Fisheries Council Decision on 2011 Fishing Limits

Press Releases and Statements December 15, 2010 Read time:

Projects: Common Fisheries Policy Reform in the European Union

Maria Damanaki and Kris Peeters © The Council of the European Union.

Brussels – Uta Bellion, director of the Pew Environment Group’s European Marine Programme and OCEAN2012 co-ordinator, issued the following statement responding to the Fisheries Council’s decision on 2011 Total Allowable Catches (TACs), fishing limits.

On a number of stocks, the Council has taken a move in the right direction. However, it must in future set fishing limits in line with scientific advice based on the precautionary and ecosystem-based approaches."

OCEAN2012 would like management of European Union (EU) fisheries to:

Follow the Precautionary Approach as laid down in the UN Fish Stocks Agreement 1995;
Apply the Ecosystem-based Approach to stock management; and
Set long-term abundance targets for stocks that go beyond Maximum Sustainable Yield.

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 steering group of OCEAN2012 consists of the Coalition for Fair Fisheries Arrangements, Ecologistas en Acción, The Fisheries Secretariat, nef (new economics foundation), the Pew Environment Group and Seas At Risk.

Under a reformed Common Fisheries Policy, bargaining with our oceans and the livelihoods of fisheries dependent coastal communities has to stop. Uta Bellion, OCEAN2012 coordinator