In the justification for the amendments, a bleak picture of European fisheries is painted. Overfishing, overcapacity, wasteful discarding, and the declining productivity of our shared resource are identified as needing urgent reform.

Davies identifies the key elements of the reform as helping fish stocks to recover to levels beyond the maximum sustainable yield (MSY), largely through the establishment of long-term management plans. The proposed discard ban, quotas set firmly on scientific advice adhering to the precautionary approach, higher standards of conduct on vessels fishing in external waters and sustainable aquaculture are also important elements in meeting this goal.

In his report, Davies stresses the need for the small-scale fleet and low impact fishing practices to be given greater opportunity to fish as they lessen the impact on the marine environment. For TFCs, an extensive list of addendums are recommended in the amendments so as to narrow the scope on which they can be applied and ensure that fishing opportunities remain public property.

Given the fear that long-term management plans may be backlogged due to EU bureaucracy and complications over which institutions are responsible for their legislation under co-decision, it is welcome that amendments state that all stocks in EU waters be covered under such plans by 2015. However, it remains to be seen whether including this date in the Basic Regulation would lead to their implementation in this timeframe.

Moreover, recommendations for the discard ban to cover all species in time was a welcome improvement on the Commission proposals, which only cover commercial species covered by quota. Further sanctions for non-compliant vessels and amendments that prevent vessels which have broken the rules from accessing EU funds were also positive developments.

The deadline for MEPs that are members of ENVI to add amendments is March 6^th and the vote will take place on April 25^th.

Overcapacity has long been recognised as a key failing of the CFP and the correlation between overcapacity and declining fish stocks has for too long proved an intractable problem for EU managers. Despite scrapping schemes, the catching capacity of the EU fleet has continued to grow by 3% per year for the past decade, largely due to technological creep. The continuous modernisation of existing vessels has meant that the fleet is becoming ever more efficient in its ability to catch fish. This new legislation aims to ensure the sustainable exploitation of the marine environment.

One long-standing problem which the NGO paper highlights is the difficulties in assessing the catching capacity of the fleet because of the way in which the actual engine power available on board can change. The under-declaration of engine power was highlighted in a Commission non-paper from 2006. Engines can be legally certified with a power much lower than they can use, due to changes made in the fuel injection settings. This has meant that “the real power installed on board is almost impossible to control.” This is an issue which needs to be resolved, and ending engine subsidies are a positive precautionary management tool.

By gathering UK celebrities and photographing them naked in loving embraces with all sorts of fish and other marine animals, the message becomes simpler to connect to: lets restore the decimating fish stocks in our seas and oceans in the European Union and globally, by giving fish some love. For inspiration on how to love your fish more, please have a look at the linked information below.

Check out the OCEAN2012 website photo gallery, they have with their own fish (a fully grown cod) to love too. Here is more on the ‘Fish Love’ initiative.

In order to bring fish stocks back to sustainable levels, the Commission proposals seek to manage fish stocks at or beyond MSY by 2015, in line with the EU’s international commitments. Moreover, support for small-scale fisheries, a discard ban for commercial stocks and multiannual plans are cornerstones of their plans.

Plans for transferable fishing concessions (TFCs), which have been described as the privatisation of the oceans, as well as large new subsidies to increase the capacity of the European aquaculture industry are amongst the more controversial policies being pursued by the Commission.

In conjunction with the report, a short film entitled “catching Nemo” investigating IUU and overfishing in Thai waters to feed the ever-growing tiger prawn farming business has been produced. Bottom trawling of coral reefs and mangrove destruction are direct effects of this unregulated industry. Lower trophic level species have been fished out to feed the shellfish, and this has led to degraded ecosystems with less productive fisheries. By contrast, Burma, which has an undeveloped fishing industry and is not engaged in exporting large quantities of tiger prawns still has stable fish stocks in place. In response to the publication, Pizza Hut will no longer sell tiger prawns at any of its Swedish outlets.

At the launch of the report, Eskil Erlandsson, the Swedish Minster for Rural Affairs, agreed that there were ethical questions surrounding the import of fish products which erode the sustainability of fishing in less wealthy nations. Erlandsson also supported the European Parliament’s decision to revoke the fisheries partnership agreement with Morocco on ethical grounds. However, he also stated that Sweden should seek to expand its aquaculture industry, but produce high quality products that were in line with best practice.

Åsa Romson, his counterpart from the Green Party, went one step further and argued that Sweden should ban imports of tiger prawns. She also said that regulations surrounding fishmeal and fodder production were a gap in the CFP reform which needed to be addressed.

