The board of Europêche will remain at the head of the organization for the next two years to defend the interests of fishermen and fishing-vessel owners before the European institutions. Javier Garat, President of Europêche, declared: “I am grateful for the trust that the members of Europêche have placed in the management team and for the recognition of the work done in the defence of a sustainable fishing activity, both from an environmental and a socio-economic perspective”. He continued: “Now more than ever, the European fishing industry must stand united to deal with common threats such as the Covid pandemic, Brexit or climate change. We are ready to face these challenges together and our commitment is to stand behind our companies and boost their competitiveness within a level playing field to lead EU’s economic recovery”.

During the next term, Europêche will promote a new narrative to turn fisheries from a problem into a solution, showcasing that fish food security can go hand in hand with the protection and restoration of marine biodiversity. According to Europêche, scientific data has shown that the majority of fish stocks in the Atlantic have recovered in a record time and that overfishing in the EU is at an all-time low. In addition, the sector has done its homework by reducing its greenhouse gas emissions by 40%. This, coupled with the fact that wild-caught fish has one of the lowest environmental footprint, the fishing sector is placed in the front-running position to achieve the targets of the EU Green Deal and combat climate change.

Europêche also aims to place the human element of the sector, fishermen, at the core of EU fisheries policies and their recognition as guardians of the sea through their fight against marine litter. 

Likewise, Europêche will continue to work on the revision of the Fisheries Control System and the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF) which must be modernised and simplified to meet the needs of the industry and avoid current excessive bureaucracy. Other central policy actions such as strengthening the external dimension of the CFP, creating a level playing field in the EU market, revising the landing obligation or securing abundant fishing opportunities for the fleet, will play an important role in Europêche’s agenda.

Press contacts:

Daniel Voces, Managing Director of Europêche: +32.2.230.48.48 daniel.voces@europeche.org  

EP Press Release – Europêche Elections

Fishermen and women are guardians of the sea. Their activity directly relies on the good health of marine ecosystems and fish stocks. However, their traditional profession is in peril. According to a recent scientific study [2], the rise in offshore wind production projected in the EU will deploy large industrial structures at sea with far reaching consequences for the environment. The long term effects of a large rollout of offshore projects risk impairing the healthy functioning of the seas and their ecosystems as a result of negative cumulative effects [3]. According to the main EU fishing associations, Europêche and EAPO, the study not only overlooks these severe impacts but also the conclusions of the latest report from the Commission on the implementation of the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD), alerting that renewable energy production is one of the “main activities reported under the MSFD causing physical loss of benthic habitat”. The sector argues that the expected consequences represent a direct threat to the main goals of the Biodiversity Strategy, and the good environmental status of our waters and life within.

Javier Garat, President of Europêche, declared: “Fishing communities will be the first ones to suffer from these serious environmental impacts, as commercial species and whole ecosystems are bound to be affected by the massive expansion of offshore wind farms. On top of that, our fishermen are continuously losing valuable fishing grounds and access to healthy stocks due to the growing use of marine space by new maritime activities and area closures for nature conservation”.

Europêche and EAPO unanimously ask policy makers: “Not to change fishers by windmills, adopt a precautionary approach and halt the current expansion of offshore wind parks until research has come up with answers to the many existing knowledge gaps”.

Pim Visser, President of EAPO, concluded “the most concerning is the “win-win” rhetoric developed in the study. The paradigm shift towards the industrialization of the sea as a source of renewable energy is at the expense of renewable food production, fishers, their families and their communities, without any sensible assessment”.

[1] Dupont, C., Herpers, F., & Le Visage, C. (2020). Recommendations for positive interactions between offshore wind farms and fisheries. Publications Office of the European Union. https://doi.org/10.2826/017304  

[2] Boon, A., Caires, S., Wijnant, I. L., Verzijlbergh, R., Zijl, F., Schouten, J. J., & Kooten, T. (2018). The assessment of system effects of large-scale implementation of offshore wind in the southern North Sea. Deltares, 11202792-002-ZKS-0006

[3] Including local wind patterns, wave generation, tidal amplitudes, stratification of the water column, dynamics of suspended particles and bedload transport of sediment.

Press contacts:

Rosalie Tukker, Policy Advisor of Europêche: +32 (0)2 230 48 48 | tukker@europeche.org | website: www.europeche.org

Guillaume Carruel, Policy Officer EAPO: +32 59 43 20 05 | carruel@eapo.com | website: www.eapo.com

EP and EAPO Press Release – Offshore Windfarms study