16/09/2005 – European Fisheries
Ministers are set to approve the reintroduction
of driftnets at an upcoming European Union
Fisheries Council, as part of the so-called
"Mediterranean regulation".
Should this happen, environmental NGOs such
as WWF, Greenpeace, and the International
Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) will consider
taking legal action against the EU Council
for breaching international law and the 1998
European Regulation establishing a ban on
driftnets.
At the meeting, scheduled for 19–20 September,
Ministers intend to exempt from the ban a
type of driftnet known as "anchored floating
gillnets".
"We are outraged with the fact that
legally binding international resolutions
might be ignored by the Fisheries Ministers,"
said Charlotte Mogensen, Fisheries Policy
Officer at WWF's European Policy Office in
Brussels.
"The Council is creating a gaping hole
in the net of fishing regulations, backtracking
on hard-fought commitments designed to protect
the most spectacular species of the Mediterranean,"
added Saskia Richartz, EU Marine Policy Adviser
at Greenpeace.
Driftnets are an environmentally harmful
fishing gear which cause devastating damage
to marine biodiversity. They consist of a
string of vertical nets which drift with the
current for kilometers, often entrapping species
not targeted by fishermen. Every year such
practices kill thousands of cetaceans, turtles,
sharks, and dolphins.
"This attempt to legalize driftnets
could also open the door to the dismantling
of the newly adopted driftnet ban in the Baltic
Sea," pointed out Gaia Angelini, a political
campaigner at IFAW's EU office.
Greenpeace, IFAW, and WWF call for a total
ban of all driftnetting gillnets in EU waters.
NOTES:
• The current proposal undermines EC Regulation
1239/98 and violates all the international
legislation in force on driftnets, including
UN Resolutions 44/225 and 46/215, the FAO
General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean
Recommendation GFCM/2005/3, the International
Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic
Tunas’ Recommendation 03-04, the FAO International
Plan of Action on Illegal, Unreported and
Unregulated fishing (IPOA IUU), and the 1995
UN-FAO Fish Stock Agreement.
• In August 2005, a French court declared
illegal a national decree adopted in 2003
authorizing the use of ‘thonaille’, a driftnetting
gillnet, following an intervention by NGOs.
Italy still tolerates the use of ‘ferrattare’,
another driftnetlike net.
• Council Regulation 812 /2004 on incidental
catches of cetaceans provides for a phasing
out of driftnets in the Baltic sea and a total
ban by 2008
