This morning the European Commissioner for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, Joe Borg, attended a policy debate focusing on the Green Paper on the future of the EU’s Common Fisheries Policy and the broad public consultation launched in April 2009, which will run until the end of the year.
In his keynote speech, Mr Borg pointed to the open nature of the consultation with a number of broad aims on which the Commission believed there was general consensus. These included the need for the policy to move towards a longer-term policy approach in which environmental sustainability was a pre-condition for economic and social sustainability; the need for a simpler and less costly policy; the need for fisheries activities to link with others, such as coastal development and climate change mitigation; and the opportunity for the industry to engage in greater “self-management” and, in working to build sustainable fisheries, to draw on two powerful allies: the market and European consumers. Initial reaction to the Green Paper from governments, the media and the general public had been good, and the Commission looked forward to reading many more views on the future of Europe’s fisheries during the consultation period. Mr Borg’s address was followed by a fruitful panel debate, in which the Commissioner was able to exchange views with his fellow panellists.
