Crucial decisions have been taken last night to make decisive progress towards a new EU control system. The European Parliament has enhanced traceability of seafood products, digitised tracking and catch reporting across the value chain and harmonised sanctions and enforcement measures across Member States. This will create a true level playing field on EU control efforts so all fishers are fairly and equally treated.

Europêche welcomes the Fisheries Committee proposal to introduce cameras on board fishing vessels (CCTV) on a voluntary provided that an incentive such as catch quota uplifts or freedom of choice of method in conducting a fishery is granted by the competent authority. Alternatively, fishing vessels shall equip CCTV technology on a temporary and mandatory basis provided that they have committed two or more serious infringements, as an accompanying sanction.

Daniel Voces, managing director of Europêche, declared: “We favour the use of high-tech remote electronic monitoring tools to modernise data management and enhance compliance. However, the introduction of intrusive technologies such as cameras clearly clash with business confidentiality, privacy and workers’ rights. The introduction of CCTV must therefore be done step by step, with incentives and in close cooperation with the industry as suggested by the Fisheries Committee”.

The Parliament also limits the mandatory introduction of monitoring of engine power devices to vessels that operate in areas subject to fishing effort regimes or restrictions on engine power. According to Europêche, the rationale behind this approach is clear: “in fisheries subject to catch limits, the size or power of the boat does not matter, it will always be limited by the allocated quota”. However, Europêche regrets the increased bureaucracy specially for the fleets operating in the Mediterranean.

In line with the Commission, the Parliament supported the idea that from now on all quantities of each species caught and kept on board, even below 50 kg, must be recorded. The small-scale fishermen represented by Europêche are disappointed with the removal of that threshold which will exponentially increase the red-tape and working hours of fishers.

The Fisheries Committee, however, has introduced more flexibility on the estimates recorded in the fishing logbook for each species which are extremely difficult to match with the quantities actually landed. Europêche appreciates the introduction of higher margins of tolerance for mixed, small pelagic and industrial fisheries, for species retained on board that do not exceed 100kg and for tuna species.

Other important control measures such as the weighing of fishery products, vessel monitoring systems, electronic logbook, traceability, prior notification of landing, transhipment operations, stowage of demersal catches, transport, enforcement measures, point system and recreational fisheries have been decided by previous compromises between political groups. Europêche welcomes the flexibility provided by these agreements in terms of timing, scale and bureaucracy thus showing closer ties with the fisheries reality.

Mr Voces concluded, “The current EU fisheries control system is one of the most advanced in the world and has undoubtedly contributed to step up compliance with the Common Fisheries Policy and to the sustainable management of our fish stocks. Our fishermen do not need more red-tape but clear and efficient rules uniformly applied across the EU to guarantee equal treatment, reduce costs and make their life easier.”

EP Press Release – PECH vote Fisheries Control System

In the context of the ongoing revision of the EU fisheries control system,¹  the fishing industry association Europêche² and the EU IUU Coalition³ have released a joint statement addressed to EU decision makers.

While acknowledging the clear contribution of the current Control Regulation to improve compliance with fisheries rules, they call on Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) and EU fisheries Ministers to resolve the shortcomings.⁴ Particularly, the current lack of harmonised sanctions for infringements, insufficient data exchange, ambiguity of legal provisions, and disparities in the level of scrutiny in the implementation of control measures and traceability across Member States are creating a complex and uneven playing field for operators, leaving the system open for abuse. These issues highlight the need for simplification and harmonisation, and must be addressed in the future Control Regulation. The upcoming votes on the Regulation in the European Parliament and the Council of Ministers happening towards the end of the year are important opportunities for change.

 The organisations call on EU decision makers to enhance and digitise traceability of seafood products, simplify and better align control measures, require additional information for imported fisheries products, require tracking and electronic catch reporting for small-scale fishing vessels (taking into account the specifications of the fishery), and provide more public information on the implementation of enforcement measures by Member States. This will create a true level playing field on EU control efforts so all fishers are fairly and equally treated.

Daniel Voces de Onaindi, Managing Director at Europêche said: “The current EU fisheries control system is one of the most advanced in the world and has undoubtedly contributed to step up compliance with the Common Fisheries Policy and to the sustainable management of our fish stocks. Now, both Europêche and NGOs call for improvements to modernise and simplify the existing framework and overcome implementing flaws to render the system more effective. Our fishermen need clear and efficient rules uniformly applied across the EU to guarantee equal treatment, reduce bureaucracy and make their life easier.”

