Has The EU Failed Its Fisheries?

Current measures to adapt the capacity of EU fishing fleets to available fishing opportunities have failed.

A report by the European Court of Auditors says that overcapacity of the fleet is one of the main reasons for the failure of the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP).

"The CFP does not have adequate rules for key issues related to overcapacity of the fishing fleet."

EU Fisheries Commissioner Maria Damanaki said: "Through the CFP reforms we are addressing overcapacity through a system of transferable fishing concessions at national level and with safeguards to avoid concentration of ownership."

However non governmental organisations (NGOs) are concerned that this is not enough. Despite being recognised for over 20 years, the EU has been unable to address overcapacity properly and as such, it has failed to reverse the depleted state of European fish stocks.

Between 1994 and 2013, €1.6 billion will have been allocated to the scrapping of vessels to reduce fishing capacity, however the report says that the EU has neither addressed nor defined overcapacity since 1995.

"In the new financial instrument, the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund, we propose to no longer finance scrapping of vessels, but instead spend the money on projects which will make a real difference," said Commissioner Damanaki.

NGO Oceana believes that tackling overcapacity is not just about scrapping vessels with public funds.

"It should start with limiting the number of vessels with access to a fishery in order to guarantee that they harvest the marine resources in sustainable quantities."

Arguably another failure of the EU is that of protecting mackerel stocks. Last week, another meeting between the European Union, Faroe Islands, Iceland and Norway ended inconclusively.

Commissioner Damanaki said that mackerel talks would be given a last chance in the New Year. It is expected that the EC will propose sanctions this week against Iceland and the Faroes later this week.

These talks have been going on for much longer than a year now. What will happen if the next round of negotiations is unsuccessful?