Report | June 12, 2015
Putting an end to environmentally harmful and capacity enhancing subsidies
Executive Summary
European marine ecosystems and fish stocks are currently in an alarming state, and as a consequence, fisheries in many European countries are unprofitable. The EU fishing industry is addicted to European taxpayer-funded subsidies, which has led to overfishing, fleet overcapitalization, reduced economic efficiency in the sector and failure to obtain the potential economic benefits from the resources. Until now, lack of political will, ambiguous legislative texts and incorrect implementation of subsidies policies have only worsened the European fleet’s economic and social situation, as well as the state of the marine environment. The reform of the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) and of the accompanying European and Maritime Fisheries Fund (EMFF) offers the Member States a once-in-a-decade opportunity to address the crisis of the European fisheries sector. Continuing with the untargeted, ineffective and wasteful spending of public funds is not an option. In this report, Oceana analyses the lack of efficiency and added value of the measures currently available under the European Fisheries Fund (EFF) and other financial mechanisms that will be included in the EMFF, and proposes a number of recommendations to ensure that the EMFF will have positive effects on Europe’s seas and the fishermen whose livelihood depends on them.
To secure a long-term, economically viable fishing industry, priority should be given to ensuring stable, productive and healthy marine resources, by investing in public services and ecosystem restoration. Sustainable fishing can only be achieved by complying with effective fisheries management programs, preventing and stopping illegal fishing and eliminating subsidies that harm the environment, distort trade or undermine management efforts. The reforms of the CFP and the EMFF should eliminate the subsidies which contribute to overfishing and, instead, direct funding towards supporting a transition to truly sustainable fisheries and healthy marine ecosystems. Implementing fisheries management measures and control and enforcement systems is absolutely vital for the sustainable future of fish stocks. Subsidies should be allocated to the creation of more marine protected areas, to the proper enforcement of fisheries management, and to guaranteeing proper data collection and increasing the coverage of scientific assessments to include all commercially exploited species.
