Last year, the European Commission came forward with a proposal to protect vulnerable ecosystems in the high seas from bottom-trawling as well as a consultation paper on a Community Plan of Action for Sharks. According to European environmental organisations, both are steps in the right direction but do not go far enough to create effective protection for vulnerable ecosystems and species.
Several of the environmental NGOs active in the EU-level consultation body ACFA (Advisory Council for Fisheries and Aquaculture) stand behind position papers on protection of vulnerable deep sea ecosystems and sharks released earlier this week in order to influence the continuing debate.
The undersigning NGOs consider the proposal for a Council Regulation on the protection of vulnerable marine ecosystems in the high seas from the adverse impacts of bottom fishing gears (COM(2007)605) to be a necessary first step in the implementation of United Nations’ General Assembly (UNGA) Resolution 61/105 agreed in December 2006. The proposal does contain some necessary tools and criteria, such as prior assessments of planned fishing grounds, precautionary criteria, use of area closures, introduction of a depth limit and use of observer schemes. It falls short, however, of protecting many vulnerable deep-sea ecosystems, as it only covers areas of the high seas not currently under management of a Regional Fisheries Management Organisation (or one underway). It also leaves much room for interpretation by the Member States when it comes to implementation.
A Community Plan of Action (CPOA) for sharks is long overdue. The European Union pledged to develop one already in 1999, when the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organisation International Plan of Action (IPOA) for the Conservation and Management of Sharks was adopted. Again, the NGOs consider the consultation paper a necessary first step, and conclude that the Commission’s CPOA consultation document contains the necessary elements for a comprehensive and meaningful action plan.
The position paper highlights that most EU shark fishing is currently unregulated and much of the catch unreported, while the majority of European shark populations are in decline, making a comprehensive plan of action urgently needed. In fact, the IUCN reports that European waters have the highest percentage (greater than 30%) of threatened sharks in the world. The consultation on an EU Action Plan for sharks is ongoing and stakeholders are welcome to submit their comments until 15 February – see link below.