While speakers at the event were in agreement that the consumption of tiger prawns was not ethical considering how the supply chain delivers the product to Sweden, a significant part of the discussions focused on farmed Norwegian salmon. The average Swede (including children) consumes 3.5 kg per year, 90% of which is imported from Norway. Given that for each kilo of farmed salmon, between 2-5 kg of fish are used as feed, it has been identified as an inefficient source of protein which further depletes fish stocks. As yet none of the politicians thought that immediate legislative measures were required to deal with these problems, the unresolved question of unsustainable consumption practices remains.

The December TACs were sharply criticised by environmental organisations for ignoring scientific advice and for not following the North Sea long-term management plan for herring. The latter case was particularly disappointing as several of the Member States who pushed for the doubling of the herring quota have also emphasised the need for multiannual plans to become a cornerstone of the reformed CFP.

For the 75 stocks in EU waters, the Council followed scientific advice in only 14 cases. Moreover, the Commission had proposed mandatory cuts of either 15% or 25% for the 44 data poor stocks for which there is an insufficient scientific basis to make TAC assessments. However, the Council only followed these proposals on 4 occasions.

What is surprising is that within the EFF programme for 2007-2013 Member States have not used all the available funding for data collection. During this period, Member States have been underspending by 20% on data collection while at the same time scientific advice is missing for 2/3 of the EU total allowable catch and Member States have failed to comply with the data collection framework regulation.

There is widespread agreement that scientific advice needs to be the basis for the setting of fishing quotas. Therefore, it is also vital that Member States fulfil their responsibilities to ensure that the best quality of advice is available to Ministers. At the moment this is clearly not happening for the majority of EU fish stocks.

Five years ago this month, the U.S entered into law the setting of annual science-based catch limits, as part of their efforts to end overfishing. This has led to considerable improvements – since 2000 23 U.S fish stocks have been declared rebuilt. With the CFP reform proposals on the table not containing any similar obligations for the setting of EU fishing limits despite the current depleted state of EU fish stocks, there are good reasons for looking across the Atlantic to see how fish stocks can be rebuilt.

The results of the negotiations were neither consistent with following scientific advice nor with ensuring long-term sustainability of EU fisheries. According to CFP Reform Watch, the Council increased the total allowable catches (TACs) in 79% of the EU water stocks when compared to the Commission Proposals, which have been set in line with scientific advice for most stocks.  Seas at Risk reports, the Council followed the Commission proposal for only 14 EU fish stocks out of 75.  It has already been determined that MSY can be reached by 2015 (more specifically, the fishing mortality target, Fmsy), yet true commitment has yet to emerge for making reductions in catch levels in line with scientific advice.

It should be highlighted that prior to the Fisheries Council meeting, the Commission and Norway has agreed that the TAC for North Sea herring should be increased by more than 100% thereby abandoning the rule stipulated by the long-term management plan for the stock, where only a maximum of 15% increase in TAC should be allowed.

In the end however, the Fisheries Ministers went along with this proposal, in effect breaking the rules of the long-term management plan. This has set a very dangerous precedent for other stocks covered by long-term management plans (i.e.: cod). At a press conference Commissioner Damanaki said that Fisheries Ministers were ‘successful in keeping the long term management plans’ and agreed to  ‘implement (them) in good cooperation’. Clearly this has not been the case for the North Sea herring.

Striking a balance between the need of the fisheries sector and the conservation of stocks, were deemed the most important issues at this Fisheries Council session according to the Polish Undersecretary of State of Agriculture, Tadeusz Nalewajk. Ironically, decisions relating to our limited fisheries resources are being made frivolously by setting fishing limits at unsustainable levels to guarantee jobs for fishermen.  With such short-sighted perspective for most stocks today, the prognoses for ensuring fishermen have something to fish out, and consumers have fish to eat, does not look promising.

“Ministers remain under the illusion that overfishing will somehow save jobs. This disregard for scientific advice and for international commitments will undermine the future of the fishing industry and does not bode well for the ongoing reform of the Common Fisheries Policy”, said Dr. Monica Verbeek, Executive Director of Seas At Risk (SAR),  in a press release.

While Maria Damanaki claims a ‘very good compromise’ has been reached, and that ‘there is a better climate referring to good cooperation, control and compliance’ (press conference), more ambitious decisions need to be taken by the Council next year, which are in line with scientific advice and ensure long-term sustainability of our fish stocks.

The Commission proposed a reduction in Total Allowable Catches (TACs) for the majority of the 83 EU stocks. An increase for only 9 stocks was proposed, which included certain stocks of cod, anglerfish, herring, haddock, hake, sole, megrim and Norway lobster.

