CFP talks update

Excellent overview and update following the CFP talks that ended at 4.20 am this morning from those champions of EU observations at 

Council adopts general approach on CFP

2012-06-13, 07:13 | Updated: 2012-06-13, 14:08

The Council early on Wednesday morning adopted a ‘general approach’ on the Common Fisheries Policy. France welcomes the delay of a discard ban, while greens and liberals criticise the delay of ending overfishing. (Article will be updated during the day.)

Many gaps in discard ban
[Update 11:33] Despite initial claims that an agreement had been reached on a discard ban, the agreement is just provisional and has many loopholes. Important parts of the text on discards are still in [square brackets], and a special group in Council will deal with the details at a later stage, a presidency official said. The Council has agreed on having one date for the main species and a later date for bycatch species. For the North Sea, the discard ban is proposed to be gradually introduced between 2015 and 2018. The French minister Frédéric Cuvillier welcomed that the text includes the principle of a minimal percentage of allowed discards as well as increased quotas to include the otherwise discarded fish.

MSY by 2020
[Update 9:55] A presidency official said that on maximum sustainable yield (MSY) nothing has changed compared to last week’s draft text. That means that Council wants to achieve MSY exploitation rates “where possible” 2015 and 2020 for all stocks.

Comments & reactions – [Updated 14:01]
In a press release the French fisheries minister, Frédéric Cuvillier, welcomes that there is no immediate introduction of a discard ban, and that the discard ban won’t be in place until 2018 or 2019 depending on the area. The French minister also welcomes that the text includes the principle of a minimal percentage of allowed discards as well as increased quotas to include the otherwise discarded fish.

The Greens/EFA group in the European Parliament issued a press release, saying that by delaying the end to overfishing ministers are prescribing the continuation of a fisheries industry based on overfishing and resulting unprofitability.

Chris Davies, a liberal UK MEP and secretary of the cross-party ‘Fish for the Future’ group in the European Parliament, said in a statement, “For governments to say that we should stop overfishing but perhaps not for another eight years is little short of madness.”

Markus Knigge, advisor to Ocean2012, issued a statement in which he said, “We are now looking to the European Parliament to support a Common Fisheries Policy reform that delivers a healthy marine environment and viable fisheries dependent communities.”

The Swedish fisheries minister, Eskil Erlandsson, said he did not support the general approach. One of the reasons was that ministers could not agree on all issues regarding a discard ban.

Commissioner Maria Damanaki tweeted: “It is a fact that the Commission proposal for CFP reform is more ambitious than the [Council] text we have in front of us now.”

Comments by Oceana, Greenpeace, WWF, The Black Fish, ClientEarth.

Council press release and video
After 18 hours of negotiations, at 4:20 in the morning, Danish fisheries minister and Council president Mette Gjerskov tweeted that Council had reached a general approach on discard and MSY “which brings us closer to a radically sustainable reform.”

The press conference, held at 4:30, can be watched here.

Two press releases have been issued, one by the Council, and one by the Danish Presidency. The Council press release says that MSY “where possible” means “when scientific advice on the stocks are available”, but there is no such definition made in the actual text of the general approach.

Video, blog & photos from the meeting:
Parts of the Council discussions were public. Ronny Patz wrote a live blog both from the open sessions both in the morning and in the night. and the video can be seen on the Council’s website.Photos from the meeting.


Courtesy of CFP Reform Watch EU

Action at CFP talks - Will they discard the discards ban?

Watch and listen to the the CFP debate in yesterday's Fisheries Council meeting in Brussels. 


Fisheries ministers in the European Union have been entrusted to work with the European Parliament to chart a new path for EU fisheries management that breaks with decades of short-sighted overexploitation of our seas and recovers fish populations to levels that can be fished sustainably. This ongoing reform of the EU’s Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) will probably be the last chance to stop the collapse of European fish populations and the inevitable demise of the EU fishing sector. Yet, in recent weeks, horse-trading to accommodate all European countries and their fishing industries has resulted in an agreement amongst ministers that is astonishingly irresponsible. If this backroom deal were adopted unchanged, it would sanction continued overfishing by European fishermen for another decade, by which time most of the industry will have fished itself out of business. 


