‏@PecheFraiche

@capecffa @JorisLohman sorry Joris, I was talking about lobbying in fisheries funded by a little hand of US foundations read report in FR ;)

Yan Giron ‏@PecheFraiche

Lobbyists fire now turning direction to Fishery Ministers media-bashing #bebrave @rbenyon #poll_is_the_only_democracyhttp://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/georgemonbiot/2013/feb/11/eu-fishing-discards-ban-richard-benyon?CMP=twt_gu …

Brian Buchan ‏@LapwingPD972

@fish2fork great cfpreform but tell me what do we do with all the fish we catch and are forbidden to land,no quota or no licence etc..??

NFFO ‏@NFFO_UK

Committee chair & fisherman @nedclark3: "We have the interests of the home fisherman at the heart of everything we do."http://www.nffo.org.uk/news/fishing_fact_fishing_fiction_2013.html …

Ken Cassells Ltd ‏@craig_cassells

@buddingrose418 @lucashollweg Stick to peeling tatties and cooking fish and don't get involved with quota issues that you know nowt about

Jurie Post SWNM @JuriePost 

@ 

@pechefraiche @salmoskius Discardsban is Going back to the old days of industrial Fishing = Cheap joke sustainable EU Fishing

NFFO ‏@NFFO_UK

@GreenpeaceUK RT @nedclark3 2 new members join NFFO today in North East.Small scale inshore fishermen.Thx for yr support.More intend to join

Brian Buchan ‏@LapwingPD972

@chazbruce69 @seafishuk Chaz they will start advertising,,Norwegian and icelandic fish though,,,they pay 75% of the seafish levy not us!!

Yan Giron ‏@PecheFraiche

no discard, cheap supply for fishmeal, full 100% exploitation of marine protein via @Salmoskius http://is.gd/IFFOdiscards  IFFO welcomes EP vote

Bertrand Charron ‏@Salmoskius

Fishmeal & fish oil industry/IFFO welcomes EP vote; Potential for use of fish #discards & by-products http://is.gd/IFFOdiscards  #CFPreform

Emma McLaren ‏@askemmafish

We can reverse overfishing & reduce #IUU if "bold action is taken & sustained" @damanaki Looking towards @GOceanC for leadership.#GOceanC

Yan Giron ‏@PecheFraiche

When I want to influence a MEP, I go to the POLL - I don't go to the poll to elect an ENGO #fake #democracy financed by who?@JorisLohman

Jurie Post SWNM ‏@JuriePost

@PecheFraiche @salmoskius Discardsban is Going back to the old days of industrial Fishing = Cheap joke sustainable EU Fishing

 Retweeted by Yan Giron

Yan Giron ‏@PecheFraiche

Better look in this direction: the red gunnard catches are not monitored by EU quotas and catches have fallen down - 70%@productschapvis

crystalsea ‏@Crystalseass118

@NFFO_UK @GreenpeaceUK Greenpeace has given up on meanigful fights, they make money dividing fishing communities now, is this charity

PECH Committee Press ‏@EP_Fisheries

Agenda for next PECH committee meeting 18-19 Feb now online:http://ow.ly/hBdbs  - with Commissioner Damanaki (19 Feb)

PECH Committee Press ‏@EP_Fisheries

Text of #CFPreform as adopted on #FEB6 (provisional version):http://ow.ly/hBekd