Online comment and debate surrounds the Fisheries Commitee talks in Brussels

The 2012 EU CFP quota carve up

The final day of EU Committee on Fisheries talks take place to day in Brussels. Latest news would suggest that a modicum of common sense may prevail with moves towards banning discards!

The final session can be watched live starting at 1500 GMT here:

This will be an intense fisheries week in Brussels, with ministers setting next year’s quotas and the Parliament’s Fisheries Committee voting on the most important file in the reform of the Common Fisheries Policy.

EU fisheries ministers will set quotas for the North Sea and Atlantic next year.
The UK fisheries minister, Richard Benyon, described this yearly tradition to the Observer: “It is 48 hours of solid, sweaty negotiations. It is known as a three-shirter session.”

Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) will vote 18 December to put a stop to this tradition.

MEPs will vote on the following proposals: Fishing quotas should be fixed at certain limits under multi-annual plans, instead of having 48-hour negotiations once a year. In case a multi-annual plan is not in place for a fish stock, there will be a default rule forcing ministers to follow scientific advice and set sustainable quotas. More precisely, sustainable quotas would be put in place 2015 in order to rebuild fish stocks tto follow scientific advice and set sustainable quotas. More precisely, sustainable quotas would be put in place 2015 in order to rebuild fish stocks to healthy levels by 2020.

However, the vote is expected to be very tight. There is a division between MEPs who want to rebuild fish stocks on the one side, and MEPs who want to keep the status quo on the other. One member of the Fisheries Committee, UK liberal Chris Davies, tweeted last week: “Counting Heads. Very tight. Maybe one vote in it on rebuilding fish stocks.”

Everybody can follow the voting online on Monday on the Committee website. The rapporteur, Ulrike Rodust (Germany, S&D), has scheduled a press conference 16:30 Tuesday 18 December, which can also be viewed online.

More information: Fisheries Committee meeting 17–18 December 2012

> Meeting documents and agenda
> Watch the meeting live online
> Compromise amendments (replacing some of the more than 2500 original amendments)
> Voting list (209 pages!)

More information: Council meeting 18–20 December 2012

> Meeting documents and agenda available on Council website
> ICES advice, on which the Commission based its proposal for fishing opportunities
> Commission proposal for fishing opportunities in the Atlantic and North Sea 2013
> Commission proposal for fishing opportunities for 2013 for fish stocks under international agreements
> Commission proposal for fishing opportunities for the Black Sea for 2013
> WWF published a report saying that EU ministers over the last nine years on average set quotas 45% higher than the recommended scientific advice (14 December 2012)
> Fishing industry organisations Europêche and Copa-Cogeca wrote a letter imploring ministers not to reduce quota (13 December 2012)

Information courtesy of the CFP Reform Watch web site. 

Overfishing is a solvable environmental challenge for the EU

Ministers should honour their commitment to restore Europe's fisheries by 2015 by making catch reductions this year

From fish and chips after work to smoked salmon at a Christmas party; jellied eels to Stargazy pie: fish is part of our culinary heritage.Overfishing is emptying our seas, ruining once profitable fisheries, and costing us dearly in reduced landings and lost jobs. Crucial decisions to be taken in a few days' time could determine whether or not generations to come will enjoy the dinner-table staples so many of us take for granted.

Tomorrow, on 18 December, UK fisheries minister Richard Benyon, will join his EU counterparts to agree on the 2013 catch limits for European fish. It is an opportunity for ministers to show resolve and set fishing limits that do not exceed scientific advice. Benyon should prove that he has the best interests of the UK's fishing industry at heart by supporting the restoration of Europe's fish stocks.

Also tomorrow the fisheries committee of the European Parliament will vote on reform of the EU's common fisheries policy. Members of the European parliament have the chance to take a stand on decades of chronic overfishing. MEPs, including the influential senior vice-president of the committee, the Scottish Conservative Struan Stevenson, need to lead the EU out of the wilderness of its failed fisheries policy, and hold firm to member states' 2002 international commitment to restore fish stocks to maximum sustainable yield by 2015. Overfishing is a waste of jobs and money, and if Stevenson wants to support the livelihoods of fishers and coastal communities he will need to support fish stock restoration.

In short, these two decisions by ministers and MEPs will be milestones in determining whether we end overfishing in and by the EU and, if we do, by when. With 62% of fish stocks in the Atlantic and 82% of fish stocks in the Mediterranean currently overfished, and catches in the North Sea down from 3.5m tonnes in 1995 to less than 1.5m in 2007, the situation is certainly challenging. But it is not hopeless; overfishing is the most immediately solvable environmental challenge facing the EU. There is the knowledge, experience, tools and public support to stop it. What is needed is the political courage to end 30 years of fisheries management based on short-term interest.

