The European Common Fisheries Policy regarding distant water fishing

during the past 20 years:evolution of the fleets and their impact on small-scale West African fisheries

Michael Earle (Green Group in the European Parliament, Brussels)Brian O'Riordan (International Collective in Support of Fish Workers, Brussels)

Beatrice Gorez (Coalition for Fair Fisheries Agreements, Brussels)

Presented at the International Symposium onMarine fisheries, ecosystems and societies: half a century of change

Dakar, Senegal, 24-28 June 2002

Importance of West African fish to the EU

• 44% of the total supply of all fish to the EU market now comes from catches by EU-flagged vessels;

• Almost half of that 44% comes from catches in non-EU waters;

• The EU is able to get about one quarter of the fish it consumes in its own waters;

• Imports account for 54% of consumption.

The EU pursues an aggressive policy to secure access to supplies of fish • fishing on the high seas under EU flags;

• fishing in third countries' waters under agreements (EU or private);

• joint ventures in third countries;

• purchases of fish on the world market;

• fishing under flags of convenience.

Fisheries Agreements

• Almost 200 million Euros in 2001 (including those in the Indian Ocean)

Different types of agreements

• First Generation - Pay, Fish and Go;

• Second Generation - Joint Ventures;

• Third Generation - ???;

• Fourth Generation - Cooperation Agreement.

Structural Funds

• Financial Instrument for Fisheries Guidance - affectionately known as FIFG;

• En français, c'est l'Instrument Financier pour l'Orientation de la Pêche, ou IFOP;

• 1994 - 1999, almost 2.7 billion Euros.

Uses of subsidies

• scrapping of vessels, permanent transfer to a third country;

• joint enterprises or temporary joint ventures; • fleet renewal and modernization including the

construction of new vessels; • improvement of port facilities; • processing and marketing of fishery and aquaculture

products; • support for temporary cessation of fishing activities; • measures of a socio‑economic nature such as early

retirement schemes or compensation for fishermen.

FIFG Expenditures 1994-99

330.5

11.07

140.22

31.52

304.83

156.9

128.14

16.9

94.67

375.3

51.27

84.03

37.93

6.20

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

400

Scrapping Construction Ports Temporary Cessation

M €

Spain and France

France

0

2

4

6

8

10

0-25 25-50 51-100 100-400 >400

Mill

ion

€

Removal

Construction

Spain

020406080

100120140

0-25 25-50 51-100 100-400 >400

Mil

lion

€

Removal

Construction

Period 1989 to 2001

Exported to Owned in

Angola 29 13Cote d'Ivoire 5Cameroon 6 1Congo 5Cape Verde 5 1Gabon 7Ghana 1 3Guinea 3 3Gambia 1Guinea-Bissau 7 2Morocco 25 35Mauritania 10 51Nigeria 3Sao Tome y Principe 1Senegal 37 2Sierra Leone 5 12Togo 7South Africa 12TOTAL 165 127

FIFG Programming 2000-2006 on allocation among countries

Allemagne

Grèce

Espagne

France

Irlande

Italie

Finlande

Royaume-Uni

Danemark

Belgique

Pays-Bas

AutrichePortugal

Suède

FIFG Programming 2000-2006 on allocation among types of projects

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

Scrap

ping

Expor

t/New

Use

Join

t ente

rpris

es

Constr

uction

Mod

erniza

tion

Prote

cted

area

s

Aquacultu

rePor

ts

Proce

ssing/

Mar

keting

Inlan

d fish

ing

Smal

l-sca

le fis

hing

Socio

-econ

omic

mea

sure

s

Prom

otio

n

Profe

ssion

sals

Tempor

ary s

toppin

g

Innov

ativ

e mea

sure

s

Technica

l ass

istan

ce

Non sp

ecifi

ed

Mil

lion

€

Flags of Convenience

• Lloyd's database (vessels over 100 tonnes):– over 10% of the vessels which are listed as being

owned by EU companies are flagged outside the Community

– 392 out of 3,721 vessels – almost 1/3 of the Greek fleet is flagged out, much

in Cyprus and Panama – Spain - 19% – France and Portugal - about 10%

ICCAT definition of Flag of Convenience (with EU-owned vessels) • Panama• Belize• Honduras• St. Vincent & the

Grenadines• Barbados• Liberia• Mozambique• Netherlands Antilles• Sierra Leone • Vanuatu

• 180 EU-owned • almost 4% of the EU-owned

fleet• Spain, Greece, Portugal and

France are particularly prominent on the list.

