Fishing Divides Europe

By IPS Correspondents and - - Reprint | | Print |

MILAN, Italy, Feb 16 2004 (IPS) - The European Union's fishing policy reform is intended for the northern seas, ignoring the unique characteristics of the fishing sector in southern European seas, say critics. Two years ago the European Union began to draft a new common fisheries policy (CFP) to protect the region's fishing resources, but the 15 member states seem to be having difficulties reaching an agreement.

In the debate, which was to wrap up last year, the Nordic countries are pressing for stricter environmental rules, but the Mediterranean states are not interested. However, there is agreement when it comes to general criteria for environmental protection and subsidies for the fishing sector.

Consensus disappears when talks turn to specific rules, such as increasing the openings in nets from four to six centimeters in order to avoid catching small fish, requiring anchovies to measure at least 14 cm, banning fishing in areas set aside for rebuilding stocks, and regulating the days off for workers in the fishing industry.

“There is a North-South division (within Europe) on reforming the fishing policy,” says Raúl García, head of the fisheries campaign for the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) offices in Spain.

“The countries of the north maintain an apparently more conservationist position. Those of the south, where fishing has greater social and economic implications, have taken a more traditional stance,” he explained.

Italians and Spaniards oppose some of the measures proposed by the northern countries, especially when it comes to net specifications and anchovy size. They argue that in the Mediterranean and Adriatic Seas the fish are smaller and scarcer than in the northern seas.

Furthermore, they say, the Mediterranean is shared with non-EU countries, like Algeria, Libya and Morocco, who fish for the same 50 species without quota limits.

On the Italian peninsula, 90 percent of fishing activity is family operated, using small boats, and would have difficulty complying with the proposed EU norms.

“The fisherfolk need to be compensated with other social measures, because with these rules, they cannot do their work, or would have to reduce it to a minimum,” says Sara Fioravanti, head of the legal office at Italy's WWF.

“But we recognize that they have proposed interesting measures, such as reinforcing the fight against illegal fishing. Furthermore, there must be regulation of sport fishing, which is affecting the population of swordfish, for example,” she said.

Swordfish must measure at least 1.4 meters to be caught legally, but often they are taken when they are just 60 cm long.

In Spain, once a world fishing power, though still the leader in Europe, the reduction of fishing quotas means that thousands of boats are left anchored in ports.

In 1990, according to a scientific study ordered by the EU and summarized in the “Gulland Report”, the bloc's fishing fleet should be cut by 40 percent, but García says that in Spain “the public funds earmarked for that goal were wasted… 31 percent of that aid was invested in renovating the boats, and 32 percent in shipbreaking.”

In the past eight years, 66,000 people in the EU have lost their jobs in the fishing sector, 20,000 in the northwestern Spanish province of Galicia alone.

“The CFP must be adjusted. It was intended for the northern seas, more than those of the south. The Mediterranean is unique, it has its own species, and the EU policy is not very focused on that area,” says Silvio Grego, research director of a Rome-based sea science and technology research center.

“As long as there is no multilateral body to manage the Mediterranean Basin, there will be problems,” he predicts.

The proposal for a new CFP aims to save species that are being driven to extinction by implementing dramatic reductions in fish catches.

Illegal fishing, overexploitation of marine resources, climate change and contamination of the seas have devastated some fish populations. The number of offshore hake (Merluccius albidus), for example, has dropped off 70 percent in the past 20 years, and the bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnus) has fallen 30 percent.

In southern Italy, red shrimp, squid and octopus populations are on the decline, although the situation has not yet reached a critical point.

Spain faces greater chances of seeing some species disappear, such as sole (Solea vulgaris), a local shrimp species (Panaeus kerathurus), bacalao (a generic name for 60 types of fish in the cod family) and bluefin tuna.

“The scientific and environmental framework (of the EU) is deficient and unequal, and the proposed new mechanisms do not ensure that the member states achieve the crucial balance between resources and the size and characteristics of their fleets,” commented Charlote Mójense, WWF spokeswoman for fishing issues in the European bloc.

The EU has also failed to achieve consensus on rules for fishing accords with countries outside the bloc, although errors in this area have been recognized.

The northern European countries have no interest in fishing in African or Latin American waters, because their boats are small. But Spain and Portugal are seeking new areas to work their large commercial vessels.

The countries of southern Europe “are pushing for agreements with third-party countries to be primarily commercial, and even set that as a condition for signing free trade agreements with Latin America. The new CFP would imply, in contrast, a greater concern for the environment,” said García.