By Pascale Moehrle, Executive Director and Vice President at Oceana in Europe, and Dr Monica Verbeek, Executive Director of Seas at Risk
The opinions expressed in this article are those of their author and in no case represent the editorial positioning of Euronews.
A prosperous future for fishing is still at hand. It is on this heritage that political decision -makers must commit today, and not tomorrow. Closing eyes to the realities of our situation does not lead anywhere, write Pascale Moehrle and Monica Verbeek.
A new report published by the European Commission on January 14, entitled “The fishermen of the future”, describes four different scenarios for fisheries and marine ecosystems by 2050, from the best to the worst.
Those of us who know the current state of our seas recognize that the most pessimistic scenarios are already in progress, which casts doubt on the most optimistic projections of the report.
Instead of prosperous seas, sustainable practices and equitable subsistence means, we have large expanses of marked and sterile seabed – vestiges of uncontrolled exploitation – and marine ecosystems in free fall, aggravated by the effects of climate change .
The most optimistic scenarios start from the principle that progressive political adjustments, technological advances and market developments will lead to a sustainable fishing sector.
However, these hypotheses are based on unrealistic bases. Key elements of the common fishing policy (PCP) have still not been implemented and subsidies continue to fuel industrial practices at the origin of ecological collapse.
Bowy experiences against the current
In affected communities, such as Thorupstrand in Denmark, the uncontrolled privatization of quotas (the allocation or transfer of fishing rights to individuals or businesses, often through market -based mechanisms) has pushed fishermen to fishermen end.
Breeding subsidies (which make fishing artificially profitable despite its ineffectiveness and high environmental costs) and exemption from fuel taxes have perpetuated destructive industrial fishing to the detriment of small -scale operations.
The optimism of the report goes against these lived experiences and risks delaying the adoption of urgent measures.
The background trawling, destructive fishing method consisting in dragging heavy nets on the seabed, continues to devastate seabed and biodiversity, even in protected sea areas (ZMP), designated regions of the ocean where activity human is managed or limited in order to preserve ecosystems.
Despite EU’s commitments, only two Member States have taken measures to prohibit background trawling in ZMPs, leaving most of the unprotective areas.
These failures are aggravated by a lack of application and a regression of the governance of fishing, illustrated by the many cases brought by environmental groups before the national courts last year in France, Spain, Germany, Sweden and in the Netherlands.
Five million livelihoods in play
The absence of adequate management of protected marine areas (AMP) is expensive to Europeans, because well -protected AMPs, destructive fishing, offer large economic advantages in addition to biodiversity and climate resilience, stimulating craft fishing , tourism and recreational activities in many coastal regions of the European Union.
Many examples in Europe have had positive socio-economic effects, such as the Kosterhavet Marine National Park (Sweden), the OS Miñarzos Marine Reserve (Spain) and the AMP of Torre Guaceto (Italy).
The blue economy sector employs nearly 5 million people in the EU, and the implementation of effective AMPs is essential to support the important sectors that operate around and near AMP, such as fishing, navigation pleasure, diving and line fishing.
The report remains vague on the exclusion of small fishermen, coastal communities and NGOs of decision -making processes, which strengthens inequalities in the allocation of resources.
ADVERTISEMENTIndustrial fleets, which often benefit from most of the distributed quotas and subsidies, dominate the sector, while traditional fishermen see their access to resources are reduced.
Although it highlights the economic possibilities offered by sustainable practices, it does not attack the economic precariousness of the current sector.
The substantive industrial trawling persists because it is artificially supported by subsidies, in particular exemptions from taxes on fuels, despite its economic ineffectiveness and its harmful effects on the environment. It is urgent to make a detailed comparison of the costs of industrial fishing and the advantages of a transition to low impact methods.
We cannot continue to look at the situation
The change window is closed. The next five years will determine whether European Union fisheries will be able to survive the current crisis. Immediate measures must be taken, in particular the full application of the PCP, the ban on background trawling in all protected marine areas and the reorientation of subsidies to low impact fisheries.
ADVERTISEMENTWithout these measures, the most pessimistic scenarios described in the report will be carried out long before 2050.
If they are well managed, fisheries can provide healthy foods and support local communities while respecting the marine environment. Europe has all the tools necessary to achieve this. Indeed, where the rules of the PCP (common policy of the fishing) have been well applied, we have seen the stocks of fish reconstruct, with positive benefits for the fishermen who depend on it.
A prosperous future for fishing is still at hand – a future where sustainable fishing prosperous, where coastal communities are empowered and where ocean ecosystems are restored.
It is on this heritage that political decision -makers must commit today, and not tomorrow. Closing eyes to the realities of our situation does not lead anywhere.
ADVERTISEMENTPascale Moehrle is executive director and vice-president of Oceana in Europe, and Monica Verbeek is executive director of Seas at Risk.
