#Fisheries officials feel heat as flamenco brings #COP25 to #Norway

“Ending overfishing would not only secure vital fish populations and the communities that directly depend on them for the future, it will eliminate one of the greatest pressures undermining ocean health, which is vital in the fight against climate breakdown. Norway and the EU have an opportunity to deliver on their stated ambitions to respond to the climate emergency, by taking decisive action to end overfishing,” said Rebecca Hubbard, Our Fish Programme Director.

Officials from EU member states and Norway meet annually at Norway’s Fiskeridirektoratet, (Fisheries Directorate), to decide how on how to fish what are known as shared stocks. EU-Norway consultations consistently result in agreements to continue overfishing - probably due to their flawed approach of assuming the scientific advice for maximum sustainable catches as a starting point, and then negotiating upwards, with fishing industry members participating in their delegations - while NGOs are refused access [1]. The annual Bergen meetings are regarded as more secretive than EU AGRIFISH council meetings, which were recently investigated by the EU Ombudsman and found to be lacking in transparency [2].

While the EU committed to phase out overfishing under the reformed Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) by 2015 or, at the absolute latest, by 2020, it is during consultations such as this meeting in Bergen, and during the annual AGRIFISH meetings where governments typically agree to continue overfishing. The decisions made in Bergen for shared stocks will be confirmed by the AGRIFISH council in Brussels on 16-17 December, as well as all other North East Atlantic TACs (Total Allowable Catches) for EU waters. This year, quotas for North East Atlantic fish populations look set to be overfished again [3].

Fisheries ministers have set fishing quotas above scientific advice in six out of every 10 cases since the CFP was reformed in 2013 [4]. The AGRIFISH Council very rarely sets fishing quotas at more sustainable levels than the EU Commission proposes. The EU Commission’s proposal for a number of North East Atlantic fish populations for 2020 are already above the scientific advice for Maximum Sustainable Yield, and the political delay from fisheries ministers until 2019 has worsened the situation, meaning ministers are now faced with proposals for drastic cuts to some fish such as the iconic North Sea cod [5].

“Norway recently played host to the Our Ocean conference; COP25 is happening right now in Madrid. Both Norway and the EU have made a lot of noise about their commitment to protecting the ocean and addressing the climate emergency and now they need to make good on their promises. Fisheries managers from Norway and the EU need to pull their heads out of the fishing ghetto, acknowledge their part in the bigger picture of a planet in crisis, and start delivering; ending overfishing by 2020 and climate action can and should, start here and now in Bergen,” concluded Hubbard.

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