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Europe inches towards fisheries reform with ministers’ compromise

A marathon meeting of European government ministers has produced some small but potentially vital compromises in the on-going reform of Europe’s fisheries.

A two-day meeting on Monday and Tuesday concluded in the early hours of this morning with what the Irish agriculture minister Simon Coveney called “a very, very significant final agreement in terms of common fisheries policy reform”.

Ministers are currently embroiled in a battle of wills with the European Parliament over the final details of a root and branch reform of the EU’s common fisheries policy (CFP). For years the CFP has been blamed for driving European fish stocks into decline by ignoring scientific advice on sustainable levels of catch.

Fisheries scientists have had their fingers crossed that the upcoming reform would put the industry on a more scientific footing. But ministers – via the forum of the European Council – have taken what campaigners view as a less progressive stance than their fellow arms of European governance: the Parliament and the Commission. All must agree on the final CFP.

All sides want European fish stocks returned to a state called ‘maximum sustainable yield’ (MSY), where the population is at a size that produces the largest possible ongoing harvest. However there is no agreement on a deadline for this, and there is also debate about whether MSY should be measured on mortality (the fish caught and killed) or biomass (the fish actually in the sea).

Another sticking point is the practice of discards – throwing back unwanted fish. After a high-profile public campaign, the EU bodies have agreed to include language in the proposed reform that would phase out discards over time. But the Council had been pushing for a so called ‘de minimis’ rule, where a certain amount of discarding would be allowed.

After this week’s epic meeting Coveney said the Council had moved significantly towards the Parliament’s position, adding in language about the importance of biomass MSY to their position, and reducing the de minimis level to 5% of total catches.

“This is going to be a fundamental reform in the way we fish. We are going to commit to and implement fishing to scientific advice which is measurable under what’s called MSY,” he told reporters at a press conference. However Coveney warned that the ministers would not move much further. “I have exhausted the willingness of the Council of Ministers to compromise,” he said.

The EU Parliament’s leader on this subject, Ulrike Rodust, said her side would be going through the new position of the Council – which is not yet public – in detail in the run-up to meetings between all three branches of European government on 28-29 May.

“Ministers have made certain concessions but I would have liked to see a more courageous decision,” said Rodust.

Fisheries scientists and campaigners are now anxiously waiting for the final agreement.

Ian Campbell, who works on CFP for the OCEAN2012 fisheries reform campaign group, called the Council decision “a huge step”, although he points out that the ministers did not agree on a target date for rebuilding fish stocks.

“There’s overwhelming public support for recovery of fish stocks,” he added. All three bodies “need to be pragmatic”.

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