The EU IUU Coalition said: “It is critical that the revision of the fisheries Control Regulation ensures the sustainability objectives of the Common Fisheries Policy are met. The revised rules must strengthen compliance, modernise data management, intensify the fight against illegal fish products and guarantee a level playing field for all stakeholders in the EU. A powerful signal is being sent to EU decision makers today, with NGOs and Europêche united in proposing solutions for effective rules on fisheries control, monitoring and enforcement. We are counting on EU decision makers to ensure that the legal and implementation deficiencies are addressed, and that the future Control Regulation creates a harmonised system that secures sustainable fisheries in Europe.” 

Notes:

1. The current fisheries Control Regulation has existed since 2010 and aims to create an EU-wide control system that ensures the sustainability objectives of the Common Fisheries Policy are met. Legal and implementation flaws of the current control system, however, make clear the need for necessary improvements to modernise and simplify the way in which fishing rules are monitored and complied with in the EU. The current revision is: 2018/0193(COD) Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Council Regulation (EC) No 1224/2009, and amending Council Regulations (EC) No 768/2005, (EC) No 1967/2006, (EC) No 1005/2008, and Regulation (EU) No 2016/1139 of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards fisheries control.
2. Europêche is the representative body for fishermen and fishing vessel owners in the European Union.
3. The Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF), Oceana, The Nature Conservancy, The Pew Charitable Trusts and WWF are working together to promote EU leadership in improving global fisheries transparency and governance to end illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing.
4. European Court of Auditors, special report No 08/2017, EU fisheries controls: More efforts needed and Commission Staff Working Document Impact Assessment SWD/2018/280 final.

Press contact:

Rosalie Tukker, Policy Advisor, Europêche | Rosalie.tukker@europeche.org |+32 2 230 48 48

Irene Campmany, Communications Officer, Oceana Europe, on behalf of the EU IUU coalition | icampmany@oceana.org |+34 911.44.08.80  and +34 682.622.245

EP and Environmental NGOs Press Release – Modern, Effective and Simplified EU Fisheries Control Rules

Subsidised tuna exports are a trade practice that is not only breaching World Trade Organization (WTO) rules but also threatening sustainable ocean governance. The alleged interventions by the Chinese government undermine free competition and require urgent action from the EU to re-establish a level playing field in terms of tuna trade flows.

Europêche strongly feels that any harmful subsidy or tax relief granted to Chinese exporters should receive full attention from the European Commission. Indeed, the United States has issued already in April 2016 a formal request to the WTO asking for China to clarify fishery subsidies and bring them in line with WTO rules. However, this process seems to be far from completed since, according to Europêche, processing and export of tuna loins might come to Europe on unfair terms, being dumped or subsidised.  

Europêche is alerted by the increasing import volumes of tuna loins flooding the EU market at low prices. These low prices are made possible on the one hand by the confronted subsidies from the Chinese government to their producers and on the other hand by EU import tariff derogations granted for 30,000-ton tuna loins per year. Furthermore, a recent study^[1] reveals that China has expanded its uncontrolled distant-water fishing fleet to the point that China is threatening food security and the economies of coastal communities around the globe[2]. According to this research, this has been possible thanks to tax exemptions, fuel subsidies and ship construction subsidies which are hardly ever made public by the Chinese authorities. Europêche argues that Chinese seafood products therefore compete unfairly with seafood produced sustainably by the EU fishing fleet but also with seafood suppliers from developing countries that export to the EU market under preferential market access conditions.

Javier Garat, President of Europêche, declared: “Given the strategic and highly competitive nature of the tuna market we urge the European Commission to initiate an anti-dumping and anti-subsidy investigation with a view to impose as soon as possible countervailing measures against tuna exports to the EU”. Mr Garat concluded: “It is not acceptable that countries which are linked to IUU fishing and serious labour abuses benefit from preferential market access; it should be rather the opposite. The EU should work towards achieving a true level playing field between EU produced and third country produced seafood. Autonomous tariff quotas for tuna loins at present are rewarding those who have turned a blind eye towards the sustainability of fish stocks and fair treatment of people”. 

[1] Gutiérrez, M., Daniels, A., Jobbins, G., Gutiérrez Almazor, G., Montenegro, C. (2020). China’s distant-water fishing fleet: Scale, impact and governance. ODI, via https://www.odi.org/sites/odi.org.uk/files/resource-documents/chinesedistantwaterfishing_web_1.pdf

[2] Urbina, I. (2020). How China’s Expanding Fishing Fleet Is Depleting the World’s Oceans. Yale School of the Environment, via https://e360.yale.edu/features/how-chinas-expanding-fishing-fleet-is-depleting-worlds-oceans

Urbina, I. (2020). The deadly secret of China’s invisible armada. Outlaw Ocean Project and NBC News, via https://www.nbcnews.com/specials/china-illegal-fishing-fleet/index.html

Press contacts:

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

EP Press Release – Anti-dumping complaint