EU fisheries policy puts fishing at risk - WWF

Oct 4, 2007, 0:17 GMT

Brussels - The European Union's fisheries policy is fuelling overfishing and threatens the future of the European industry, a report from international conservation group WWF concluded Thursday.

'The EU Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) is failing in its primary purpose to achieve the sustainable management of European fish stocks,' WWF said as it launched a report on the CFP which it commissioned.

'The way fisheries quotas are set is fuelling the chronic problem of overfishing in Europe, putting at risk fish stocks and the future of the fishing sector,' it added.

The EU fishing industry is managed through a complex series of negotiations between the European Commission - the EU executive which proposes annual catch quotas - and national governments. The current arrangement is set to run from 2002 to 2012.

The arrangement is intended to provide a viable future for the EU's fishing sector, while keeping European fish stocks at safe and sustainable levels.

But the system itself puts pressure on fish stocks, with both the EC and member states overstepping scientific advice and setting catch quotas which cannot be sustained, the report says.

The EC frequently proposes quotas which are higher than those recommended by independent scientific body the International Council for the Exploration of the Seas (ICES), and EU member states regularly set quotas which are higher still, the report points out.

'This is not a failure of the EC, per se, but a systemic failure of the management and decision-making structure,' it says.

Progress has been made in some areas. In recent years a number of Regional Advisory Councils (RACs) have been established to bring together scientists and representatives of the fishing industry in each of the EU's seas.

The RACs 'are clearly providing a valuable forum for discussion between stakeholders both on fishery management needs and potential solutions,' the report says.

Most EU member states have also 'performed well' in reducing the capacity of their fishing fleets, it adds.

But the crucial issue of fishing quotas, and the way in which those quotas are set, remains the greatest challenge to the CFP.

'Whilst the framework may be sound, its operation by the EC and the Council distorts the original legislative intent, especially when it comes to core questions of the setting of quotas... The delivery of the reformed CFP gets a 'needs to do better',' WWF said.