Less fish should be caught in order to save it for future generations, the European Commission said yesterday as it launched radical proposals aimed at changing fishing practices across the EU.
“If the EU continues applying the current fisheries policy, future generations will only be able to see fish in pictures,” Fisheries Commissioner Maria Damanaki said.
The Commission argues that Europe’s fisheries policy is in urgent need of reform as vessels are catching more fish than can be safely reproduced, exhausting individual fish stocks and threatening the marine ecosystem. It is estimated that three quarters of fish stocks are overfished, with the fishing industry experiencing smaller catches and facing an uncertain future.
According to the proposals, by 2015 stocks must be exploited at sustainable levels. This is defined as the highest catch that can be safely taken year after year and which maintains the fish population size at maximum productivity.
There will be clear targets and timeframes to stop overfishing, support measures for small-scale fisheries, improved data collection and strategies to promote sustainable aquaculture.
An “ecosystem approach” will be adopted for all fisheries, with long-term management plans based on the best available scientific advice.
The waste of food resources and the economic losses caused by throwing unwanted fish back into the sea, a practice known as “discarding”, will be phased-out while fishermen will be obliged to land all the fish that they catch.
The EU executive is also suggesting that proper labelling will be introduced so that consumers will be able to get better information on the quality and sustainability of the products they buy.
The reform is expected to come into force from the beginning of 2013. Estimates show that if stocks were exploited in this way, stock sizes would increase by about 70 per cent over the next decade.
Overall catches would increase by around 17 per cent, profit margins could be multiplied by a factor of three, return on investments would be six times higher, and the gross value-added for the catching industry would rise by almost 90 per cent, equal to € 2.7 billion.
Malta is not immune to unsustainable fishing. Though it has a relatively small fishing community which mainly employs traditional methods, some popular fish with Maltese consumers, including bluefin tuna and swordfish, are thought to be close to extinction.
While general policy principles and goals in the management of fisheries will be prescribed from Brussels, member states will have to decide and apply the most appropriate conservation measures.
The proposed policy is still to be approved by member states and the European Parliament.