Fisheries ministers delay reductions of fishing pressure until as late as 2020

The rural affairs ministry has accepted a compromise at EU level for consultation and better enforcement on cuts in fishing stocks that affect third-countries.

In a statement, the ministry said the conclusions at the EU council, which concluded Wednesday morning had not been enough to satisfy the island's demands on the reform of the common fisheries policy of the EU.

"Malta insisted that any EU position on management of fish stocks must also bind third countries, to avoid unilateral actions that could have only a minimal effect on sustaining fish stocks," minister George Pullicino said in a statement.

Malta's position was for a level-playing field to include non-EU countries in such decisions, as in the case of tuna and swordfish quotas determined by the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT), and not take decisions that only bind EU member states.

"Malta said its fishermen operate in the same sea as non-EU member states, so a set of rules that bind them only would not be fair on them. We were supported by a number of Mediterranean countries, and other member states from the Baltic and Black seas," Pullicino said.

The international environmental NGO Greenpeace on its part criticised the conclusion of the EU fisheries ministers' meeting in Luxembourg, saying member states had back a "damaging common approach" to the reform of EU fishing rules that could allow overfishing to continue for at least another decade.

Commenting on the outcome, Greenpeace EU fisheries policy director Saskia Richartz said: "After decades of bad fisheries management that has devastated fish stocks, ministers are failing miserably on their promise of an overhaul of EU fisheries management. They want to leave reform hanging in the balance, condemning fish and fishermen to another decade of overfishing and stock decline, with dire consequences for species like cod, hake and tuna. The European Parliament must now step into the reform process to make ministers come to their senses."

Greenpeace said ministers had delayed action to reduce fishing pressure until as late as 2020. "This will further deplete stocks, continuing to make fishermen dependent on subsidies," Richartz added.

"The continued rate of overfishing is also likely to cause more discarding, the controversial practice of throwing unwanted fish overboard.

"Instead of backing a blanket ban on discards as soon as possible, ministers want to dither and to pick and choose which fish species the ban should apply to. Discarding will not stop unless fishermen use more selective gear and fish more sustainably. The best way to stop discards is to reward fishermen who fish sustainably and phase out destructive, indiscriminate industrial fishing, which causes most discards. This is something ministers have completely failed to do," Richartz said.

The Parliament's fisheries committee will vote on the European Commission's proposals for reform in October, while a plenary vote is expected in November.