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Draft report on CFP reform is published by the European Parliament

10 June 2012

The European Parliament’s rapporteur on the CFP basic regulation – the most important legislative text governing the CFP – has finalised her draft report which will now be reviewed by the fisheries committee at the end of May 2012.

The draft report supports such measures as a discard ban on a fishery-by-fishery basis, and proposes, for example, that there should be ‘a parity between the internal and external dimension of the Common Fisheries Policy, such that standards and enforcement mechanisms applied within the Union are also, wherever applicable, applied externally’.

On 10 May 2012, the European Parliament environment committee voted its opinion on the basic regulation. This requested that in general better account should be taken of the environmental dimension in fisheries, but also highlighted the importance of ensuring sustainability in the promotion of aquaculture, as outlined in the EC proposal: ‘Aquaculture should contribute to the preservation of the food production potential on a sustainable basis throughout the Union so as to guarantee long-term food security for European citizens and to contribute to the growing world aquatic food demand. Aquaculture should not increase the fishing pressure on wild stocks and should be subjected to environmental impact assessment prior to any expansion’.

Editorial comment

In the long process of co-decision by the European Parliament and Council of Ministers, leading to the adoption of a reformed legal basis for the European fisheries policy – which will also guide its fisheries relations with ACP countries – a consensus seems to be emerging that the same rules and standards should apply to EU fleets whether they fish inside or outside EU waters. This is to be welcomed, provided it does not contradict national policies in countries where external EU fleets are fishing. For the example of a discard ban, and in the event that this requires the landing of all by-catch by EU vessels in third countries, these countries should make sure that the quality of the fish landed comply with all standards, including hygiene standards. On another topic, it is interesting that parliamentarians have raised the issue of the dependence of aquaculture (particularly of carnivorous species, like shrimp) on wild fisheries (forage fish, like small pelagics) for fishmeal. Such issues also need to be analysed by ACP countries which share the responsibility of managing these small pelagic stocks (West Africa in particular), as the choices regarding who exploit these stocks and for what purpose (human consumption or fishmeal production) may have an impact on the availability of these fish for local populations and for commercial species higher in the food chain. 

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