EU proposals for reform of the Common Fisheries Policy

Book excerpt: In this report the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee concludes that radical reform is needed to ensure that the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) delivers for the fish, the fishermen, and the coastal communities that depend on them. The widespread desire to deliver a more local approach to fisheries management is hampered by the EU's exclusive competence over the conservation of marine resources under the CFP as only the EU can make rules regarding fisheries conservation. The Commission has baulked at repatriation of fishing policy through a full-scale Treaty change but the Committee highlights an alternative: this can be done by amending the CFP regulation itself. This approach would give Member States genuine freedom and responsibility and would set clear boundaries to the Commission' role. The Commission also wants to implement a discard ban on many commercial species starting in 2014, but the MPs question whether the proposal will prove effective. Instead, the Committee argues for a more gradual approach built on a sound science base and the local experience of fishermen to find workable solutions to the discard problem that has blighted European fisheries. The Committee also urges Defra not to abandon its commitment to domestic fisheries reform that delivers a fairer deal to small-scale fishermen. The Committee proposes a novel mechanism to reallocate unused fishing rights from 'slipper skippers' to active fishermen (a topic that was covered in an earlier report on the CFP and domestic fisheries management, sixth report of session 2010-12, HC 858, ISBN 9780215559944).