Unprecedented alliance of retailers and conservationists urges drastic reform to prevent fish stocks from passing point of no return
Fiona Harvey guardian.co.uk 3 Feb 11;
Europe's fishing practices must be drastically reformed in order to prevent dwindling fish stocks passing the point of no return, a coalition of British supermarkets and conservationists warned today.
The unprecedented alliance, which includes Sainsbury's, Marks & Spencer, members of the UK's Food and Drink Federation and WWF, is making the strongest statement from business to date on the failures of the European Union fishing policy.
It follows public anger at the practice of discarding fish that was highlighted in Channel 4's Fish Fight series, which has prompted hundreds of thousands of people to sign a petition calling for reform.
Fishermen should no longer be forced to discard large amounts of their catch, as they do under the current system of EU fishing quotas, the coalition said, and the quotas should be reviewed so that stocks can recover.
Discarding is a long-standing and wasteful practice, resulting in as much as two-thirds of the fish caught being thrown back in the water, usually dead. About 1m tonnes are estimated to be thrown back each year in the North Sea alone. Discarding is a consequence of the strict quotas on the amount of fish that boats may land – when fishermen exceed their quota, or catch species of fish for which they do not have a quota, they must discard the excess.
The coalition is putting forward their proposals for a reformed common fisheries policy in a meeting with Maria Damanaki, the EU commissioner for fisheries, in London today.
The commission is in the process of reviewing the CFP, with a view to introducing reforms in two years. The EU is the world's fourth biggest producer of fish, both wild and farmed.
The coalition criticised the practice of discarding as "the result of poor management and fishing practices that are not attuned to market and consumer needs", and said the CFP was not working.
The group, led by the green campaigning organisation WWF, said that fishermen would be better served by a different system, as the wasteful practice of discarding was a cost to fishing fleets.
Alternatives to discarding include allowing fishermen to land all the fish they catch, but restricting the days on which they are allowed to fish. Better technology can also help to ensure that fishermen are able to target particular species more closely.
The group called on governments to introduce long-term fishery management plans that would include fishermen, giving fleets a bigger role in "co-managing" stocks rather than simply being handed quotas, as under the current system.
