The European Commission presented on 21 February a package of measures to improve the sustainability and resilience of the EU’s fisheries and aquaculture sector. It includes a Communication on the common fisheries policy today and tomorrow.
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What is the Communication on the common fisheries policy about?
The Communication on ‘The common fisheries policy today and tomorrow’ assesses the functioning of the common fisheries policy, 10 years after the last reform in 2013. It gives an overview of what works and where tangible results were achieved, where implementation is lagging behind and what efforts are still needed in order to reap the full potential of the CFP. At the same time, it also has a forward-looking perspective, providing a vision and a path towards sustainable and resilient fisheries of the future.
The Communication concludes that the common fisheries policy continues to be the adequate legal framework to address the challenges that EU fisheries and the seas on which they depend are facing, giving the necessary stability to the fisheries sector and allowing the EU to lead by example in driving sustainable fisheries worldwide. The three main principles on which the policy is based are still relevant today:
- environmental, social and economic sustainability;
- effective regional cooperation; and
- science-based decision-making.
At the same time, it stresses that a number of challenges remain for the successful implementation of the common fisheries policy and that faster and more structural transformation is needed to reduce environmental and climate impacts of fishing and aquaculture. This is necessary to restore a healthy marine environment and ensure food security, as well as to help the sector become more resilient, increase energy efficiency and contribute to climate neutrality quickly.
Based on the assessment of the functioning of the common fisheries policy, the Communication opens a new phase of discussion and cooperation between all fisheries stakeholders (fishers, producer organisations, regional advisory Councils, national authorities, civil society and others). The objective is to build a common understanding of where the policy should be headed, so as to ensure that fisheries and aquaculture are environmentally sustainable in the long term, while providing economic, social and employment benefits. To achieve that, the Commission proposed a ‘Pact for Fisheries and Oceans ‘ which should bring all stakeholders to work together.
How does the Communication assess the implementation of the maximum sustainable yield principle?
Maximum sustainable yield (MSY) is the largest catch that can be taken from a species’ stock without reducing the size of the population. With the maximum sustainable yield principle, the common fisheries policy has adopted an operational, measurable and science-based objective for fisheries management, which has led to positive results.
In areas where it has been implemented, stocks have recovered and catches and incomes have increased, while negative impacts on the marine environment have decreased. In recent years, more and more stocks have reached sustainable levels, with particularly good results in the Northeast Atlantic. However, additional efforts are needed to fully implement the MSY principle. In the Mediterranean Sea, the situation is still concerning and improvements are too slow, while the Baltic saw a reversal of recent improvements, due to other pressures on the environment and marine ecosystems.
The Commission is therefore calling on Member States to focus efforts on ensuring the MSY objective is reached in all sea basins when setting fishing opportunities for 2024 and beyond.
How does the Communication assess the implementation of the landing obligation?
In 2009, it was estimated that in European fisheries 1.7 million tonnes of all species were discarded annually, corresponding to 23% of total catches. The EU therefore introduced in 2013 the so-called ‘landing obligation’, which requires that all catches, including unwanted catches, should be brought to land and counted for in the country’s quota. Its goal is to incentivise fishers to fish more selectively and to avoid unwanted catches, as these contribute to the decline of marine resources and constitute a substantial waste of resources.
The landing obligation has only been fully in force since January 2019. The findings of the audits launched by the Commission in 2020 show that the Member States audited have not adopted the necessary measures to ensure effective control and enforcement of the landing obligation. Traditional control tools (such as at-sea inspections and dockside/auction inspections of the landings/logbooks) are inadequate, as they only provide a very limited snapshot of compliance at the time of monitoring. In its proposal for a revised fisheries control system, the Commission supports the use of modern control tools. It will continue working with the co-legislators to reach an ambitious agreement on this important legislation.
In spite of its poor implementation, and given its recent entry into force, the Communication concludes that it is too early to consider any changes in the landing obligation. Instead, the starting point for any discussion on possible changes should be a full evaluation of the landing obligation, which the Commission will launch in 2024 and for which Member States and stakeholders would need to provide data.
The Communication also stresses that in the meantime, the benefits of the landing obligation need to be better highlighted to fishers, that Member States should improve the use of targeted support by the European Maritime, Fisheries, and Aquaculture Fund (EMFAF) for more selective gears and fishing techniques, and that they should promote the broader use of new technologies for data collection and for minimising unwanted catches.
What does the Communication say about the situation of fishers?
Fisheries and aquaculture are about people, culture, traditions and local economies. They provide employment in many coastal communities. In 2020, there were over 124,630 fishers in EU commercial fisheries. In 2018, there were 69,000 employees in the EU aquaculture sector.
The Communication gives particular attention to the social dimension of fisheries. The sector is currently facing several challenges:
- fisheries are under pressure from the intensification of the use of the maritime space by more and larger other economic sectors;
- the departure of the UK from the EU led to new dynamics in fisheries governance, bringing additional complexity to the decision-making process;
- the invasion of Ukraine by Russia sharply increased the prices of energy, thereby jeopardising profit margins;
- climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution affect the sustainability and stability of fisheries; and
- the generational renewal, which is key to make sure the sector has a viable future, is not sufficient.
The European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF for the period 2014-20) played a crucial role in providing support during the most recent crises, and the European Maritime, Fisheries, and Aquaculture Fund (EMFAF for the period 2021-27) is enabling Member States to provide further support for the significant market disruption caused by the fuel prices crisis. EU funding has also been used for projects aimed at attracting young people into the fishing sector, providing start-up assistance to young fishers, improving safety and working conditions onboard fishing vessels, improving gender balance, and others.
The Commission will conduct between spring 2023 and summer 2024 an EU-wide participatory foresight project on ‘Fishers of the Future’, to forecast the crucial role of fishers in society. The project will identify the trends, opportunities and threats that determine the attractiveness of the fishing sector.
