NGOs place Spain as overfishing leader according to EU approved TACs
New Economic Foundation and Our Fish urge the EC and MSs to include “an end on overfishing” in climate legislation, following a study, which claims that EU countries have overfished 8.78 tons over the last 20 years.
The study, entitled “Landing the blame. Overfishing in the Northeast Atlantic 2020. Uncovering the EU member states most responsible for setting fishing quotas above scientific advice”, considers all the TACs set by the EC to be overfished in excess of scientific recommendations, mainly ICES’.
“Fisheries ministers are risking the sustainably of fish stocks by consistently setting fishing limits above scientific advice. This is our sixth and final year running a series of briefings to identify which Member States are standing in the way of more fish, more profits, and more jobs for European citizens”.
According to Griffin Carpenter, senior researcher at the New Economic Foundation (NEF), “if the EU were to deliver on its commitment to end overfishing and restore fish stocks to sustainable levels, it could create more than 20,000 new jobs, provide food for 89 million people and generate an additional 1.6 billion in annual revenue”.
“Instead, every year fisheries ministers have set fishing limits above the available scientific recommendations, even ignoring their own legal deadline of ending overfishing in the EU by 2020 at the latest”, he adds.
NFE places Spain, Ireland, Portugal and the Netherlands as the leaders of the Overfishing League Table (Table 1), “having obtained the highest percentage of quotas above the levels scientifically recommended as sustainable, specifically 35%, 24%, 23% and 23% respectively. In terms of tonnage, the list would be led by the UK, Denmark and Spain (1.78 million tons, 1.48 million tons and 1.04 million tons respectively)
Table 1. The overfishing league table
The report also shows that "between 2001 and 2020, six out of ten TACs were set above the scientific advice” (Fig. 1).
Fig. 1. Excess TAC 2001-2020
Based on these findings, Lydia Chaparro, a marine ecologist from the Spanish Fundación ENT, states that “because the current challenges facing the fishing industry, it is more important than ever to preserve the sector viability by ensuring sustainable fisheries. Therefore we call on the EU –and the Spanish government- to significantly increase their efforts to stop overfishing. In practice, this means that, by 2021, all fishing opportunities including those for deep-sea species must be set at the scientifically recommended sustainable levels”. Chaparro also adds, “given the situation generated by the pandemic, the government must establish measures to favour that part of the fleet which provides the greatest social benefit and generates the least environmental impact, thus favouring the transition towards a sustainable, low-impact fishing sector”.
“As the COVID-19 crisis has clearly showed, our systematic destruction of nature is threatening our planet and people health. The NEF’s “Landing the Blame” analysis reveals a stark reality: by allowing nearly 9 million tons of fish to be overfished in 20 years, EU fisheries ministers continue to undermine the only ecosystem that provides us the best protection against climate change –the ocean”, Rebecca Hubbard, Our Fish Program Manager, adds.
“The EC and EU leaders must wake up to the gravity of the situation by enshrining an end to overfishing and the restauration of the ocean health in the EU Green Deal, and by prioritizing the completion of biodiversity strategies and the “Farm to Fork” strategy as a matter of urgency, Hubbard declares.
Click here for the full report in English https://bit.ly/3fqQORa
Source: industriaspesqueras.com