The WWF charity is welcoming the European Commission Green paper that highlights the current failings of the Common Fisheries Policy. This paper is providing real evidence for the need to reform the policy, which dictates how European fisheries are managed, to save Europe’s fish stocks.
Fisheries Policy Officer at WWF-UK. Giles Bartlett, said -
The Commission have produced an admirably honest critique of a dysfunctional fisheries policy. The Common Fisheries Policy requires urgent change so that Europe’s seas are capable of supporting profitable and sustainable fisheries into the future. Governments and industry must support this opportunity to deliver the real change that is necessary.
With almost two thirds of fish stocks in decline across Europe, the report by the WWF shows that in the North East Atlantic a fifth of the total catch is wasted as bycatch. Profitable fishing will again be achieveable if a long-term management plan is set in place to help protect vulnerable fish stocks. The Scottish Conservation Credits Scheme has already put in place many of the elements now being proposed in the Common Fisheries Policy, which includes conservation regulations to ensure the long term rehabilitation of key species.
Giles Bartlett added -
Long-term fisheries management plans that look ahead to future years’ catches show how leaving more fish in the sea today will increase profitability tomorrow. The successful fisheries of Alaska, New Zealand and Norway, where long term management plans are in place, and the capacity of the fishing fleet has been reduced, is a model that could be replicated in Europe.
The WWF is urging Europe to implement a new policy for European fisheries alongside new rules to tackle illegal fishing and set sustainable quotas for all commercial fish stocks in the North and Baltic Seas.
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