18 Dec 2006
- Brussels, Belgium - WWF joined BirdLife International,
the European Environment Bureau, the Fisheries Secretariat,
Greenpeace, the International Fund for Animal Welfare,
Oceana, Seas At Risk and the European Coastal Union in
criticising today's Council agreement on the Marine Strategy
Directive, as lacking commitment to safeguard the marine
environment.
The goal of the Directive is to achieve
a “good environmental status” in all European waters by
2021, through an ecosystem-based management within Europe’s
Marine Regions, a tighter control of human activities
in the marine environment and an improved knowledge of
marine ecosystems.
Member States have chosen to undermine
the substance of the Directive by pledging to merely “aim
to achieve” rather than actually “achieve” Good Environmental
Status. They limited their commitment to taking measure
to protect the marine environment only where “reasonable
and practicable” and where they do not incur a “disproportionate
cost”.
Read in its entirety, however, the overall
sense of a weak rather than strong commitment to protect
our seas overshadows any improvements the Environment
Ministers have adopted on the Commission proposal. Even
important existing environmental objectives arising from
regional and international conventions and accepted principles
of good governance, such as the precautionary principle,
have been deleted or ignored by the Council, despite the
fact that the Member States and European Union have endorsed
these commitments.
In addition, Environment Ministers have
appeared all too willing to relinquish their duties to
protect all marine wildlife, including Europe's fish,
solely to their Fisheries Minister colleagues, apparently
due to concerns over competencies. As suggested by Council,
the Marine Strategy Directive will do little to halt the
loss of marine biodiversity and is an inadequate environmental
‘pillar’ for a possible future EU Maritime Policy.
Caroline Alibert, WWF European Policy Office
A recipe for disaster cooked up by EU
Fisheries Ministers
21 Dec 2006 - Brussels, Belgium – Mocking
scientific advice has become standard practice in the
decisions made by the European Fisheries Ministers, says
WWF. Once again, at the last EU Fisheries Council, the
Ministers have set irresponsible fishing quotas for 2007.
COD
Reducing last year’s cod quotas in the North Sea by only
14 per cent will accelerate the pace towards the specie’s
commercial extinction. For the past fifteen years, political
pressure has led to cod quotas being set at an average
30 per cent above the recommendations made by the International
Council for the Exploration of the Seas (ICES). While
ICES called for zero catch this year again, 19,957 tonnes
have been agreed for 2007 cod catches. Another bad news
for cod is the decision to reduce days at sea for the
vessels by only 7 to 10 per cent, which will keep a high
fishing pressure on the stocks.
“With the reform of the Common Fisheries
Policy in 2002, European Ministers had decided to put
an end to short-term political opportunism. This Council
decision shows that the ambitious framework agreed during
the reform has now been reduced to an empty shell. Political
horse-trading on quotas continues, while our oceans are
facing a crisis, something both the Commission and the
Fisheries Ministers have again chosen to deny”, says Carol
Phua, Fisheries Policy Officer at WWF.
SOLE AND PLAICE
Ministers have failed to agree on a long-term management
plan for plaice and sole, one of Europe’s most wasteful
fisheries, where discards amount to 80 per cent of the
plaice catches. Instead, only very limited quotas reductions
have been agreed, with a 12.5 per cent for plaice and
15 per cent for sole.
ANCHOVY
As an extra gift to France and Spain, the anchovy fishery
was re-opened, officially for “experimental” purposes.
But with a massive fleet of 28 vessels from both countries
allowed in the Bay of Biscay, there is little hope for
the anchovy stock to withstand the pressure.
ELECTRIC FISHING
EU Ministers have accepted the Commission proposal to
re-introduce electric fishing for the Dutch fleet in the
North Sea. According to WWF, this destructive fishing
practice could have highly damaging effects on sharks
and rays, which are very sensitive to electricity, and
yet uncalculated negative impacts on the marine ecosystems.
Notes to the editors
• The average European citizen consumes around 22kg of
seafood per year, in which cod plays a big part, as a
popular and traditional dish. A consequence of the EU
decision might be that a major cod consumer, such as the
United Kingdom (absorbing 85 per cent of the EU cod catches
per year), is possibly going to be deprived of its national
dish, fish and chips.
• Pictures of WWF’s chefs demonstration
in front of the Council on 19 December are available on
http://assets.panda.org/downloads/wwf_chefs_demonstration.zip
The images are copyright protected and can only be used
to illustrate the related press release. Any other subsequent
rights are not allowed and are subject to approval by
WWF. This restriction includes that these pictures must
not be made available to any third party, in particular
it may under no circumstances be published on a public
web site. Individual photo credits are mandatory.
Caroline Alibert, WWF European Policy Office.
