The rapporteur, Chris Davies/ALDE, from the Environment Committee (ENVI) in the European Parliament has published his draft opinion on the Basic Regulation for the CFP reform. A large number of amendments are suggested, with a focus on rebuilding fish stocks and improving management at the EU level.
In the proposals for the European and Maritime Fisheries Fund (EMFF), the Commission has recommended legislation to end subsidies for the replacement and upgrade of vessels engines. A coalition of NGOs has published a position paper supporting the move.
John Rankin, one of the most celebrated fashion photographers in the UK, found a way to give a sexy flare to fisheries. He called it ‘Fish Love’.
During the first BALTFISH Forum under its Finnish Presidency, a thoughtful discussion took place on key areas of the CFP reform. Regionalisation, the proposed discard ban, TFCs and the long-term management plan for salmon were the focus of the meeting. All of the director generals from the eight EU Baltic States participated, along with representatives from other regional actors such as the BS RAC, HELCOM and NGOs.
On 12 January in Sopot, Poland, under a wider WWF Poland project, “Conservation and protection of the Baltic Sea mammals in Poland”, the first stakeholder consultation was held to identify steps towards restoration and protection plans for the harbour porpoise and the grey seal in the Baltic Sea. At the moment there are no coherent plans for protection of either species in the Polish waters.
The Commission recently published a leaflet as well as several non-papers which provide some detail behind their thinking for the CFP reform proposals. They argue that because “our vessels are catching more fish than can be safely reproduced…(and) the fishing industry is experiencing smaller catches”, a radical reform is necessary.
The Swedish Society for Nature Conservation and Swedwatch today launched their report on aquaculture and the use of fishmeal in production. It explores the supply chain of tiger prawns from Thailand and farmed Norwegian salmon via Peruvian fisheries to identify how consumption in Sweden leads to food chains being fished out in less developed nations.
After a research expedition in the Baltic Sea, Oceana published a report, ‘Conservation proposals for ecologically important areas in the Baltic Sea’, in which nine new Baltic Sea Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) are identified. The new MPAs include offshore waters and host habitats, communities and species, which are not adequately covered under the existing system of MPAs in the Baltic Sea.
At the December Council, EU fisheries Ministers set quotas for 75 stocks in EU waters, covering the North Sea, Kattegat, Skagerrak and Black Sea. Seafish has produced a table that includes the agreed TACs for 2011 and 2012, along with the ICES advice for each stock (see below).
On 17 December, after a difficult negotiation session ending at around 3:00am, the Fisheries Ministers of the European Council decided on the fishing possibilities for 2012 for EU stocks in the North Sea and the Atlantic. Despite assurances expressed by Commissioner Maria Damanaki, that ‘we have a happy end’ after the quota haggling, not enough progress has been made to ensure MSY is reached by 2015 for all stocks.