Fisheries  1 UK at 2m 20s


Fisheries  2




Over at CFP Reform Watch they posted an excellent article prior to the meeting - reproduced here in full:

Discard ban dividing issue in Council negotiations

2012-06-04, 17:23 | Updated: 2012-06-11, 15:53

The Council is set to adopt a common position on the fisheries reform on 12 June. The most difficult issue that remains to be solved is the discard ban.

Member state representatives in Brussels are busy negotiating a compromise text with draft amendments to the basic regulation in the CFP reform. The goal is to adopt a so-called ‘General approach’, which outlines the Council’s position on the basic regulation.

Common positions have been reached on most issues during discussions at the level of government officials, but the final decisions on some details will be made by Ministers at their meeting on 12 June.

Discard ban – outstanding issue
Several sources with insight in the Council negotiations say that the discard ban is the most difficult issue that remains to be solved.

In particular member states disagree on the dates for a discard ban in the different fisheries, and on several details about how to handle the bycatch that cannot be avoided even with more selective gear.

Ending overfishing 2020
When it comes to ending overfishing – i.e. reaching catch levels compatible with the maximum sustainable yield (MSY) – a majority of member states at this point are in favour of the compromise date 2020.

A draft compromise document dated 29 May 2012, seen by CFP reform watch, says that the CFP shall aim to restore and maintain fish stocks of harvested species “at least at levels which can produce the maximum sustainable yield. This exploitation rate shall be achieved by 2015, where possible, and by 2020 for all stocks at the latest.”

Some member states have defended the Commission’s proposal, which is that the EU shall aim for stock levels above those that can produce MSY by 2015, while a majority of member states highlight the difficulties of reaching MSY in mixed fisheries and want to set a later date.

Political message to the Parliament
A ‘General approach‘ is not a legally binding document, so there is no obligation for the Council to solve all the details at this stage. The purpose of the General approach is rather to send a political message from the Council to the European Parliament, which will vote on the basic regulation in November.

With some outstanding issues remaining to be solved, the meeting on 12 June will most likely go on until late in the night. Ministers are likely to reach an agreement, but there is nothing that obliges them to do so. It is possible, however unlikely, that the adoption of the General approach is postponed.

In the morning of 13 June, we will know the outcome.

FIFTY Greenpeace activists today obstructed access to the Council building in Luxembourg to urge EU ministers to re-think a damaging backroom deal. The agreement between ministers could derail any chance of achieving worthwhile improvements to EU fishing rules under a once-in-a-decade reform, warned Greenpeace. Activists locked themselves to heavy obstacles, including fishing buoys and an oversized fish bone made of steel. Some held banners reading “EU ministers, stop overfishing”, while others distributed a five-point-plan for reform. 


The five-point-plan calls for actions that must be taken by EU governments to recover fish stocks and achieve sustainable fishing. Greenpeace oceans campaigner Thilo Maack said: “Ministers are acting irresponsibly, endangering the future of our seas. The deal would allow a greedy industry to continue overfishing for the next decade, bank-rolled by millions in EU subsidies. We cannot allow this to happen and this is why we want ministers to find the guts to stop destructive fishing and reward those who fish responsibly.” 


A big reason for the action taken by activists was generated partly by this news: In a surprising procedural move by the Danish EU presidency, the EU fisheries Council is due to agree a “general approach” to the reform of the Common Fisheries Policy. This agreement could lock the negotiating mandate of European ministers even before they have consulted with the European Parliament, which is also in the process of reviewing plans to change EU fishing rules. Under EU treaty rules, the Parliament, the only elected EU body, must express its position ahead of the Council. 


Story courtesy of FishnewsEU



Outline of the Greenpeace Five-point-plan:


 1. RECOVER… … fish stocks to levels that can sustain catches without risk of depletion by 2015 and set catch limits no higher than scientists advise. The EU agreed jointly with many other nations at the 2002 Summit for Sustainable Development to recover fish stocks to levels that can support sustainable catches by 2015. In a reckless departure from this goal, EU fisheries ministers merely plan to progressively reduce the amount of fish that will be caught. Overfishing would be allowed to continue until 2020. 

