Fish Summit
London, 24 January 2012
Dear Mr Blanc, Ladies and Gentlemen,
First of all,
let me thank you for what you are doing. This Fish Summit and the other
initiatives that you organise are paramount to engage everybody in the
role, they have to play in using and promoting sustainable fish. And
therefore to support our initiative for reforming the European Common
Fisheries Policy, that I presented last summer.
We share the same goal – promoting sustainability – and the same concerns:
We hear that fish resources are depleted. That fish contains dangerous pollutants. That it is sometimes sold under false labels. And we hear that big amounts of fish are thrown overboard because they were caught by mistake.
The issue of discards that has made more
than 770 thousands citizens across Europe sign a petition to end
discards. Is a top priority in the reform of our policy. If the failure of the Common Fisheries
Policy can be seen somewhere, then it is clearly in the hundreds of
thousands tonnes of food we waste every year, by throwing perfectly good
fish overboard.
Let's look at some figures. According to
the FAO the North East Atlantic has the second highest discard rate in
the world with 1,3 million tonnes of fish thrown overboard every year,
and we are the major culprits here. In the North Sea they estimate that
between 500 000 and 880 000 tonnes of fish are discarded every year. This means we could feed between 200
thousands and 350 thousands of people each year on the food that we
throw away. I don't have to explain to you how morally wrong we are, in
light of such figures in the current economic climate.
Ladies and gentlemen, We have to stop throwing away fish that
is already killed, quota or no quota. I spoke to some of you and I know
your commitment in this particular field. Let me tell you that your work is
particularly important: you contribute to raise consumers' awareness and
you help fishermen, giving value to fish that they would discard. Often we take the
easy road and we blame the fishing industry for discards. But I don't
think it is fair, because let's face it, fishermen follow rules that we have set, on minimum landing sizes and catch composition. So let us be honest and acknowledge, that
discarding is not something the fishing industry has invented out of
mere pleasure. It is, and I hate to say it, the brainchild of EU
legislation. Yes, of course there is also discarding,
because fishermen want to make a profit. But ladies and gentleman, by
and large I have come to see that fishermen are not the drivers of
discards, but we – the policymakers - are.
I am aware of several projects from the
fishing industry to reduce discards. Many of these projects have
delivered concrete results, but I am afraid they are just a drop in the
ocean, when it comes to tackling this problem at the root.
They indeed show that technology to
reduce discards exists. But fishermen are not using it on a wide scale,
because they have to invest in new gear and because they loose part of
the target species. Any fisherman, who uses more selective
gear, puts himself at a competitive disadvantage, relative to others
engaged in same fishery: the only way to have a level playing field here
is to have a discard ban. Moreover, those voluntary projects will
not change consumer's perception that fishing is a wasteful practise.
Retailers are now responding to sustainability concerns. I don't need to
tell you that this perception is gaining ground in Europe. I don't want to have a situation where
fish is left on the shelves of supermarkets, because consumers switch to
other sources of protein. This would be bad for our fishing industry
and bad for the consumers. Fish is rich in Omega 3 and DHA, a fatty acid
that is essential for good brain and heart functions. So we have to
help fish keep its good name. We have to help consumers, so that they
can still buy fish with a good conscience. But it is not just about the
consumers, it is also about good old common sense.
This is why I propose to phase out
discards in all fisheries in a step by step approach. We will accompany
this with better gear selectivity and with proper support for the
industry to implement it. Then we will have to land every fish caught in
the nets. If it is undersized fish, then it goes into fishmeal
production. If it is oversize fish, then the fishermen can sell it for
human consumption. They will keep, of course, the profits from this
sale.
I have not
spoken about the many more facets of the reform of the Common Fisheries
Policy, which are also very important. They would lead us to reach a
sustainable level of exploitation –what we call Maximum Sustainable
Yield– of fish stocks by 2015. They would also lead us to implement the
same fishing rules wherever we fish. In European waters but also
outside Europe, on an international level. I have not told you about the
need to boost aquaculture production in Europe, to avoid being
dependant on imports from other countries. I did not mention the ways I
intend to finance the transition towards sustainability and help
fishermen to achieve economic profitability.
But the time is limited and I believe
that discards is really the core issue. It is symbolic and can mobilize
public opinion. We need you to express your views clearly because this
is the only way to convince everybody that this policy has to be turned
around to become a policy that makes sense.
It is important to not loose the momentum
for change and convince people that they have to choose sustainable
fish for the sake of their health, as well as for taking care of both
the environment and the future of fisheries altogether. But how can
people choose? How do they choose their fish? How do you choose your
fish, ladies and gentlemen? Your choice is key and convincing.
You can show
people, you can show us all, what to choose. That is why today's event
is so key for getting it right. If European citizens are ever more
aware of the need to value sustainability, this is also thanks to the
way that European chefs, restaurants and retailers work. Your can drive the change: eating sustainably means fishing sustainably. But you have already proven to be a key
player in this. The sustainably Fish City initiative in London is a
perfect examples on how you are driving change in the world towards
better and more tasty menus. So help us to keep the momentum and move
forward!