With governments and emerging industries increasingly looking to the seas as sources of minerals and energy, the result is that the competition for maritime space is becoming increasingly tough.
One of the most visible growing presences is that of offshore wind farms, particularly in the North, Irish and Baltic seas. The fishing sector argues that this process is being developed without a careful analysis of the vast ecological and economic impact of such a use.
The fishing industry is losing valuable fishing grounds and access to healthy stocks. According to Eurpean fishing industry body Europêche, the EU’s climate and energy objectives are favoured, but not for honourable reasons.
‘Why else are they putting the marine environment at risk and possibly changing the ecosystem faster than climate change could ever do?’ Europêche asks.
In order to safeguard the future of our seas and oceans, the EU adopted back in 2014 a Directive for maritime and coastal spatial planning urging Member States to ensure that human activities at sea take place in an efficient, safe and sustainable way and reduce users’ conflicts. At the same time, to tackle climate change, EU governments are determined to comply with the EU’s Paris Agreement nationally determined contribution. Some European countries are now pushing to increase offshore wind power 40-fold by 2030.
Europêche argues that the fishing sector has invested a great deal of effort in taking care of the marine ecosystem by mapping and carefully assessing any impact before even starting any fish operation. However, this so-called precautionary approach does not seem to apply when it comes to the construction of offshore wind farms.
Environmental effects
Despite estimated huge environmental effects on sea life as currents, salt levels, fish migration patterns, and algae growth, the planned expansion process cannot go fast enough. Europêche stresses the absolute necessity of conducting thorough ecological and economic impact assessments before authorising any construction of offshore wind farms as would be the case for any other sector operating in the marine environment.
‘The environmental and economic costs of offshore wind energy are greater than one can expect. A large amount of square kilometres is needed for this industry, which translates into habitat destruction and a direct loss of fishing grounds due to the prohibition of fishing in the wind farms itself but also in the surrounding large buffer zones,’ said Europêche Managing Director Daniel Voces.
‘The same grounds where fishermen were solely making use of the sea’s resources in the most sustainable way possible are now used and subsidised by governments to build offshore wind farms. As a consequence, fishermen are forced to displace from these areas and concentrate fishing effort in the already limited space left, increasing safety risks.’
The fishing sector believes that the closure of marine areas, especially important fishing grounds, to make place for harmful maritime constructions in order to answer to the energy and climate goals, is unthinkable. In many instances, vulnerable marine areas are being closed for fishing, while at the same time kept open to high-impact industries such as for oil and gas companies.
Europêche states that it has no objection to other economic activities taking place in European waters – but emphasises that the EU must ensure that high environmental, social and safety standards are upheld for all industries. Otherwise such bypassing of standards not only threatens the sustainable management of our seas and oceans but also directly endangers the contribution to the food security of the growing global population.
‘If Europe really wants to protect marine ecosystems from external threats, this unequal treatment towards marine uses cannot continue,’ Daniel Voces said.
‘The fishing sector should not be discriminated against other economic activities, whose environmental and socio-economic impact is yet unknown in the long term. Furthermore, we call for well thought through and informed consultations with European fishermen as an integral part of this process before authorising the construction of new wind farms, considering that they are the maritime users to be adversely affected.’
Europêche places emphasis on the fact that thanks to the fishing industry’s low carbon footprint and the minimal impact on marine biomass, seafood is the best option in terms of food security to fight climate change.
‘We are calling on the European Commission to acknowledge and prioritise the fishing sector as a key user of marine space in view of being first and foremost a high-quality and low impact animal protein provider,’ he said.
