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EU fishing deal angers both fishermen and environmentalists
21st December 2002
CLARINEWS
Story from AFP
by Laurent Barthelemy
BRUSSELS,
Europe's fishermen Saturday slammed a last-ditch compromise to reform their industry, saying it will bankrupt them, while environmentalists warned the deal did not go far enough to save dwindling fish stocks.
After five days of tough talks, the EU reached a compromise Friday that made concessions to the so-called "friends of fishing" -- the countries pushing fishing industry interests -- on key points including public subsidies to maintain and modernize fleets.
The accord includes a temporary 45-percent cut in cod quotas, much smaller than the 80-percent reduction proposed by the European Commission, the EU's executive arm.
Fisheries Commissioner Franz Fischler, who proposed the 80 percent cut last month, trumpeted the deal as "unprecedented."
But the environmental groups Greenpeace and WWF said it did not suffice to preserve dwindling cod stocks, and warned that the species would be wiped out unless far stronger measures are taken.
Greenpeace condemned what it called a "feeble and inefficient" compromise, charging that the European Union had "failed miserably" to find a way of sustaining fishing resources.
"The real winners of this reform are the big fishing fleets, which will desert the North Sea once the fish has run out and leave the local fishermen high and dry," the statement warned.
Swedish Minister for Agriculture and Consumer Affairs Ann-Christin Nykvist voted against the deal along with the German Agriculture and Fisheries Minister Renate Kuenast.
"We missed the chance for a sustainable fishing policy for the EU," Nykvist said, adding that "short-term economic interests weighed heavier than the protection of the environment."
Meanwhile pro-fishing critics across Europe also fumed at a deal they claim threatened the livelihood of fishing communities because limits will be set on the time trawlers can remain at sea. Government subsidies for new boats will be cut after 2004.
Britain's fishermen reacted angrily, saying the new limitations could bankrupt many.
Ireland's three main fishing organisations said they were "bitterly disappointed." Irish fishermen will be allowed to spend just nine days per month at sea.
France, which had fought hard to offset cuts to shipbuilding subsidies, walked away satisified and Agriculture and Fishing Minister Herve Gaymard immediately announced a sweeping modernisation plan for the country's fishing fleet.
"I'm very satisfied with this accord because we've come a very long way," Gaymard told the French newspaper Journal du Dimanche in an interview to appear Sunday.
Britain's Minister for Fisheries and the Countryside, Elliot Morley, said the deal was radical but necessary.
Britain was among the "friends of fishing" countries -- France, Spain, Portugal, Ireland, Italy and Greece -- that had lobbied hard to ease the quota cut.
The Dutch fisheries ministry said the deal did not go as far as The Hague would have liked. But it "could live with the compromise because the EU members also agreed on a rescue plan for cod to be implemented".
The final agreement allows subsidies for ships of up to 400 tonnes to continue until the end of 2004, although this is conditional on the withdrawal of old boats.
It also agreed a temporary cut in cod fisheries of 45 percent from February 1, 2003, pending a long-term "recovery plan" to be implemented from July 1.
"A few weeks ago France seemed isolated in view of the European Commission's very hard conditions: Brussels wanted both to abolish support to modernising fishing fleets and proposed extremely rigorous fishing quotas," Gaymard told Journal du Dimanche.
But the agreed 2003 quotas allowed French fishermen to continue normal activity and the reconstitution of stocks.
The eastern Channel area -- vital to French fisheries -- had been excluded from the cod fishing ban.
France had also succeeded in achieving temporary continuation of support for fleet modernisation, he said.
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