The European Commission today warned that nothing short of a completely new fisheries management system would halt years of dangerously depleted stocks and get the struggling fishing industry back on its feet.
The Commission has routinely blamed fishing fleets for overfishing and governments for failing to enforce catch quota limits agreed annually under the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP).
Now the Commission is launching a “consultation” on the CFP’s whole future, and insists it will be seeking the views of the fishermen’s leaders and the fishermen themselves as a priority.
But recognition in today’s Green Paper that previous CFP reforms have not done enough to reverse the steep decline in stocks of key white fish species will be seized on by eurosceptics who have long demanded the return of fisheries policy to national control.
EU fisheries commissioner Joe Borg, launching a consultation process which will run for the rest of the year, told a press conference in Brussels: “We are questioning even the fundamentals of the current policy.
“We are not just looking for another reform - it is time to design a modern, simple and sustainable system for managing fisheries in the EU, which is able to last well into the 21st century.”
A Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food spokeswoman said the Government intended to make a statement tomorrow after a presentation by the Commission to the Council of Ministers in Luxembourg.
She said the process was in its infancy and the Department would be consulting with the various fishing agencies here before making a submission.
Fine Gael MEP for the North West Jim Higgins said the EU’s green paper offered “a real opportunity for Irish Fishermen to get a fairer deal”.
Speaking this afternoon in Strasbourg, Mr Higgins said: ““The most important thing said today by Commissioner Borg was he admitted that the current policy is a failure. Fishermen and scientists have always held to this line and it was about time the Commission realised it.”
He pledged to consult with fishing organisations to ensure that Irish interests are central to any new proposals.
The EU’s Common Fisheries Policy was labeled a “Napoleonic aberration” based on “command and control” by the founder of the West Cork Sustainable Fisheries Group earlier this week.
The EU management system has supported “capital-intensive, high-technology” vessels which are “utterly out of proportion to the techniques employed by traditional fishing communities”, said Joe Aston, a west Cork-based fisherman.
He has initiated the first branch in west Cork of a new sustainable fisheries association which will be akin in ethos to organic farming and the Slow Food movement, he said.
To date, the EU’s response to over-development has been to “rein in” fishermen with regulations which “steadily throttle” the industry, he said.