Deep sea fishing to be banned in EU waters
Following nearly a decade of campaigning and negotiation, the European Parliament has announced a ban on all fishing below 800 metres, and restrictions on fishing below 400 metres to help protect particularly vulnerable deep-sea marine ecosystems that are quick to collapse and regenerate at slow rates.
The new agreement also means that deep sea species can only be targeted in a defined ‘footprint’ – the same area that was fished between 2009-11 - effectively curbing any expansion of fishing which targets deep sea species.
In addition, the agreement will introduce stronger transparency and vessel monitoring, including:
- EU vessels must report publically if they target deep sea species.
- All catches, including bycatch and others like sponges and corals must be reported
- Member states must carry out impact assessments to locate vulnerable ecosystems
- 20 per cent of EU vessels will be required to have an observer (scientist) on board to ensure the collection of timely and accurate data.
The proposal was initially rejected in 2013, but brought back to the European agenda by Luxembourg, supported by a coalition of ocean protection NGOs, including Bloom Foundation and Pew Charitabel Trusts. The move has been welcomed by the Deep Sea Conservation Coalition. Matthew Gianni said “This agreement goes a good way towards meeting the commitments made by the EU at the U.N. General Assembly and applying them to protect deep-sea ecosystems in EU waters. We urge vigorous implementation of the regulation once it is formally adopted and encourage the EU to continue working with other countries to enhance the protection of deep-sea ecosystems in international waters and to set science-based catch and bycatch limits for deep-sea fisheries in the north-east Atlantic.”
The text accepted was significantly watered down compared to versions tabled in previous negotiations; which is thought to be the result of an intense lobbying effort by Spain, whose fleet mainly fishes outside European waters, and so is effectively exempt from the ban.
Deep-sea fisheries account for about 1% of fish landed from the North-East Atlantic. The catches – and related jobs – have been declining for years, due to depleted stocks. Only some of the deep-sea fisheries in the North-East Atlantic fishing area are within EU waters, including the outermost regions of Portugal and Spain.
Published Thursday 7 July 2016
Sustainable Fish: A campaign to protect precious marine environments and fishing livelihoods, and call for fish to be bought from sustainable sources. We want to show what can be done if people and organisations make a concerted effort to change their buying habits.
