Sustainable Fish City joins EU campaign to stop overfishing and promote fair use of fish

Sustainable Fish City has joined OCEAN2012, a coalition dedicated to ensuring that the 2012 reform of the Common Fisheries Policy stops overfishing, ends destructive fishing practices and delivers fair and equitable use of healthy fish stocks. The coalition has over 140 member organisations across the European Union.

"Sustainable Fish City is a campaign for more individuals and businesses to buy, serve and eat only sustainable fish. We have the bold ambition that a great city like London could become the first ever to support a fully sustainable approach to the fish we eat," said Kath Dalmeny, policy director of Sustain, which coordinates the Sustainable Fish City campaign.

"However, we know that the protection of the world's fish stocks will take much more than just individual or company action. It also requires decisive action at national and international level by policy-makers to safeguard fish stocks and precious marine ecosystems for years to come. By its membership of this powerful coalition, Sustainable Fish City hopes to demonstrate to European policy-makers that there are many thousands of consumers, businesses and policy-makers in the UK that support the vision of a fully sustainable European fisheries policy."

The OCEAN2012 coalition states that "The European Union could be championing sustainable fishing at home and abroad. Instead, most EU fish stocks are overfished and the level of imports, combined with EU fleet activities far beyond EU waters, mean the impacts of mismanagement are being felt not only by fishing communities within the Union, but also by those in distant countries who rely on fish as their main source of food as well as income."

The OCEAN 2012 coalition is calling for a Common Fisheries Policy that:

• enshrines environmental sustainability as the overarching principle without which economic and social sustainability is unobtainable
• ensures decisions are taken at the most appropriate levels and in a transparent way, ensuring effective participation of stakeholders
• delivers sustainable fishing capacity at EU and regional level
• makes access to fisheries resources conditional on environmental and social criteria
• ensures public funds are only used in a way that serves the public good and alleviates social impacts in the transition to sustainable fisheries.

Find out more about the OCEAN2012 coalition at: www.ocean2012.eu