Two vessels with a past …

• Atlantic Dawn – from merchant vessel to fishing vessel

• Veronica– from Irish vessel to Panamanian vessel

Renewal of the Common Fisheries Policy

Les Amis de la Pêche:

• Spain• France• Portugal

• Italy• Greece • Ireland

International cooperation …• "The Community's actions in this field shall aim to promote and strengthen

international co-operation and ensure sustainable and responsible fisheries outside Community waters with the same commitment as in its own waters. The Community shall aim to ensure sustainable exploitation of fisheries resources both in its own external fisheries activities and in international trade in fisheries products.“

• ou en français

• "Les actions de la Communauté dans ce domaine auront pour objet d'encourager et renforcer la coopération internationale ainsi que d'assurer une pêche responsable et durable en dehors des eaux communautaires au même titre que dans ses propres eaux. La Communauté s’efforcera d’assurer une exploitation durable des ressources de pêche aussi bien dans le cadre de ses propres activités de pêche extérieures que dans les échanges internationaux de produits de la pêche."

International cooperation …

• "In this context, access to the waters of third countries will be limited to surplus stocks as defined by UNCLOS (Article 62).“

• "À cet égard, l’accès aux eaux des pays tiers sera limité aux stocks excédentaires tels que définis dans la Convention des Nations unies sur le droit de la mer (article 62)."

International cooperation …

• "The Community will take initiatives through the relevant regional fisheries organisations and through the FAO. The first such initiative will be undertaken in West African waters. In this way, the Community will aim to obtain better scientific advice on the state of the stocks before concluding new partnership agreements with the third countries concerned.“

• "La Communauté lancera des initiatives par l'intermédiaire des organisations régionales de pêche et de la FAO. La première de ces initiatives concernera les eaux de l'Afrique occidentale. La Communauté entend de cette manière obtenir un meilleur avis scientifique sur l’état des stocks avant de conclure de nouveaux accords de partenariats avec les pays tiers concernés.

International cooperation …• "Within this framework, Community public aid under fisheries

Agreements should be increasingly focussed on helping partner countries to implement sustainable fisheries management and to develop their own fisheries sector, while the owners of the Community vessels benefiting from such Agreements should progressively assume greater responsibility for the financial compensation paid to partner countries in exchange for fishing rights.“

• "Dans ce cadre, l’aide publique communautaire aux accords de pêche devrait être consacrée de plus en plus à aider les pays partenaires à la mise en œuvre de régimes de gestion durable de leurs pêcheries ainsi qu’au développement de leur secteur des pêches, tandis que les armateurs des navires communautaires bénéficiant de ces accords devraient progressivement assumer une plus grande part du coût des compensations financières payées aux pays partenaires en échange des droits de pêche.

International cooperation …• "In addition, in relation to co-operation at the national and/or regional

levels, the Community will endeavour to convince its Partners to implement sustainable exploitation of resources based on sound scientific advice, measures to manage fishing mortality, such as TACs and/or fishing effort limits and better control and enforcement systems, which are prerequisites for an economically viable and competitive fishing industry.“

• "Par ailleurs, en matière de coopération aux niveaux national et/ou régional, la Communauté s'emploiera à convaincre ses partenaires de pratiquer l'exploitation durable des ressources sur la base d'avis scientifiques sérieux, de mesures de gestion de la mortalité par pêche telles que les TAC et/ou la limitation de l'effort de pêche et de systèmes de contrôle et d'exécution améliorés, conditions nécessaires d'un secteur de la pêche viable économiquement et compétitif."