ALDE: Renew Europe calls for progress on bycatch
Catch of unwanted fish (bycatch) and its discard at sea constitutes a substantial waste of natural resources and poses a serious problem to the long-term sustainability of EU fisheries policy. To address this, the European Parliament adopted a report by Søren Gade MEP (Venstre, Denmark) on 18 May. The report backs the objectives of the landing obligation as a tool to drive improvements in fishing and operational behaviour, incentivise the development and usage of more selective gears to minimise unwanted catch, and improve catch documentation for a better understanding and scientific assessment of fish stocks.
Gade, Renew Europe Rapporteur and Member of the Parliamentary Committee on Fisheries (PECH), said:
“I am very happy that the European Parliament has sent a strong signal to the European Commission ahead of its evaluation of the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP). The EU needs to support measures that increase selectivity, listen to European fishers and finally, a thorough assessment of the implications of the landing obligation. This report underlines this, along with other important points. Now it is up to the European Commission to include Parliament’s recommendations – the Renew Europe Group will monitor this and looks forward to the work ahead.”
Outlined by the 2013 reform of the CFP, and fully applicable since 2019, the landing obligation continues to raise concerns within the fishing industry, particularly due to the lack of adequate infrastructure in ports, the increase in operating costs that this rule entails and the difficulties in obtaining greater selectivity in certain activities.