Common Fisheries Policy Task and
Finish Group
CFP(4)-03-11 paper 3
WELSH GOVERNMENT WRITTEN
EVIDENCE TO THE ENVIRONMENT AND SUSTAINABILITY COMMITTEE TASK AND
FINISH GROUP ON THE REFORM OF THE COMMON FISHERIES
POLICY
Executive
Summary
The Welsh Government is
responsible for fisheries management within the Welsh territorial
sea (0-12nm) and implementing the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP)
within the Welsh zone. The Welsh Government is in broad support of
the headline issues under the proposed reform of the CFP, however,
the detail is yet to be presented and it is here that there remain
some areas of concern.
For example, we would all
support measures to put an end to the practice of discarding
but the proposals need to be both practical and enforceable.
Further, the proposals to commercialise fishing rights as a
way to reduce perceived over capacity in the sector also appear to
be a common sense approach. However, there must be safeguards
in place to protect the small scale coastal fishing jobs in
rural communities, otherwise there is a risk these fishing rights
could be bought out by a small number of large commercial
enterprises or as an investment opportunity.
However, the proposals do not go
as far, in some areas, as the Commission set out in its green
paper. For example, there was a clear desire by the EC to
seek to decentralise decision making. We will need to
wait to see the detail of this proposal but it appears that the
Commission would favour fishing opportunities to be determined by a
regional long-term management plan approach rather than delegation
to regional Member states.
The Welsh Government is fully
engaged in the ongoing discussions at a UK level. The UK response
to the Commissions proposals will be submitted in November this
year. At this stage, I understand that the European Parliament is
expected to be reporting back on the proposals in late summer 2012.
I will continue throughout that time to work with my UK
counterparts to ensure that the voice of Wales is heard in the
talks to come.
Key
Issues
·
Discards: The practice of throwing away
of dead or dying fish must end. More detail is needed from the
commission but measures must be practical and
enforceable.
·
Tradable Fishing
Concessions: We support the use to deal
with any overcapacity in the larger commercial sector that catch
the lions share of fish but safeguards must be in place to protect
small scale coastal fisheries.
·
Regionalisation:
Disappointed that there seems to be little in the way of real
regionalisation in the proposals.
·
Small scale
coastal fishing – The reform of the CFP
should recognise the important role of the inshore sector, and
ensure any changes are sensitive of the potential impacts to
vulnerable coastal communities.
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- The Welsh Government welcomes
the opportunity to reflect on the proposed Regulation of the
European Parliament and of the Council on the Common Fisheries
Policy (here after referred to as the ‘CFP’). The Welsh
Government has contributed to developing the UK position on the CFP
with which we are in broad agreement. However there are some issues
that are more acute in Wales and we appreciate the opportunity to
raise those here.
Background
- Fishing is regulated under the
CFP, and by national Governments of the Member States. In the UK
fisheries management is devolved with all fisheries administrations
contributing to the UK position on European issues although it is
the UK Government and more specifically the DEFRA Minister that
retains overall say in European matters. The UK fishing fleet is
split into 3 sectors. First ‘the sector’ which are in
the main larger (over 10m) industrialised vessels that belong to
Producer Organisations (“POs” were established under EU
law and manage quota for their members), the second is the
‘non-sector’, these are vessels over 10m that do not
belong to a PO, their quota is managed by Government via a pool
system. The third and most important sector from a Welsh point of
view is the ‘under 10s’. The under 10m vessels which
are not members of a PO, their quota is managed via monthly catch
limits set by Government on a pooled
basis.
- There are approximately 460
registered fishing vessels in Wales, very few belong to Producer
Organisations and the vast majority (over 90%) are below 10
metres. Therefore the fleet falls almost completely under the
management and control of Government. These vessels are too
small to travel very far and are not able to fish for any length of
time or fish in difficult weather conditions. In comparison
the larger vessels which dominate the sector can fish in most
weather conditions, can stay out longer and can catch significantly
more fish. Therefore a relatively small amount of fishing
opportunity (e.g. quota) can sustain a disproportionately large
amount of coastal jobs in small coastal communities where there are
very few other work opportunities.
- In 2010 £17.6 million of
fish and shellfish was landed into Wales by UK vessels, higher than
2009 (£16.6million) but lower than 2008 (£18.6million)
when there was a large scallop fishery worth £5.2million
alone. While not all of this fish was caught in Wales or caught by
Welsh vessels it gives and indication of the size of landings into
Wales. In total £549million was landed into the UK by UK
vessels the majority of which was landed in Scotland
(£370million)[1].
