LAST week the European Commission spelled out its vision of how to save Europe鈥檚 fish stocks from collapse. In a major break with the past, its proposals for changes to the Common Fisheries Policy put responsibility for setting the limits on catches in the hands of fisheries scientists and civil servants rather than politicians.
The announcement looks certain to trigger a battle over how to halt the decline in fish populations in European waters. Important stocks, including many cod and haddock populations, have fallen by 90 per cent since 1970, and scientists want to see catches halved in some areas just to prevent the fish being wiped out. But a number of countries with large fishing interests, notably Spain, don鈥檛 accept the commission鈥檚 vision of how to do it.
Nearly everyone agrees that the number of fishing boats chasing the fish must be halved. European Union fisheries ministers have paid lip service to this notion for years, but till now the regions dependent on fisheries have always had the political clout to stop this happening.
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Now the commission is proposing to cancel a controversial 600 million modernisation programme for fishing boats that actually increases the fleet鈥檚 ability to catch fish. Instead, it wants to use the money for an unprecedented aid package to help fishermen stop fishing.
The move has received a hostile reception in Spain, which has the most to lose in the way of fishing boats and jobs. But British fishermen welcome the idea. It is essential to allow stocks to recover, say Barry Deas, head of the National Federation of Fishermen鈥檚 Organisations in Grimsby.
The big sticking point is likely to be over the way the commission decides how much fish the remaining boats will be allowed to catch. It plans to end the 鈥減olitical horse trading鈥� now used to set quotas, and instead base them more closely on what biologists say are safe.
Ministers currently set the quotas each December at an all-night meeting in Brussels. Almost invariably, they allow bigger catches than the scientists of the International Council for Exploration of the Sea recommend.
The commission now proposes that ministers only set catch limits for the first year of 10-year management plans for each stock. After that quotas will be set by scientists and delegates from national ministries in what one insider calls a 鈥渄epoliticised鈥� process based on the most recent scientific advice.
One effect could be to make sure that quotas can be cut quickly if stocks run down faster than expected. Politicians prefer not to change quotas, as this helps the fishing industry plan ahead. But Hans Lassen, chief fisheries adviser at ICES, says that short-term adjustments are often needed to keep up with the yearly variations in very depleted stocks.
Lassen believes the fishing industry, and our understanding of fish biology, change too quickly for the current political process to keep up. He cites a change in fishing gear in the Barents Sea fishery that increased the fleet鈥檚 catching efficiency by 60 per cent within six months. This made the existing limits obsolete faster than politicians could possibly deal with them.
In another year, everyone decided that cod stocks in the German Bight were in such a poor state that fishing had to be halted to protect them. But by the time the decision was taken, the fishing season was almost over, Lassen says.
The EU is due to adopt the new fisheries policy by December, and fisheries commissioner Franz Fischler has vowed to settle any disputes before then. He鈥檚 got a tough task on his hands. The fisheries ministers aren鈥檛 going to give up their control over quotas without a fight.