2. REFORM… … requires a transition towards sustainable and low-impact fishing practices, which can be done by allocating quotas and permits preferentially to those fishermen that cause the least environmental damage and provide the biggest social benefits. Rather than rewarding sustainable, low-impact fishermen with priority access to fishing quotas and permits, ministers look set to continue favouring short term economic gains over long-term sustainability and employment. This will disadvantage many of the small-scale and coastal fishermen that employ more selective and less destructive gears. 

3. REDUCE… … fishing power to sustainable levels, by scrapping those vessels that contribute most to stock depletion and damage the marine environment. Despite acknowledging that action plans are needed to reduce excessive fleet capacity, ministers seem unwilling to set themselves a deadline to eliminate overcapacity. Commitments should be made to target action at those parts of the fleet that contribute most to overfishing and cause the largest damage. 


4. PROTECT… … the marine environment, by minimising impacts from fishing on marine species and habitats. Ministers pay lip service to implementing an ‘ecosystem approach’ to fisheries management, which would require, for example, multi-species management plans and more information on spatial and seasonal catch patterns. To the contrary, they seem eager to push environmental considerations down to the bottom of their list. Even a ban on discards is riddled with loopholes. 

5. POLICE… … compliance and make the allocation of quotas and subsidies conditional on meeting the above requirements. Ministers are weak on sanctions, but big on promises to promote the interests of the fishing and aquaculture industry. It seems they don't care about their obligation to secure healthy fish stocks. For further questions please contact Greenpeace oceans campaigner Thilo Maack: thilo.maack@greenpeace.org

Worth following is this live blogging site courtesy of Ron Patz from the Ideas on Europe web site. Setting the context for the meeting RP included this post prior to Monday's meeting:

On Tuesday, the EU Council on Fisheries meets in Luxembourg to discuss its general approach for the reform of the Common Fisheries Policy (agenda, Council background note, Presidency progress report).

CFP Reform Watch has already covered the major issues earlier this week, highlighting division in the Council. Now, a document just published by the Council summarises all the open issues – and this doesn’t look like the general approach will be meaningful in any way.

In short, disagreement is still there for almost all major issues of the reform:

• How to define Commission powers in the fisheries policy?
• What measures are needed to reach Maximum Sustainable Yield, i.e. fishing so that ensures the long-term survival of fish, until 2015 or 2020?
• Where and how to implement a discard ban, that is a ban on throwing already caught fish over board?
• How to handle undersized fish?
• Whether to supervise fisherman with camera equipment?
• How exactly to manage the fisheries resources in multiannual plans?
• How to make decision-making more regional?
• Whether at at all to introduce transferable fishing concessions (TFCs), i.e. long term access rights that can be traded within or between countries?
• Should there be even more advisory councils (currently there are seven), that is stakeholder bodies used to consult industry and the wider civil society in EU fisheries policy?

Basically, this list of open issues looks like the full Common Fisheries Policy. The original Commission proposal is 11 months old, and I wonder whether the Council on Tuesday will actually get to a general approach.

And if they do, will it be worth anything given that the European Parliament only plans to vote in first reading in November? That is still a long time and lots of room for ministers to change minds

The BBC posted a good overview of how consumption and catching of fish have changed since the heyday of fishing when the world's biggest fishing port, Grimsby was home to over 600 vessels in the 1950s.

Post CFP day - in between showers

The tug, Hellas is still at anchor in the Bay......

time to harry a stranger on the shore

as the local gulls take exception to the heron on Tolcarne rocks......

empty quays are a sign of good weather and neap tides......

and someone with all the right paperwork is looking for a berth......

with only inshore boats putting landing ashore it's all quality on the market floor this morning as the dory season begins to show signs of starting......

and not forgetting the staple diet of a handful of dedicated punt men like the Boy Dylan......

of course there are always a couple of boats between trips......

and a gaggle of visiting yellow-wellies.......

while the spotlight seems to be shining on the gaps......

one of the smallest boats to grace the slip, the St Ives catamaran, Dignity gets a scrub and paint below the waterline......

work in progress......

as another shower passes over the Mount.....

