ENVIRONMENT: EU Fisheries Policy a ‘Recipe for Disaster’

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

Mattias Creffier

BRUSSELS, Dec 19 2006 (IPS) - By 2050, seafood lovers may have to go for the likes of ‘jellyfish soup’ and ‘tofu cod and chips’ for want of fish in the sea. Because, environmental activists say, the European Union is preparing a recipe for disaster.

The EU says it is trying to strike a balance between fish and fishermen – and wants to re-introduce controversial electrical fishing methods. Efficient for fishing, but perhaps disastrous for fish stock.

Activists from the world environment group WWF dressed as chefs banged on saucepans to give a noisy welcome to European fishery ministers arriving in Brussels Tuesday for what traditionally are two days of tough negotiations.

The ministers usually end up easing fishing restrictions proposed by the European Commission, the executive arm of the EU. The Commission’s proposals on fishing are already insufficient to ensure what scientists consider sustainable fishing, the WWF says.

Among the critically endangered species are cod (gadus morhua) in the North Sea and anchovy (engraulis encrasicolus) and hake (merluccius merluccius) in the Bay of Biscay between France and Spain.

For the fifth year in a row, the International Council for the Exploration of the Seas, which provides independent scientific advice to the EU, has proposed a moratorium on cod catches in the North Sea. Fisheries ministers have reduced the Total Allowable Catch (TAC) from 49,300 tonnes in 2002 to 23,205 tonnes in 2006, but so far cod stocks have not picked up.

“In a democracy, scientists give advice and politicians take decisions,” EU fisheries spokeswoman Mireille Thom told IPS. “Scientists tell us that a moratorium would be our best shot for cod recovery, but we also have to take into account the fishing communities. We are following the precautionary principle as far as possible, but we do not live in an ideal world.”

Thom concedes that the cod recovery plan and the subsequent quota reductions have not yet produced expected results. A part of the problem is that cod is caught very easily while fishing for whitefish species like haddock or whiting.

Scotland made it clear ahead of the meeting that it will not accept further reductions for its whitefish vessels. “If you push the fishermen too far, you either wipe them out or push them back into illegal fishing,” Scottish fisheries minister Ross Finnie told IPS.

Finnie does not believe a collapse of cod stocks is likely in the near future. “The situation west of Scotland remains critical, but in the North Sea we are observing a first generation of juvenile cod,” he said.

So far, the most dramatic and perhaps irreversible example of collapse has been the disappearance of the once prolific Grand Banks cod fishery off the coast of Newfoundland, an island close to mainland Canada.

To get a better understanding of the bycatch problem, WWF recommends deployment of observers aboard fishing vessels. “Scientists tell us that 40 percent of cod catches are unaccounted for,” WWF’s Carol Phua told IPS. Some of these unaccounted removals are accounted for by discard of catches in excess of the quota and underreporting of catches.

The ministers will also have to decide on a Dutch proposal to allow 5 percent of European beam trawlers to use ‘pulse trawling’. This technique uses electrical pulses to raise flatfish like sole (solea solea) and plaice (pleuronectes platessa) from the sea bottom. Traditionally, this is achieved by dragging heavy chains over the sea floor.

The electrical fishing method has ecological and economic advantages, says Cindy Heijdra of the Dutch fisheries ministry. “There are no ‘wake-up chains’ that can damage the seafloor, and the fishing vessels need less fuel. Moreover, the fish we catch are bigger and less damaged.”

Environmentalists are not convinced. They point out that the EU has previously banned this fishing method and that scientists have reported internal haemorrhaging and spinal breakage in fish within reach of the pulse rods. WWF fears that a limited derogation for beam trawlers could create a dangerous precedent for other fishing of this kind.

Thom denies the method is being re-introduced after an initial ban. “The method has its plusses and its minuses. Of course animal welfare is a concern to us, but it is all a matter of degree. Scientists tell us they need more data, and this is the way to achieve this.”