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To several NGOs, the agreed TACs will favour overfishing in EU waters.
NGOs warn EU's sustainable fishery goal for 2020 is in jeopardy
 EUROPEAN UNION
Wednesday, December 19, 2018, 22:40 (GMT + 9)
The Council of Agriculture and Fisheries Ministers reached an agreement on the catch limits for 2019 in the Atlantic and the North Sea, according to which the amount of Sustainable Total Allowable Catches (TACs) increased from 53 last year to 59. Oceana considers this as very modest progress and insufficient to meet the 2020 legally-binding deadline for all fisheries to be sustainable in EU waters.
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Agriculture and Fisheries Council
“The EU Fisheries Council has yet again rejected calls for the sustainable management of fishing in the Atlantic. Setting catch limits that, year after year, exceed scientific recommendations is ecologically and economically unwise and should no longer go unnoticed by civil society. It’s time EU ministers stop wasting the opportunity to provide more food, create more jobs and generate more money. What they have not done today, they will have no choice but to fix this time next year, when they will be staring the 2020 deadline right in the face”, pointed out Oceana Europe’s executive director Lasse Gustavsson.
Estimated fish catch value in the EU. (Image: Oceana Europe)
Agriculture and Fisheries (AGRIFISH) Council decision includes commercially-important species, such as cod, hake, anglerfish, Norway lobster, sole, haddock, and horse mackerel. Scientists warn that around 4 out of 10 fish stocks in the European Atlantic—including the North Sea—are still overfished. In particular—cod in the west of Scotland and Celtic Sea, whiting in the Irish Sea, Norway lobster in the southern Bay of Biscay and plaice in the Celtic Sea South and Southwest of Ireland—are at alarming levels of overfishing, Oceana stresses.
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According to the NGO, there has never been a better moment to switch to fully sustainable fisheries.
“The EU fishing fleets already make record high net profits, an average of 17 per cent (1.3 billion in 2016), which is a 68 per cent increase compared to 2015 and with positive forecast for 2018. The average net profits are very high compared to other industries due to low fuel prices and improved productivity of certain stocks, therefore profitable fleets could afford a short-term necessary reduction in quotas for the sake of longer-term gains,” Oceana states.
The environmental NGO ClientEarth also expressed concern over the agreement reached by the EU ministers, given that it considers that the fishing limits approved for some species endanger the sustainable fishing term for 2020, by not taking into account scientific advice.
“With this decision EU ministers have once again signed off overfishing for certain stocks in European waters, including vulnerable species such as whiting in the Irish Sea and cod in the West of Scotland and in the Celtic Sea,” Science and policy advisor Jenni Grossmann, from environmental law charity ClientEarth.
 “This year’s December council negotiations were the penultimate chance for ministers to get on track to meeting the legal 2020 deadline for sustainable fishing limits. By disregarding scientific advice, they are delaying stock recovery and risking even more painful quota cuts next year,” she added.
Grossmann welcomed that European ministers have now recognised the dire situation of stocks such as Irish Sea whiting and Celtic Sea cod by committing to developing ambitious bycatch reduction plans.but regretted that the bycatch allowances agreed by ministers exceed scientific advice on sustainable fishing levels.
“Their decision to take this approach now means that strict conditions and effective recovery plans will be needed to ensure these stocks are restored in line with Common Fisheries Policy rules,” she stressed.
“(…) Both the Council as a whole and all ministers are responsible for ensuring the outcome of the Council meeting is in line with the CFP’s rules and objectives. This year’s failure to do so will have to be rectified next year,” she concluded.
Pew Charitable Trusts also argues that the catch limits set by the Fisheries Council undermine the promise of achieving sustainability by 2020.
Pew points out that the Council set a significant number of catch limits in excess of scientific advice, and the new trend for 2019 is the introduction of “by-catch” limits.
Although ministers justify by-catch limits on the theory that they allow fishers to keep and sell certain “accidental” catches that otherwise would have been discarded, the NGO considers that in reality, these limits allow catch of those non-target species in excess of scientific advice and are usually set for stocks that are generally not thriving—including some that are at risk of collapse.
 “The Council must act in 2019 to reduce this by-catch and ensure that these stocks recover;” emphasized Andrew Clayton, who leads the efforts of The Pew Charitable Trusts to end overfishing in northwestern Europe.
“With only one year before the 2020 legal deadline to end overfishing, ministers can’t afford to continue to take such risks. It is also extremely troubling that the EU institutions have chosen to adopt new delaying tactics and loopholes, maintaining the status quo at the expense of long-term sustainability,” he added.
Related article:
- Council of Ministers agrees on catch limits for 2019 for the Atlantic and the North Sea
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