The Commission will also ask the scientific community to further develop social indicators to be used in the analysis of socio-economic reports. This will help to better take into consideration social impacts of fisheries conservation measures.
What is the ‘Fisheries and Oceans Pact’ about?
The extensive stakeholder consultation made it very clear that only fisheries and aquaculture that are managed in a spirit of cooperation and trust between all stakeholders (public authorities, the scientific community, fishers and aquaculture farmers and their organisations, and civil society) can deliver ambitious results in terms of both sustainability and profitability.
The Commission is therefore proposing a ‘Fisheries and Oceans Pact’ to renew the commitment of Member States and stakeholders to improve the implementation of the common fisheries policy, to launch the necessary reflections and assessments to future-proof the policy and strengthen dialogue and cooperation between all fisheries stakeholders. The objective is to define and agree on a shared vision about the fisheries of the future.
The Commission calls on Member States, stakeholders and the scientific community to join this Pact.
The pact will be framed around several key principles and objectives:
- full compliance with the existing rules to make sure fisheries resources are used sustainably and to limit the impacts on marine ecosystems;
- greater transparency in fisheries management, for example in the allocation of quotas and in the information given to consumers;
- improved governance, through a more holistic approach (with other policy domains, such as environmental, agricultural and energy policies) to also address other pressures on the marine environment, as well as cooperation with third countries to ensure a level playing field;
- recognition of the role of fishers and support for the socio-economic resilience of the sector, notably by making fisheries a more attractive sector for future generations, by for example linking it to marine tourism or recreational activities; and
- continued research and innovation, aimed in particular at ensuring that the sector contributes to climate neutrality, including through “vessels of the future”, facilitating the development of precision fishing, designing the fishing profession of the future and collecting the data necessary for future policy developments.
What does the Communication say about the implementation of the CFP to protect marine ecosystems and resources?
Fishing activities continue to adversely affect marine ecosystems, particularly through seabed disturbance, bycatch of sensitive species and effects on marine food webs. These effects, which are addressed in detail in the Marine action plan, are combined with those of climate change and other pressures from human activities at sea and on land (e.g. agriculture, fisheries, industry, shipping, waste waters), as well as plastic, microplastic and other pollution.
At the same time, the poor status of marine ecosystems is also a direct threat to the sustainability of fisheries resources and aquaculture and to their related economic activities as well as to the wellbeing of communities dependent on them. The combined effects of these challenges are unprecedented in magnitude.
To address the above challenges, the implementation of the common fisheries policy needs to be improved, e.g. by strengthening data collection and science-based decision making, and ensuring coherent and effective control and enforcement; ensuring more transparency as regards the criteria used by Member States when they allocate fishing opportunities at national level; and increasing the efficiency, speed and level of ambition of regionalised work with regard to the implementation of environmental legislation.
With today’s Communication the Commission also calls on Member States to fully and urgently implement the measures outlined in the Marine action plan; encourages fishers to continue pursuing their involvement in the collection of marine litter and the use of biodegradable elements in fishing gears; will focus efforts in 2023 and 2024 on developing scientific advice to allow for a better implementation of the ecosystem-based approach to EU fisheries management; and will support a more competitive and sustainable aquaculture by issuing guidance documents by 2024.
Which are the elements of the CFP where implementation needs to be strengthened or further assessment is necessary?
While the Communication concludes that that the common fisheries policy continues to provide an adequate legal framework, it also points to a number of specific elements where implementation needs to be strengthened and/or further assessments and reflections are necessary to ensure that the sector, society at large and nature can fully benefit from the potential of this policy. They especially concern:
– the landing obligation and its costs and benefits for society and for fishers;
– the contribution to the implementation of environmental legislation and the related governance system;
– the improvement of the knowledge base and the strengthening of the ecosystem-based approach, keeping in mind both socio-economic and environmental objectives;
– the future of the profession and generational renewal;
– the use of the EU’s research and funding opportunities;
– the allocation of quotas at national level and the transparency of the process;
– the fleet capacity framework and its relevance for structural investments on board, including in support of the sector’s energy transition;
– the development of social indicators to increase the robustness of socio-economic reports that are used in the preparation of fisheries management and conservation measures.
What does the Communication say about the external dimension of the common fisheries policy?
Recent political and geopolitical developments, such as Brexit and Russia’s military aggression against Ukraine, have underlined the impact of the changing geopolitical context in Europe on the EU’s fisheries policy, as well as its close link to maritime security.
With Brexit, the dynamic of fishing relations with and between coastal states in the Northeast Atlantic has been substantially reshaped, with a much higher number of fish stocks now managed together with non-EU countries. The Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA) provides the structure for the EU-UK bilateral relationship. It integrates aspects of fisheries and trade, and establishes the framework for annual consultations with the UK for setting fishing opportunities for the shared stocks. The EU is also finalising a new trilateral fisheries framework agreement with Norway and the UK, which will create a new platform for trilateral cooperation in the North Sea. These existing structures should help develop management measures for specific issues, whilst recognising regulatory autonomy of the parties.
Russia’s military aggression against Ukraine led to new dangers and negative spill-over effects on maritime security, which is facing challenges from territorial disputes, competition for natural resources and threats to free navigation. In such a changing geopolitical context, the EU will strengthen cooperation with like-minded partners in its own neighbourhood and in other maritime areas of strategic importance.
The nexus between climate change, environmental degradation of coastal and maritime areas, and maritime security will be addressed in the coming update of the European maritime security strategy and its action plan, as well as in the forthcoming Joint Communication on Climate Change, Environmental Degradation, Security and Defence to be presented later this year.
Staff working document on the common fisheries policy
Source: European Commission