An example for the EU is the United States, where overfishing was made illegal in 2006 under the Magnuson–Stevens Reauthorisation Act. The ministers and MEPs involved in next week's votes need to show the same level of ambition as their US colleagues by setting limits in accordance with scientific advice and by calling for the restoration of fish stocks. Only this will guarantee the long-term profitability of Europe's fisheries and the future viability of our own fishing communities.

Last year, catch limits set by fisheries ministers exceeded scientific advice on average by 41%. In June, the European Commission issued a communication outlining the state of fish stocks, and has proposed fishing limits for 2013. Its assessment revealed that limits based on restoring fish stocks are already starting to deliver results, most notably in the Atlantic, where the rate of overfishing is going down. Cod stocks in the North Sea seem to be slowly recovering from the brink of collapse.

Ministers must honour their commitment to restore Europe's fisheries by 2015 by making the necessary catch reductions this year. Any claims that doing so is impossible in light of the economic crisis are counterintuitive; we cannot afford not to act, in order to make fishing more profitable in the medium term. A recent study by the New Economics Foundation, Jobs Lost at Sea, shows just how much we are losing – in terms of fish, revenue and jobs – by failing to do so. Restoring 43% of stocks in the north-east Atlantic would generate an additional €3.2bn (£2.6bn) a year (more than three times the current EU fisheries subsidy), and support over 100,000 new jobs, including more than 11,000 in the UK. The value of the catch in the UK and other fishing states would more than double, while prices for consumers would go down.

Benyon, Stevenson and their colleagues need to capitalise on growing public support and seize this historic chance. By voting to finally turn the tide on overfishing they would really give us something to celebrate this Christmas.

Story courtesy of Aniol Esteban from today's Guardian newspaper.

Benyon - Quotas 'will have negative effect'

Fisheries minister Richard Benyon MP says if cuts to quotas go ahead, "it will result in more discards".

Through the Gaps - 60 not out!

The decorations have been put up....

and a surprise cake makes its way to the table...

commemorating some key moments...

of some of those times at sea!

Stelissa'a new Newlyn home

Yet another fishing family prepared to invest in the future of fishing, the Newlyn netter, currently sporting her Lorient registration name and numbers...

has arrived in Newlyn.

Fishermen fear ‘one size fits all’ policy on discards

Westcountry fishing leaders warned a trial suggesting more selective fishing could be the key to ditching discards was too small to be representative of the industry.
According to research conducted by the Marine Management Organisation, carefully controlled fishing methods reduced the number of discards to virtually zero.

But Jim Portus, chief executive of the South West Fish Producers Organisation and chairman of the UK Association of Fish Producers, urged caution. He said the trial involved just seven Westcountry boats – an insufficient sample on which to build pillars of the new Common Fisheries Policy currently being hammered out in Brussels.

"This is too small a piece of information on which to base a big piece of legislation," he said. "We need to be very careful before applying this very small trial to a very big fishing industry."

The discard policy, which forces crews to throw away immature fish or species caught when a quota has been reached – regardless of whether the fish is dead or alive – is loathed as wasteful by both fishermen and conservationists.
However, the MMO reported discards of important stocks such as sole, cod, plaice, megrim and anglerfish were drastically reduced in the trials, which involved seven vessels from the Westcountry and 12 from the North Sea.
According to its research, in the Western Channel, a discard rate of 28% of sole caught was reduced to 0.1%, while a discard rate of megrim was reduced from 12% to 1.3%.

The MMO said the methods used could be an alternative way of managing the industry.

The boats taking part were barred from throwing away any of the species in the trials, including those below the minimum size. All had their quota limit raised for the duration of the trial and had to land all fish of these species that they caught, so they all counted against the quota. On-board monitoring equipment, including CCTV, was used to ensure the rules were obeyed.
Mr Portus said: "The results are good and they are worth considering. But what I do not want to see is a 'one size fits all' policy.

"Yes, we can have a trial of seven vessels but the reality is there is a myriad of different fishing vessels and fisheries out there.
"I am really worried that we will be taking a snapshot of a small part of the fishing industry. The results are good for seven vessels, but that does not mean to say they are good for 700 vessels or 7,000 vessels."
Andrew Pillar, fleet manager at Plymouth-based Interfish, which had three boats in the trial, said: "It's important that these trials have involved fishermen from the start to see how practical measures can improve selectivity and reduce discards."

He added: "We want to continue testing this concept with more species to see if it can make a long-term difference."