The destructive nature legislation agreed by the European Parliament and the Council threatens European livelihoods and food production, according to fishing industry body Europêche, which states that this law will serve only feed the already overwhelming bureaucracy and environmental NGO lobbies – but not the people in Europe.
While it recognises the importance of protecting and restoring nature, Europêche has voiced significant concerns about the Regulation that have been ignored by policy-makers. These include the complete absence of a cost-benefit assessment, the artificially broadened scope, which will result in more area closures, and the discriminatory treatment when compared to renewable energy.
‘The Regulation should only entry into force when the Commission provides robust and scientific data on the impact the new law will have on food availability and prices, company costs as well as fishing grounds affected. It is a real shame that in the end policymakers decided not to sustain this approach,’ said Europêche managing director Daniel Voces, stressing that one of the fundamental issues is the absolute lack of a socio-economic impact assessment.
‘The Commission has failed to provide any concrete data on the “costs and benefits” that this new law is expected to generate for Member States, marine ecosystems and the fisheries sector. Instead, the legislation primarily relies on theoretical gains and potential undocumented benefits, which is not a solid basis for policymaking.’
He pointed out that in its 2020 Restoring Nature publication, the Commission recognises that under the EU Habitat Directive less than 2% of the European marine areas are in need of restoration. It subsequently contradicts itself in the same document by proposing to multiply by a factor of ten the areas in need for restoration (20% of the seas) without any science-based justification.
According to Europêche, this threshold goes beyond the international target agreed in Kunming-Montreal (COP15 – CBD), putting the fishing fleet once more at competitive disadvantage.
Europêche states that as a consequence, Member States will be spending time and millions of Euros in artificially identifying and restoring areas that are not in need of restoration. The sector will likewise suffer the consequences of unnecessary additional area closures.
‘New legislative ambitions require adequate funding. The proposal does not guarantee the creation of a dedicated fund, without which, targets will be unattainable and the policy will fail. We should remember that fisheries is very particular in the use of funds and therefore this absence could not be covered by deviating funding from other areas,’ Daniel Voces said, commenting that Europêche is equally concerned about the exemption for renewable energy industries from complying with some environmental law provisions.
‘This approach is appalling, especially in light of the unresolved environmental concerns highlighted by the Court of Auditors, regarding offshore renewable energy. It also creates an unfair playing field for the fishing sector since both sectors are competing for the maritime space. Has the scope of the Regulation been broadened to cover up this exception? We call for an equal treatment of all blue economies.’
He stated that once again, the EU is willing to limit its production of food without even considering the consequences, at home and abroad, of such decisions.
‘For Europêche the troubled debate regarding the new environmental law made one thing clear,’ he said.
‘The EU needs to return to a model where all primary food production is placed under the mandate of a dedicated Commissioner and that needs to happen in the next mandate of the European Commission (2024-2029).’
