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Unlessaction is taken, the last fish in the Mediterranean could be on our platewithin a matter of years. Europe's fishermen now have to make a real shifttowards sustainability insists the European Commission. A new package ofsustainable fishing measures is now on the table. And these measures will alsoapply outside European waters, so that Africa and Latin America will also reapthe benefits.
Overfishingis a global problem, but the situation in European waters is especiallyserious. According to European Fisheries Commissioner Maria Damanaki, 83percent of all species in the Mediterranean Sea are overfished, as are 63percent of stocks in the Atlantic Ocean.
Brussels issetting its sights high: it wants the fishing grounds to have recovered to suchan extent in 2015 that responsible fishing is once again possible. A survivalplan for all fish species will be developed to guarantee their long-termfuture.
Recoveryplan
For proofthat the recovery of heavily exploited species is possible, we need look nofurther than the increase of plaice, herring and mackerel in the North Sea.Dutch fishermen, conservation groups and the Ministry worked together on arecovery plan. And the Netherlands should be doing more to advertise thesuccess of the plan says Irene Kingma of Ocean2012, a platform for around 100NGOs that advocate sustainable fishing.
We shouldbe demonstrating how it can be done. That's one of our main appeals to theMinister: do your best to promote this in Europe. Because you know that theSpanish minister will present a very different story, with a starring role forthe poor fisherman who can't earn a crust anymore.
Europeantrawlers’ association PFA is also advocating the widespread acknowledgement ofDutch practices. PFA trawlers catch shoal fish such as herring and mackerel andfreeze them on board. The association works closely with environmental groups.“It would be good to draw on the experiences of the people who actually do thework when developing a management plan,” says PFA chairman Gerard vanBalsfoort.
Illegalfishing
Now thatfish stocks in the Mediterranean and the Atlantic are under threat, fishermen arecasting their nets wider and heading for the West African coast. There, Spanishand Asian factory ships in particular form a growing threat to the livelihoodof local fishermen.
In 2009,Greenpeace discovered that half the vessels fishing in these waters were thereillegally. Most of the offenders were Chinese and Korean. The environmentalgroup says the illegally caught fish is routed via the Canary Islands and endsup on the European market.
Guarantees
The membersof the PFA came up with solutions that can profit both the fishing industry andthe local authorities. One such solution is in Mauritania, where freezertrawlers catch herring and mackerel off the coast, species that are of littleor no interest to local fishermen. In exchange for these fishing rights, Mr VanBalsfoort explains, Mauritania receives payment that accounts for “between tenand twenty percent of GNP”.
Mauritaniachannels part of this revenue into developing its local fisheries. “We fish inMauritania under an EU agreement which contains so many guarantees that thefishing can be described as well controlled, and even includes scientificpractices. Our fishing in Mauritania is sustainable.”
Internationalallure
If theEuropean Commission gets its way and the individual member states imposesustainable measures on their fishermen, Irene Kingma of Ocean2012 believesthat this will have major repercussions. The Union also communicates itsinternal stance to the wider world, within the United Nations for example. “TheEU is actively exerting pressure on Asian countries to adapt their fishingpractices. And that’s having a favourable effect on West Africa’s coastalstates.”
IreneKingma hopes that the EU will keep a close eye on its agreements with thirdcountries. This is particularly important for the Latin American region,regarded as a growth market by European fishermen. Spanish trawlers have beensighted there with increasing frequency and the Netherlands is also keen toexplore the possibility of fishing there. But everything must be done to ensurethat the decimation of Mediterranean fish stocks is not repeated in other partsof the world.
