Irish Regions Office Website

April 23, 2009

Fisheries Policy reform process underway

Seven years after the previous reform, on 22 April the European Commission began its public consultation on how the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) should look beyond 2012 by publishing a Green Paper on its reform. The discussion document critically examines the CFP's shortcomings - fleet overcapacity; imprecise policy objectives (e.g. ecological responsibility and integration with general maritime issues); an overcentralised decision-making system that emphasises short-term solutions over long-term sustainability and local community/stakeholder engagement; and the absence of political will to achieve compliance with fishing limitations - and suggests ways in which both policy and delivery can be improved.

The new options and ideas for improving the current policy include the potential introduction of a differentiated fishing regime to protect small-scale coastal fleets; long-term management plans for all European fisheries to involve
sustainable yield limits; the development of market efficient fisheries; integrating the CFP within the broader maritime policy context; improving the quality of public financial support; and better synergies with aquaculture. The next Agriculture and Fisheries Council on 25-26 May is certain to see divergent views expressed. The public consultation remains open until 31 December.

http://eurlex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=COM:2009:0163:FIN:EN:PDF

Posted by iroronan at April 23, 2009 09:48 AM