Newlyn gets a dose of sunshine......

time to go.

Breton fishing initiatives

Off the north coast of Brittany, here's an example of how for twenty years working on an informal basis, different fishing groups have mutually agreed to work together in a specific area for the benefit of all.




Chart A

Open publication

Chart B

Open publication

Crucial CFP talks in Brussels today.

Fishermen and fisheries leaders from all over the UK are willing the EU to come up with a radical and workable way forward in the wake of today's crucial Fisheries Council CFP meeting in Brussels.

LETTER FROM RICHARD BENYON:

We all know that the current Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) is broken and no one wants to see it continue to erode the livelihoods of our fishermen and blight the marine environment. I am committed to going into this week’s important negotiations with a view to us achieving our objectives of sustainable fish stocks, a prosperous fishing industry and a healthy marine environment. We’ve come a long way since the detailed negotiations began in September 2011 and this week’s Fisheries Council provides a clear opportunity to continue pushing the reform in the direction we need. This will not be easy – the ambitions that I hold are not shared by all – but I will be working hard to deliver as much as I possibly can. We will continue to press for robust commitments to ensure we can eliminate discards quickly, reflecting the strength of feeling among the British public that we need to tackle this terrible waste. I’ve set out the objectives we are fighting for in these negotiations, but as one of 27 participants round the table I can’t pre-empt the outcome, but what I can do is make clear the UK will not shy away from these objectives and will continue to fight for a fairer deal for UK fishermen and the marine environment.

Richard Benyon UK Fisheries Minister

These days the focus of attention for the majority of Uk fishermen - ie those who would qualify for membership of the Under 10metres association NUTFA - has to be the derisory quota system that now operates in favour of the bigger vessels who are managed via their producer organisations - like the CFPO in the south west.

In the wake of the recent Fishermen's Friend event held in Plymouth last weekend, Jerry Percy, chief executive of the New Under Ten Fishermen's Association, admitted there had been concerns about teaming up with Greenpeace. But he said both sides had spent "30 years throwing stones at each other", which had got them nowhere.
Mr Percy said quotas had to "reward" those fishermen who "increased their sustainability and reduce their impact" and not be based on "historic rights". They had wrongly become "commodities to be bought and sold".
He said reform of the EU's CFP – which is due later this year – represented the "last chance" for change for decades.

Richard Lockhead is quoted saying, "Our fishermen and our fishing communities are counting on the next CFP to show common sense. They are counting on the Council to acknowledge the great work that is taking place to conserve fish stocks and increase sustainability. And they are counting on the support of the whole of Scotland as we continue to fight to protect their livelihoods and their communities.”

Full coverage of the events leading up to the meeting in yesterday's Guardian.

Orinico Flo St Mary's lifeboat tow update

These days the AIS shows just how GPS linked in with an autopilot allows vessels to reciprocate a course exactly - even a tow!

With the islands now in sight, the St Mary's lifeboat The Whiteheads with the dismasted yacht, Orinco Flo is nearing the end of her 150 mile tow job.


The Cornish owned yacht left Antigua back in May and was due back in Cornwall some time ago. The yacht's owner had contacted Falmouth Coastguard on the 27th May concerned that the vessel was overdue. 


With the VHF radio now limited in range, a passing 246m tanker, Eagle Turin was the last boat to be in contact with the yacht and had provided food, though the skipper declined any assistance deciding to continue on passage with a jury rigged sail. 


After Falmouth Coastguard involved an SAR helicopter from RNAS Culdrose the skipper was contacted again and he agreed to accept a tow form the St Mary's lifeboat which was duly despatched yesterday evening.

This AIS screenshot from VesselTracker AIS show both the lifeboat and the Orinoco Flo now berthed alongside the quay at St Marys after the 14 hour round trip tow.

Birthday Boy!

Newlyn stalwart - the man who made more chips than Jewels - and the man with these initials' birthday today!