Long critical of the European Commission’s unfortunate grouping together of environment, oceans and fisheries within a sngle portfolio, industry body Europêche has welcomed the pledge by Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to appoint a full-time commissioner for fisheries for her second term.
This is a role that would focus on ensuring that the next generations can make a good living from this profession. The fishing sector represented by Europêche has welcomed the announcement hoping that a new Commissioner could bring back a balance between biodiversity conservation, sustainable use of natural resources and food security.
‘Fishers provide one of the healthiest animal proteins with one of the smallest carbon footprints. They contribute to meeting the growing world demand for food. Fisheries is therefore a strategic sector for our society and one of the few exclusive competences of the EU,’ stated Europêche President Javier Garat.
‘The EU must prioritise support for its fishing sector to encourage the younger generation to enter this profession and to sustain rural coastal community areas. We appreciate von der Leyen’s political commitment to creating a stand-alone portfolio on fisheries in the next European Commission.’
He commented that the current grouping of environment, oceans and fisheries under one portfolio within the Commission has failed to adequately address the balance between the pillars of sustainable development, while in recent years, fishermen have confronted successive crises stemming from Brexit, COVID-19 and the war in Ukraine, with the rise in fuel prices and operating costs.
In addition this industry faces the significant challenges of climate change, fleet decarbonisation and the issue of generational renewal – plus coping with excessive EU regulation, unfair fishing area closures and unjustified fishing bans proposed by the Commission.
‘While monitoring and reporting of fishing activities are necessary, the excessive administrative burden generated should be reduced and streamlined. Ambitious goals should be achieved through technological innovations, not bans,’ Javier Garat said. ‘A Commissioner for Fisheries is fundamental, but it is equally important to place food production and food sovereignty high in the Commission’s structure at the Vice-Presidency level. In a political reality where the reduction of dependencies from third countries is very high on the agenda, this only makes sense.’
He added that the EU’s fleet size decreased by 28% over the past 20 years, and its seafood self-sufficiency has been declining since 2018.
‘This is while the EU continues to support seafood imports from third countries with increasing tax exemptions and many of these imports do not adhere to the same sustainability standards required of EU fishers.’