- Inshore fisheries are of prime
importance to the Welsh fishing industry. These vessels have
suffered at the hands of the larger commercial sector who are able
to shout louder to maximise their opportunities. The
Commission, in seeking to deal with perceived over capacity and
discarding, must surely focus these actions more on the larger
commercial catching sector and, at the same time, ensure that any
measures do not put any further pressure on the small scale fishing
businesses that are part of the fabric of our coastal
communities.
Discards
- The Welsh Government supports
the desire to end discards. Throwing away fish which is
already dead or dying can not be justified. However the discarding
or throwing back of live fish and shellfish which will survive and
be allowed to continue to form part of the fishery is a different
matter. For that reason we are glad the Commission is not looking
to introduce a blanket ban on all discarding of all
species.
- However the Welsh Government has
concerns about the practicality of simply banning discards
especially in a mixed fishery. Without changes to the quota regime
for mixed fisheries many fisheries are likely to run out of quota
for one species and be left with an abundance of another. It
is difficult to comment further without seeing the detail of the
proposals that will begin to emerge later this year.
Tradable Fishing
Concessions
- We are concerned that the
proposed ‘tradable fishing concessions’ does not
currently have enough detail for purposeful discussion. If
the safeguards are not sufficient, it may lead to a collection of
fishing rights in the hands of a small number of large fishing
businesses to the detriment of small scale fleets that are
important to the coastal villages around Wales.
- The Commission believes that
there are too many vessels chasing too few fish. This is
mainly an issue with the larger commercial vessels. Smaller scale
vessels are limited in operation by weather, etc and have been
disadvantaged by the Common Fisheries Policy in the UK to such an
extent that the levels of fishing opportunity available to this
sector is disproportionately small. There is a case for the
industry to seek to fund its own decommissioning of vessels.
However it is important that these measures are sufficiently broad
to allow countries within Member States to safeguard small scale
fisheries. We believe it should remain the responsibility of the
Member State to manage this public resource to best
effect.
- Under the proposals Member
States would be responsible for setting fishing opportunities for
stocks for which the Council does not fix fishing opportunities.
This is a concern as these non quota species (Bass, lobster, crabs
and scallops) have traditionally been a lifeline for the Welsh
industry. It seems that these proposals would add a heavy burden on
Government and also on the fishermen targeting current non-quota
stocks. These stocks tend to be localised and dynamic and therefore
do not lend themselves to management approaches that the EC
currently applies to quota stocks – this would add a
significant additional scientific burden for very little benefit as
significant sampling would need to take place to seek to remove
localised variances in the
stocks.
Regionalisation
11.In responding to the EC green
paper on CFP reform, the Welsh Government advocated regionalisation
based on small scale coastal fisheries. This included
consideration for the Member State to further develop autonomy to
regulate and manage the fisheries within their territorial
sea.
12.A regional approach should allow
for better management at both the ecosystem scale and to adapt to
local conditions. The current proposals on the reform of the CFP do
not appear to go far enough. Instead it seems the Commission
are seeking to promote long-term management plans for species as a
way to achieve regionalisation. Unless this model is broken down to
a true regional scale it would still remain challenging for Member
States to agree plans of this nature. This would result in a
model where the Commission would be the ultimate arbiter of fishing
opportunities. This would not result in achieving the aim
decentralising decision making, and does not offer anything
different than the current CFP approach.
Small scale coastal
fisheries
13.The Welsh Government recognises
the difficulty to design a two tier system to reflect the different
nature of the sector and inshore fisheries. At the same time
there needs to be recognition of the differing natures of these
parts of the fleet and that a one size fits all approach also
cannot work effectively.
14.In Wales, the inshore fleet has
an increasingly important role to play within coastal
communities. There is a risk that the reform of the CFP will
focus on difficult issues in relation to the sector without any
sensitivity to the nature of the inshore fleet. The stocks
targeted by the inshore fleet tend to be localised and dynamic.
These stocks do not lend themselves to management approaches that
the EC currently applies to quota stocks. Therefore, the
reform proposals need to recognise the differing natures of the
offshore sector, and the inshore fleets.
Conclusion
15.The discussions on the CFP
reform paper and the UK response focus primarily on large scale
commercial fishing where known problems exist. At the same
time there is recognition of the need to pursue an ecosystem
approach. A major contributor to the ecosystem is the inshore
region, but this is a complex area and requires a specific approach
and management measures. Therefore, it is our view that it is
not appropriate to introduce one policy unilaterally for both the
offshore and inshore sectors.
16. The Welsh Government recognises
the importance of the inshore region. The majority of the
Welsh fleet operate in this area and are limited to the area of
activity and the species which they can catch. We therefore
advocate the need to develop a complementary approach to inshore
fisheries as part of the CFP Reform proposals.
Alun Davies AM
Deputy Minister for Agriculture,
Food, Fisheries and European Programmes