OCEAN2012 Greets the Vote on a Report on the Reform of Common Fisheries Policy in the European Parliament

(Brussels) – Vera Coelho, from Seas At Risk and OCEAN2012, issued the following statement responding to the vote in the European Parliament today on the reform of the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP).

“Today, the European Parliament debated and voted on a report on the Reform of the Common Fisheries Policy. It was an encouraging sign that MEPs recognise their increased responsibility on fisheries policy. Many of them accepted the fundamental necessity of conserving fish stocks as the basis for safeguarding the livelihood of fisheries dependent communities. However, it is disappointing that not enough of them voted to include this in the report. A majority of members also failed to acknowledge the established connection between fisheries subsidies and overfishing.”

OCEAN2012 is committed to shaping a CFP that:

• Enshrines environmental sustainability as the over-arching principle, without which economic and social sustainability is unobtainable;
• Commits decision-makers to following scientific advice;
• Reduces the fleet based on environmental and social criteria;Makes public funding available to smooth the transition to more sustainable fisheries;
• Makes access to fisheries resources and public aid for fishing conditional on  environmental and social factors; and
• Gives the public access to fisheries data from Member States, such as catches, fleet figures and compliance.

Notes to the Editor:

1. The European Commission’s CFP reform website
2. The report as adopted by the Fisheries Committee
3. Amendments to the report as proposed by a number of MEPs
4. CFP Consultation: OCEAN2012 submissions and documents
5. OCEAN2012 is an alliance of organisations dedicated to transforming European Fisheries Policy to stop overfishing, end destructive fishing practices and deliver fair and equitable use of healthy fish stocks.
   
   OCEAN2012 was initiated, and is co-ordinated, by the Pew Environment Group, the conservation arm of The Pew Charitable Trusts, a non-governmental organisation working to end overfishing in the world´s oceans.
   
   The founding members of OCEAN2012 are the Coalition for Fair Fisheries Arrangements (CFFA), the Fisheries Secretariat (FISH), nef (new economics foundation), the Pew Environment Group and Seas At Risk (SAR).