For a large number of stocks, advice on how to achieve MSY is still not available, and this is of concern. This year, the Commission took a new line in addressing data poor stocks, offering a more precautionary approach. Although not consistently applied in the tabled proposals, this year the Commission has chosen to propose precautionary fishing opportunities for many data poor stocks, resulting in cuts in TACs for a number of species such as cod, anglerfish, megrim, sprat and whiting–n total, the Commission has proposed 44 mandatory cuts of either 15% or 25%. Although further distinctions need to be made between different categories, no increases in TACs should be agreed for any of the data poor stocks.

If the recommendations are adhered to during the political quota haggle on Thursday, it will take the EU a bit closer to more sustainable fisheries and attainment of international targets. However, given that the Council rejected a mandatory cut for Baltic plaice at the October Council, it seems likely that solving the issues surrounding data poor stocks will be avoided.

In terms of specific fisheries, the situation for several cod stocks in the West of Scotland, the Irish Sea and Kattegat is considered to be especially critical. The Commission has adhered to scientific advice—proposing a zero TAC—regarding  these stocks since management has not been successful and recent cuts in quotas have been insufficient as stocks still fail to recover.

However, the Commission did not follow the scientific advice of zero catch for some other stocks, such as Norway lobster in the Iberian Peninsula and haddock in the Faeroe grounds. For the latter, an increase in TAC is even proposed as it is jointly managed together with haddock in the west of Scotland– a stock which is doing comparatively well. This is mainly due to the fact that large EU fisheries management areas need to be aligned with the ICES fishing areas or functional units, in order to enable better application of scientific information to fisheries management.

The Ministers at the council meeting will also decide on the 2012 fishing opportunities for certain fish stocks subject to international agreements. It should be highlighted that the Commission and Norway has agreed that the TAC for North Sea herring should be increased by 139%, thereby abandoning the rule stipulated by the long-term management plan for the stock—a maximum increase of 15% in TAC should be allowed.

In response to the request, ICES stated that the 15% constraint should not be abandoned as it provides for a similar or better stability in annual TACs than any other harvest control rule option. It should be emphasized that even if the stock shows positive trends in the number of individuals, there are other concerns such as the stock’s low state of productivity. We recommend therefore, that the management plan, should be followed until it has been fully revised, or until the stock is included in a multi-species plan.

The agreement had been strongly criticised by the fisheries committee rapporteur Carl Haglund, and both the budget and development committees voted against the extension. However, the fisheries committee, which hasseveral MEPs noted for representing vested interests from the large-scale industrial fishing fleet, had supported the extension by 12 votes to 8.

Several MEPs had written an op-ed in the European Voice prior to the vote, calling for this rejection on financial, environmental and legal grounds. Moreover, an independent evaluation of the agreement concluded that the agreement has been a failure and benefits the EU less than any other FPA.

After the plenary rejected the deal, Christofer Fjellner, a Swedish MEP from the EPP group, said he voted against the deal to “stop the tax-subsidised overfishing and… against the Moroccan occupation of Western Sahara”. Åsa Westlund, a Swedish MEP from S&D stated that this was a triumph for international law and the people of Western Sahara.

These findings were welcomed by Commissioner Damanaki, who agreed with their comments regarding overcapacity and stated that a system of TFCs with adequate safeguards to prevent quota concentration would help to solve this endemic problem. She also argued that the proposed EMFF should stop financing the scrapping of vessels while providing funds for projects that will adapt capacity toward more sustainable ends.

Decommissioning programmes were condemned in the ECA report as a waste of resources given that the alignment between fishing capacity and fishing opportunities has been so poorly matched. Despite vast sums being used to remove vessels from the fleet, vessel modernisation being also subsidised has in fact meant that taxpayers’ have paid to both remove some modernise other vessels. This has left the European fleet bloated, uncompetitive and subsidy dependent.

Moreover, the ECA report highlights the outdated methods of defining fishing capacity that member states have applied, namely kW and GT. These no longer reflect the ability of fishing vessels to catch fish and run contrary to the Commission guidelines on how to measure fishing capacity and also feature in the annual report from the Commission to the European Parliament. Better evaluation standards which gauge the efficiency of vessels would better enable fishing opportunities to be matched by catching capacity.

The entrenched failure to deal with overcapacity has been one of the hallmarks of the CFP. However, recent proposals by the Commission on EMFF funding, which contain provisions for modernisation but neglect to include mandatory capacity ceilings are unlikely to solve the problem.