The Common Fisheries Policy

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The Common Fisheries Policy

• Towards a reform

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Why a reform?

• Change of global context necessity to adapt
• Financial crisis
• Climate change
• Volatile fuel prices
• Outcomes not satisfactory
• Most resources are overexploited
• Poor profitability
• Insufficient supply to European market
• Overcapacity prevails
• The sector has low resilience to external
  pressures
• Complex and costly policy for public
  authorities and for the sector (top-down
  micromanagement)

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What the reform should deliver

• Healthy marine ecosystems
• A profitable and economically independent sector
• Supply of seafood to European market originating
  from sustainable fisheries and aquaculture
• Contribution to development of coastal regions
• External dimension oriented towards the
  development of third world countries while
  defending interests of EU industry
• More simple and less costly policy with
  implementation closer to the people
• How can this be achieved?

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Decision and implementation framework...

• which encourages responsible public management
  and which is more flexible
• Decisions to be based on long term objectives
• Hierarchy of clearer objectives which serve as
  effective guidance for decisions and for
  accountability
• The end to top-down micromanagement
  implementation of decisions by Commission,
  Member States/marine regions and industry
  within community principles and standards
  decided by the Council and the European
  Parliament
• Strengthening of the role of stakeholder
  advisory bodies (RACs, ACFA)

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A responsible industry

• Encourage self-management as alternative to
  top-down micromanagement
• Outcome based management industry decides how
  to fish within the limits established by public
  authorities
• Reversal of burden of proof the industry
  demonstrates that fisheries is responsible
  (within quotas, documentation of catches, etc.)
  as a condition for access to resources
• Longer term rights to access to the resource
  (conditioned by taking responsibility)
• Further involvement in the decision making
  process
• Better use of industry experience
• Better dialogue between stakeholders and
  scientists

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Protecting the small-scale sector

• How to promote capacity reduction and an
  economically efficient industry without loosing
  local employment and cultural heritage in
  coastal communities?
• Adapt instruments to the specifics of fleets by
  a differentiated approach
• Artisanal fleet regime linked to social
  objectives such as employment or linkage to
  local community
• Industrial fleet regime aiming at capacity
  adaptation, profitability and economic
  independence
• Public funds targeted at policy objectives and
  adaptation

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Integration of policies

• Integrate between pillars of the CFP
• Market policy
• Conservation policy
• External policy
• Structural policy
• Integrate the CFP with other policies
• Maritime policy environment (Marine Strategy),
  spatial planning, development of maritime
  economies
• Regional development
• Development policy in third world countries

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Overcapacity

• Reduce number of vessels and adapt capacity to
  the fish resources by
• Introduction of market based allocation of
  access rights (industrial fleet)
• Public aid only for scrapping, not for any
  support of catch capacity

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Trade and markets

• Prices stagnating producers cannot pass
  increasing costs on
• Price trap encourages overfishing focus on
  quantity as compensation
• Present CMO has reduced importance for the supply
• New CMO should encourage fish to sell target
  production to consumer demands to get higher
  value
• Support producers, processors, retailers and
  consumers to take responsibility transparency
  and information through the production-marketing
  chain

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The external dimension

• In extension of the principles of responsible and
  sustainable fisheries in Community waters
• The EU as a key player in international
  management of fisheries UN general assembly,
  FAO
• Reinforcing implementation of recommendations by
  RFMOs
• Helping developing countries, through new forms
  of regional cooperation, to ensure sustainable
  fisheries in their waters

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Simpler, cheaper and effective

• Clear policy focus with yardsticks
• Supports effectiveness by guiding decisions on
  Community standards and by enabling
  accountability
• Hierarchy in decision making regionalisation
  to MS within community standards and control
• No central micromanagement
• Use of instruments which are relevant and
  realistic in the local context and within MS
  capacity
• Adaptability as local conditions change or new
  experiences emerge
• Closer interaction with stakeholders

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Simpler, cheaper and effective

• Giving responsibility to industry rights linked
  to responsibility to demonstrate responsible
  fishing within results based management
• Reduces the need for micromanagement by leaving
  initiative to industry
• Supports an economically effective industry by
  letting industry develop means to achieve
  outcomes
• Simplifies control as industry is required to
  demonstrate that it operates within limits as a
  condition for access rights
• Facilitates capacity adaptations without direct
  public intervention and financing

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We should not sit on our hands in the meantime

• Promote responsible policy decisions
• More forcefully Insist on long term
  sustainability as the guiding principle for
  decisions
• Promote more effective implementation
• Control reform
• IUU initiative
• A new discards policy

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We should not sit on our hands in the meantime

• Link the various areas of the policy better and
  link to other policies
• EFF as instrument for capacity reduction
• Reform of the CMO
• Integration with integrated maritime policy,
  marine strategy, habitats directive
• Building responsibility
• Better communication with stakeholders and
  citizens
• Better linkage to market drivers and consumer
  support support to traceability, ecolabelling

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The structure of the Green Paper

• The vision of European fisheries in 2020 after a
  successful reform
• The outcomes of the 2002 CFP
• The structural failing of that policy
• The overcapacity
• The imprecise objectives
• The short-term decision-making
• The lack of responsibility of the industry
• The lack of compliance

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The structure of the Green Paper

• Further improvement of the policy
• A differentiated regime for small-scale coastal
  fleets
• The compliance with the MSY concept
• The relative stability
• Trade and markets
• The integration into the IMP
• The scientific advice
• The public financial support
• The external dimension
• The aquaculture

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Have your say on the reform of the Common
Fisheries Policy
http//ec.europa.eu/fisheries/reform