Tide turns against industrial fleets in bid to save fish stock

Ireland can play a key role in the renegotiation of the Common Fisheries Policy, which some nations want to alter to reverse the effects of decades of overfishing, writes Europe Correspondent Ann Cahill

‘IT WOULD have been better to burn the billions of euro the EU has spent on fisheries over the past four decades,” according to Ocean2012, which represents dozens of NGOs, including fishermen and environmentalists.

Ocean2012 blames the European Fish Policy for the fact that two thirds of fish stocks are overfished, that only eight of the 136 most valuable species will be safe, and that, despite massive subsidies, one third of the sector is operating at a loss.

Europe has the largest fishing waters in the world but imports up to 70% of its fish needs, while the small-scale industry that once supported coastal communities dies off, giving way to big industrial fleets. One quarter of the EU’s catch comes from outside EU waters and a growing section of the fleet is fishing in other parts of the world because of the lack of fish.

Ireland is no exception, with the country’s biggest fish quota — mackerel — worth €76m a year divided between just 23 boats that also benefit from the other most valuable species quota.

The amount of fish being landed in the country is dropping, as Irish boats land their catch in the nearest available port — Norway, Scotland, and Denmark among others. In 2010, 80% of the Irish catch was delivered to Irish fishing ports, but this dropped to 60% just a year later.

At the same time, says Fisheries Minister Simon Coveney, the demand for fish is growing across the globe.

Fish is now the world’s most valuable traded commodity — worth more than sugar, coffee or cocoa.

A battle is raging in Brussels, where the once-a decade reform of the EU’s Common Fisheries Policy is underway. The European Commission’s plan, which aimed to overhaul the old system and replace it with one designed to ensure the survival of fish and the industry, is under pressure.

EU states are deeply divided over the proposals, urged on by vested interests, many of which are not interested in the longer-term prospects but are confident they can gain enough from the EU subsidies to prosper.

Negotiations are deadlocked, with France, Spain, Poland, and Belgium fighting for minimum change to the current regime. The other side is led by Sweden, the Netherlands, and Austria and supported by Britain, who with Germany and many others, is sitting on the fence at the moment.

Ireland is destined to play a pivotal role in the issue, as it takes over the EU presidency in January, when all the important final deals are expected to be put into place. And with a sea territory 10 times the size of its landmass, Ireland has a great interest in the outcome, says Mr Coveney.

One of the more contentious proposals from Fisheries Commissioner Maria Damanaki is that countries lease their fish quota to the highest bidder. In this way, the winners will have a vested interest in maintaining the stocks, will manage them carefully, and ensure their survival.

Ireland is among the majority of countries that does not believe that the market will regulate itself when it comes to fish quotas.

Mr Coveney argues the biggest and wealthiest fleets from major fishing countries such as Spain will end up taking all the fish. And members of Ocean2012 agree, warning that Irish fishing grounds would end up in the hands of the most destructive, industrial companies.

“Ireland has been leading the charge on this issue and I think we have won,” says Mr Coveney. “We would be particularly vulnerable to being taken over by large multinational interests if this went ahead.”

Another proposal is to reduce the fleet. At present, the fleet is so large in some fisheries that it can catch two to three times more fish than is sustainable, making the industry increasingly unprofitable and reliant on subsidies.

About €6.5bn is earmarked in the EU’s budget for 2014-2020 for fisheries, but Markus Knigge of the Pew European marine programme, part of Ocean2012, says it would be better to burn this money than spend it as the previous budget was spent. “It just did damage to the stocks,” he says.

Subsidies were not used to achieve the objectives but undermined them, he adds.

The only option, he says, is to cut the quantities of fish that can be caught, and maintain these cuts for as long as is needed for stocks to recover.

While this sounds radical, it is what scientists have been advising for years. It has been ignored by ministers battling for their domestic interests, but the US and New Zealand have just taken such action to ensure fish stocks survive and provide for a sustainable industry in the long run.

This time, the money should be spent to support those who remain in the industry, with emphasis on coastal communities rather than the industrial fishing that poses the greatest threat.

“The new [fisheries policy] must stop overfishing and reward those who fish in more environmentally and socially responsible ways with preferential access to fish resources,” says Mr Knigge.

This puts more emphasis on smaller boats and coastal communities. Mike Walker of Ocean2012 points to prawns, Ireland’s other big stock, worth €52m a year, fished by smaller boats out of Castletownbere in West Cork and Howth in Dublin, among others.

Mr Coveney describes such arguments as “madness”. “We cannot just pull up the ladder behind us and go back to some kind of artisan fishing and ignore the food demand that fish, aquaculture have to solve,” he says.

More money and attention should be paid to collecting data — something Ireland supports. Even the application forms for aid to buy a new engine, for instance, do not ask what fish stocks the vessels are targeting.

“We need an end to this blind spending,” says Saskia Richartz of Greenpeace.

“There is just €50m allocated to data collection and another €50m for enforcement at the moment. We need a shift in budget allocation.”

EU states plan to have their position on the fisheries policy ready in June, in time to begin negotiations with the European Parliament. The parliament’s important fisheries committee will vote in July, the full parliament in September, and the member states’ fisheries council aims to have at least political agreement in December.

It will then be over to the Irish presidency of the EU in January to do as much dealmaking as possible before the final shape of the policy is adopted later in 2013.